(Franklin, WI) The week full of games in Wisconsin was moved down south to Franklin to start a series against the Milwaukee Milkmen at a ballpark they hadn’t played since May 16th where they were able to win the last time. Chris Erwin would get the ball and go up against another left-hander in Shane Barringer.
The Milkmen in the bottom of the first ambushed the RailCats. The entire lineup would come up to face Erwin, with Erik Ostberg hitting his 30th double of the right-center field wall and Abdiel Layer blasted a ball for a three-run homer for the Milkmen to stretch their lead out to five.
With plenty of game to go, the RailCats were getting back on the comeback trail. Jose Contreras singled through the right side for his first RBI of the night. With the bases loaded and two outs, Guillermo Quintana would drop a ball in for an-RBI single, but Willie Escala would gun down Contreras at the plate for the final out.
Chase Estep would give the Milkmen a run back in the bottom of the second, and Olivier Basabe would double in a run in the top of the third. The run exchanging didn’t stop, in the bottom of the third Kyle Huckstorf hit his second professional home run for a solo home run. The Milkmen got their lead back to five in the bottom of the third on an infield single.
The top of the fifth opened with two hits and a hit by pitch for the ‘Cats to load up the bases with no outs. Carlos Rincon hit a sacrifice fly for his 39th RBI this year, LG Castillo legged out an infield single, but the big hit came with a 3-2 count and the runners were moving and Contreras pulled the pitch down the line for a two-run double to get the RailCats within one.
Gary SouthShore wasn’t done. Two quick outs were recorded quickly in the top of the sixth, but Marcos Gonzalez would walk to kickstart a two-out rally. With the bases loaded, Basabe gave the RailCats a lead with a two-run knock. Castillo added an insurance run lining a ball past pitcher Aaron Mishoulam. Mishoulam came out of the game for Blake Purnell, and once again it was Jose Contreras doubling down the line to score in two more runs and give Contreras a three-hit, five-RBI game.
Castillo added one more run in the eighth, as the RailCats took the win 13-8 in the high-scoring contest. Carlos Sanabria, who came in for Erwin in the fourth, would be the winning pitcher and that is Sanabria’s first winning decision since 2021 when he was in the Royals system.
The RailCats reached 30 wins on the season and go for the series win Saturday night at 6:00. Peyton Long, the former pitcher of the week, will face Sebastian Rodriguez(10-4, 3.92 ERA). The game will be featured on AABaseball.TV, Mixlr, and WE.FM 95.9.