ABOUT LAST NIGHT: The Kane County Cougars beat the Timber Rattlers 4-3 in 10 innings. The Cougars scored the winning run after a dropped pop up on an infield fly rule.
EARLY OFFENSE: Wisconsin scored single runs in the first, third, and fourth innings. An error in the first inning allowed Mike Brownstein to score in the first. Kyle Dhanani’s RBI single in the third and Derrick McPhearson’s RBI single in the fourth accounted for the runs for Wisconsin. The Cougars scored all three of their runs in the third inning. Three one-out walks loaded the bases and a two-out hit batsman forced in a run. An infield single and a throwing error put the other two runs across the plate in the inning.
DOING THE JOB: Rattlers reliever Rigoberto Almonte got the final out of the bottom of the third inning and tossed a scoreless fourth. Then, Wily Peralta pitched three scoreless and hitless innings. Brandon Ritchie also worked a scoreless and hitless seventh and eighth innings.
OTHER SIDE: Trey Barham, Justin Murray, and Paul Smyth combined to pitch 5-1/3 hitless and scoreless innings out of the Kane County bullpen.
ANATOMY OF A RALLY: Nino Leyja and Leonardo Gil had back-to-back singles off Ritchie to start the bottom of the ninth. A sacrifice bunt moved both runners up. Ritchie walked Mike Spina intentionally to load the bases with one out to face Franklin Hernandez with the Rattlers infield in on the grass and the outfield playing shallow.
THE PLAY: Hernandez swung at the first pitch and popped the ball up to just behind where the second baseman usually would play. The infield fly was called as Pete Fatse charged in from right and Hernandez as automatically out. But, Fatse could not make the catch and Leyja raced home with the winning run.
AFTER ACTION REPORT: There was a scoring change to the play earlier today. Fatse has been charged with an error and the run scored against Ritchie is now unearned
WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN: In the top of the first inning, the Rattlers had a runner picked off first for the first out and a runner thrown out at the plate for the third out.
EXTRA! EXTRA! Wisconsin is 3-3 in extra innings. They are 0-2 against the Cougars in extra innings this season.
FIVE: Last night was the fifth time Wisconsin has been “walked-off” this season. The other games were: April 25 at Quad Cities; May 21 at Kane County; August 7 at Peoria; and August 26 at Burlington.
IN CASE YOU WERE WONDERING: In other Midwest League Western Division action last night, Clinton’s game with Quad Cities and Burlington’s game at Beloit were postponed due to wet grounds. Cedar Rapids beat Peoria. The current Western Division Wild Card standings after last night:
CLUB..W...L...PCT..GB
BUR..30..29...508..--
CLN..25..32...439..4.0
QC...25..34...424..5.0
BEL..25..35...417..5.5
WIS..23..37...383..7.5
ABOUT THE OPPONENTS: The Kane County Cougars are the Midwest League affiliate of the Oakland Athletics. Kane County is in the Midwest League playoffs as the first half champions of the Midwest League’s Western Division. The Cougars won the first half with a record of 41-29, one game ahead of Cedar Rapids and Clinton. They are 29-32 in the second half to give them an overall record of 70-61. Kane County is coming into this series after winning three of four from the Beloit Snappers in a home series.
SEASON SERIES: The Timber Rattlers are 6-10 against Kane County in 2009. Wisconsin is 3-5 against the Cougars at Elfstrom Stadium.
COMPARE AND CONTRAST: The Timber Rattlers are hitting .238 as a team. They have scored 519 runs (4.0/game) and hit 59 home runs. The Cougars are hitting .242 as a team. They have scored 560 runs (4.3/game) and hit 78 homers. Wisconsin pitchers have a team ERA of 4.29 while allowing a total of 639 runs (4.9/game). Kane County pitchers have a team ERA of 3.69 while allowing 557 runs (4.3/game). The Timber Rattler defense has committed 153 errors. The Cougars defense has committed 162 errors. Wisconsin is 20-42 on the road this season. Kane County is 37-27 at home this season.
KANE COUNTY STARTING PITCHER: RHP Mathieu Leblanc-Poirier was the 21st round pick of the Athletics in the 2008 draft out of College Ahuntsic in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Leblanc-Poirier made his professional debut with the Arizona League affiliate of the Athletics in 2008 and was 0-1 with a 7.89ERA in 11 games (two starts) covering 21-2/3 innings. Leblanc-Poirier also appeared in six games – all in relief – for the Vancouver Canadians of the Northwest League in 2009. He went 1-0 and had an ERA of 0.93 over 9-2/3 innings for the Canadians. Leblanc-Poirier started his 2009 campaign with the Stockton Ports of the California League in May and made 10 appearances (nine starts) for the Ports. He was 0-3 with a 5.88 ERA and had 28 strikeouts and 24 walks in 46-1/3 innings. Leblanc-Poirier joined the Cougars in the second half of the season and is 3-7 in 12 games (11 starts). In his start prior to tonight, Leblanc-Poirier allowed one unearned run in five innings at Beloit on August 24 and received a no decision. He beat the Rattlers on August 3 at Time Warner Cable Field. Leblanc-Poirier allowed one run on six hits over 5-2/3 innings with a walk and five strikeouts.
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