(WISCONSIN TIMBER RATTLERS) FORT WAYNE, IN – The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers closed out their series against the Fort Wayne TinCaps at Parkview Field in style on Sunday. Wisconsin defeated the TinCaps 8-0 as the offense stayed hot in support of solid pitching. Braylon Payne (2-for-5, homer, double, two RBI) and Marco Dinges (3-for-5, homer, double, three RBI) continued their onslaught against Fort Wayne pitching.
Luis Castillo gave Wisconsin (13-6) the lead with a lead-off home run in the top of the third. Later in the inning, Payne and Dinges had back-to-back RBI doubles for a 3-0 lead.
The Rattlers were gifted a run in the fifth inning. Juan Baez was at second after reaching on an error with one out. Dinges hit a high popup to right-center with two out and the ball dropped in between three Fort Wayne defenders for an RBI single as Baez crossed the plate.
Wisconsin stole a run in the sixth. Daniel Dickinson was at first and Josh Adamczewski was at third with two outs. Dickinson drew a throw as he successfully stole second and Adamczewski stole home on the throw for a 5-0 lead.
Payne and Dinges hit back-to-back home runs in the seventh inning for a 7-0 lead. It was the second time in the series for the duo to hit back-to-back homers. As a team, Wisconsin mashed eleven homers in the six-game series with the TinCaps to run their season total to 26.
Payne extended his current hitting streak to seven games (12-for-27, .444). He played in five games of the series at Fort Wayne and was 9-for-20 with two doubles, four homers, eight runs scored, and seven RBI. He is also tied with Owen Ayers of South Bend for the league lead in homers (6).
Dinges homered twice and knocked in seven in his five games during the series.
Fort Wayne (7-14) struggled to get anything going against a quartet of Wisconsin pitchers on Sunday. Jason Woodward allowed one hit and one walk over 1-2/3 innings as the starter. Bjorn Johnson also allowed a hit and a walk in 1-1/3 scoreless frames. Travis Scott faced the minimum in five innings of relief. The only hit he allowed, a lead-off single in the sixth was wiped out on a double play. Michael Fowler allowed two harmless singles with two outs in the bottom of the ninth before getting the final out of the game.
Wisconsin took five of six games as they outscored the TinCaps 46-17 in the series at Fort Wayne.
The Timber Rattlers are off on Monday. They return to action on Tuesday at Neuroscience Group Field with game one of a six-game series against the Quad Cities River Bandits. Ethan Dorchies (1-2, 7.04) is the scheduled starting pitcher for Wisconsin. Game time is 6:40pm.
Celebrate Northeast Wisconsin on Tuesday with “920 Night” where Box seats, Reserved Bleacher seats, or Grass seats are $9, Nathan’s Famous hot dogs, 16-ounce Pepsi products, and 16-ounce domestic beers will be available for $2 and popcorn is free ($0)! Staff, students, and faculty of area colleges may purchase a reserved bleacher ticket for $4 with a current ID.
Saturday’s game
After four games of slugfests at Parkview Field, the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers and Fort Wayne TinCaps treated over 6,000 fans to a pitchers’ duel on Saturday afternoon. The TinCaps scored twice in the bottom of the eighth to break up the scoreless affair and held of a ninth-inning rally from the Rattlers to hold on for the 2-1 win.
The starting pitchers matched each other for five innings. Wisconsin starter Braylon Owens allowed one hit, walked two, and struck out six. Fort Wayne starter Jamie Hitt allowed two hits, walked none, and struck out eight.
The Rattlers (12-6) had a good chance to score in the top of the fourth when Braylon Payne doubled to start the inning and took third with one out on a balk by Hitt. The opportunity was lost as Hitt struck out the next two batters.
Fort Wayne (7-13) had their best chance to score against Owens in the bottom of the fifth. Jack Costello singled with one out. A dropped throw by Daniel Dickinson at second on a force play after a grounder off the bat of Jonathan Vastine put two runners on with one out. Owens regrouped and ended the inning with a strikeout and a flyout.
Yorman Galindez relieved Owens for the bottom of the sixth and pitched 2-1/3 scoreless innings. Then, Omar Linares, the ninth batter in Fort Wayne’s order, drew a one-out walk in the eighth. Jake Cunningham followed with a sharp single to right to put runners at the corners. Kasen Wells dropped a perfect safety squeeze bunt to score Linares from third for a 1-0 lead.
Galindez hit Lamar King Jr to load the bases before striking out Alex McCoy for the second out. That strikeout left McCoy hitless on the afternoon to end his hitting streak at fifteen games and ended the day for Galindez as the Rattlers went to the bullpen.
Yerlin Rodriguez took over for Galindez and issued a four-pitch walk to Rosman Verdugo and Fort Wayne picked up a very important insurance run.
Payne brought the Rattlers to within a run on a tape-measure, solo homer with one out in the top of the ninth. Payne has hit five home runs on the season. He was 2-for-4 on Saturday and is 7-for-15 with three homers in the four games he has played in this series against the TinCaps.
Dickinson drew a walk to get the tying run on base in the ninth. He would be left there as Braian Salazar got the final two outs to end the game and Wisconsin’s four-game winning streak.
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