BELOIT — The old saying goes that when it rains, it pours.
For the Beloit Sky Carp, Monday night was more like a hurricane.
The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers banged out 16 hits, had three different pitchers hold the Sky Carp lineup hitless into the eighth inning and sent Beloit to its sixth-straight loss in an 11-1 setback at a cooler and partly sunny ABC Supply Stadium.
“We really just didn’t have it tonight,” Sky Carp manager Billy Gardner Jr. said. “Wisconsin is a tough hitting club, they are all tough outs. One of those nights where you have to flush it and move on.”
The Timber Rattlers are moving in the opposite direction. The Milwaukee Brewers’ High-A affiliate has now won five-straight games, and it is looking to repeat as Midwest League West Division champions in the second half of the season after clinching the title, and the playoff berth that comes with it, in the first half.
“We just came out with a lot of energy,” designated hitter/catcher Matthew Wood, the Brewers’ 2022 fourth round pick out of Penn State said. “We didn't try to do too much. And when you don't try to do too much, usually good things happen.”
Beloit starter Jacob Miller hadn’t allowed more than three runs in a game since May 14, and his ERA was the best among Sky Carp starters coming into Monday at 2.72.
But Miller ran into trouble straight away in the first inning. After a ground out he allowed singles to Gregory Barrios and Wood before walking Luke Adams. Tayden Hall then sent a one-run single into left field and Eduardo Garcia’s sacrifice fly to center upped it to 2-0.
“When you can set the tone from the jump, especially when you're the away team, it's a big momentum shift,” Wood said. “We were able to do that, and our pitchers fed off the offense’s energy.”
Mark Manfredi struggled a tad with his control in his start for Wisconsin, walking three while striking out two before being pulled after securing two outs in the second inning. It was the shortest outing of the season for the starter.
But Tyler Wehrle came in and got the final out of the second before pitching a perfect third with two strikeouts.
Then Patricio Aquino, a free-agent signing in the January of 2021, came in for the Timber Rattlers and dominated.
Aquino’s first time through the order was perfect, throwing a 1-2-3 inning in the fourth, fifth and sixth. He allowed a leadoff walk in the seventh to Jorge Caballero but Carlos Santiago hit into a double play an out later.
Sam Praytor’s hard hit single down the right-field line to start the eighth ended the no-hit bid.
“They've been doing what they do all year and were executing really well tonight,” Wood said. “They had some jams too, so it wasn't like it was really easy. To watch them kind of compete the entire game through the ups and downs is cool.”
Cameron Barstad reached on a fielding error following Praytor’s single, and Mark Coley grounded into a forceout an out later to put Beloit on the board.
Johnny Olmstead walked but Aqino struck out Zamora to end the frame. He allowed a single to Caballero in the ninth and hit Tony Bullard with a pitch, but he got three-straight outs to finish with six innings pitched and just one unearned run on two hits with six strikeouts.
Beloit finished with just two total hits and struck out 10 times.
“They had a huge lead, obviously that helps,” Gardner said. “It took the air out of us a little bit. We got down by a bunch of runs and just couldn't hit our way back in the game.”
Adams blasted a three-run homer into left field in the third to make it 5-0. Barrios and Wood each hit an RBI single in the fourth while Adams and Tayden Hall had RBI force outs to up it to 9-0.
Edgar Sanchez came in to relieve Miller, who was charged with 10 earned runs on 10 hits, but a wild pitch made it 10-0.
Ramon Rodriguez later made it 11-0 with his RBI single in the seventh off Yeuris Jimenez.
“We feed off each other really well,” Wood said. “We have all year. Usually when runs come, they come in bunches.”
Wood finished 3-for-4 from the plate with two runs and an RBI.
“I just went up there and tried to feel as comfortable as possible,” Wood said. “See the pitch that I wanted and attack. I was in a lot of two strike counts, so I was just trying to adjust everything tonight.”
Barrios went 4-for-5 with three runs while Adams had four RBI. Hall added two hits.
“(Barrios’) bat to ball skills are unbelievable,” Wood said. “To be on deck and watch him go up there and compete, it's really fun.”
Edgar Sanchez and Xavier Meachem combined for four scoreless innings out of the bullpen for Beloit, who looks to snap their skid when they face the Timber Rattlers again on Tuesday at 6:35 p.m.
Gardner isn’t worried. After all, the losing streak has come immediately after his squad rattled off nine-straight wins.
“We just have to get back to playing the way we know how we can,” Gardner said. “We have good players out there. We have to pitch and play catch, that's how we're going to win games.”
• BOXSCORE:
TIMBER RATTLERS 11, SKY CARP 1
Wisconsin 203 500 100 — 11 16 1
Beloit 000 000 010 — 1 2 0
WISCONSIN (ab-r-h-rbi) — Lara, cf, 6-1-1-0, Barrios, ss, 5-3-4-1, Wood, dh, 4-2-3-1, Adams, 3b, 4-1-1-4, Hall, 1b, 5-1-2-2, Garcia, 2b, 3-1-1-1, Valerio, lf, 5-0-0-0, Rodriguez, x, 4-1-2-1, Fernadnez, rf, 4-1-2-0. Totals: 40-11-16-10.
BELOIT (ab-r-h-rbi) — Coley, rf, 4-0-0-1, Olsmtead, ss, 2-0-0-0, Zamora, 2b, 4-0-0-0, Caballero, lf, 2-0-1-0, Bullard, 3b, 2-0-0-0, Santiago, 1b, 4-0-0-0, Praytor, dh, 4-1-1-0, Barstad, c, 4-0-0-0, Johnson, cf, 3-0-0-0. Totals: 29-1-2-1.
E: Garcia. DP: Wisconsin 1, Beloit 1. LOB: Wisconsin 8, Beloit 7. SB: Barrios (16). CS: Fernandez. HR: Adams (7). SF: Garcia.
Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so): Wisconsin, Manfredi (1.2-0-0-0-3-2), Wehrle (1.1-0-0-0-0-2), Aruino (W,3-3,6.0-2-1-0-2-6). Beloit, Miller (L,3-4,3.0-10-10-10-3-1), Sanchez (2.0-1-0-0-0-0), Jimenez (2.0-2-1-1-2-2), Meachem (2.0-3-0-0-0-3).
WP: Manfredi, Sanchez, Jimenez. HBP: Bullard (by Aquino). T: 2:47. Att: 1,425.
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