August 23 game notes

ABOUT LAST NIGHT: The Timber Rattlers beat the River Bandits 5-2. Wisconsin scored three runs in the bottom of the eighth inning and Natividad Dilone pitched a scoreless ninth inning for the save.

LA CASA E CORSA IL NUMERO SEI: Alex Liddi homered in the bottom of the second inning to give Wisconsin a 1-0 lead. The homer was Liddi’s sixth of the season.

UNEARNED: Quad Cities tied the game with an unearned run against Rattler starting pitcher Michael Pineda in the top of the third. Oliver Marmol walked and went to third on an error on a possible double play ball. Niko Vasquez drove in Marmol with a sacrifice fly.

QUICKLY BACK IN FRONT: In the bottom of the third, Maximo Mendez tripled to leadoff the inning. Alex Meneses drove in the go ahead run with a single to center.

DUECES WILD: The Bandits tied the game again with a two-out RBI single by Jon Edwards in the top of the sixth inning.

PINEDA’S NIGHT: The single by Edwards knocked Pineda out of the game. The Rattler righty allowed two runs (one earned) on four hits with a walk and a hit batsman. He struck out six to give him 108 strikeouts on the season to lead the Rattlers in that category.

PINEDA’S RUN: Pineda lowered his ERA to 2.05 last night. The Timber Rattler record for lowest ERA in a season by a pitcher who tossed at least 112 innings is TA Fulmer, who had a 2.58ERA in 2003.

ES-K-LONA: Rattler reliever Jose Escalona relieved Pineda with runners at the corners and two out in the sixth. He struck out Domnit Bolivar to end the inning. For good measure, Escalona struck out four more batters over two more scoreless frames to keep the game tied at two.

RALLY TIME: Meneses drew a leadoff walk in the eighth inning against Kenny Maiques. A sacrifice bunt by Daniel Carroll and a wild pitch by Maiques moved Meneses to third. Joe Dunigan singled to drive in Meneses with the go ahead run.

KEEP IT GOING: Dunigan stole second – his second steal of the game and team-leading 27th of the season – and scored on Liddi’s single to left. Liddi took second on the throw to the plate and third on another wild pitch by Maiques. Liddi scored on a throw to first after a dropped third strike against Joe White.

SAVE OF THE DAY: Dilone got the final three outs for his first save of the season. It was also his first save since April 14, 2007.

FEEL THE BREEZE: Both teams struck out 12 times for a total of 24 strikeouts last night.

ABOUT THE OPPONENTS: The Quad Cities River Bandits are the Midwest League affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals. They did not qualify for the Midwest League playoffs in the first half. The River Bandits were just swept in a four game series with Western Division leading Burlington before starting this series with the Timber Rattlers. Quad Cities is 30-30 record in the second half and are 8-1/2 games behind the Bees for the division lead. The River Bandits are trailing Cedar Rapids by four games for the second half Western Division Wild Card. They are 63-61 overall.

COMPARE AND CONTRAST: The Timber Rattlers are hitting .243 as a team and have scored 491 runs (3.9/game). Wisconsin has hit 57 home runs this season. The Timber Rattler pitching staff has a combined ERA of 3.91. Quad Cities is hitting .242 as a team. They have scored 525 runs (4.2/game). The Bandits have hit 92 home runs this season. The Quad Cities pitching staff has a combined ERA of 3.82.

2008 SEASON SERIES: The Rattlers lead the season series 5-3. Wisconsin and Quad Cities split a four game series at Modern Woodmen Park to open the 2008 season. The Rattlers won the first two games of a series on Time Warner Cable Field at Fox Cities Stadium that was scheduled for four games from June 5-8. The games on June 7 and 8 were rained out.

QUAD CITIES STARTING PITCHER: RH Richard Castillo was signed as a non-drafted free agent out of Venezuela by the Cardinals in February of 2007. He pitched for the Venezuelan Summer League affiliate of the Cardinals last season and was 2-2 with a 1.72 ERA in 17 games (eight starts). He struck out 60 and walked 22 in 62-2/3 innings. Castillo started the 2008 season with Palm Beach, the St. Louis affiliate in the Florida State League. He was 1-0 with a 1.13ERA in six games (two starts) for the Cardinals before moving to River Bandit rotation after the Midwest League All-Star Break. Castillo is 6-4 in 11 starts for Quad Cities. He had a five-game winning streak, but has lost his last three starts. In his start prior to this evening, Castillo lost to Burlington on August 17. The Bees got to him for three runs on six hits over 6-2/3 innings. Castillo struck out six and walked two while allowing two homers in the game. Tonight is Castillo’s first appearance against the Timber Rattlers. He did face Seattle’s VSL team twice in the 2007 season as a reliever. Castillo had no record and allowed four unearned runs on four hits over four innings in those two games.