GRAND CHUTE, WI – A quartet of Wisconsin Timber Rattlers pitchers were in perfect harmony as they twirled a three-hit shutout over the West Michigan Whitecaps on Friday night at Neuroscience Group Field. Will Rudy, Bayden Root, Yerlin Rodriguez, and Aaron Rund combined for ten strikeouts as they continued an incredible run of pitching for the Timber Rattlers.
Wisconsin (55-30 overall, 13-6 second half) broke out on top in the bottom of the fourth inning. Luis Lara hit lead-off home run to right, his second home run of the season, to put the Rattlers up 1-0. Jadher Areinamo followed with a single. Then, Luke Adams hit his ninth home run of the season and the Rattlers were up 3-0.
Lara added to the lead with a sacrifice fly to score Jesús Chirinos in the bottom of the fifth.
West Michigan (41-44, 10-9) had two hits and three walks in the first five innings against Rudy, the Rattlers starting pitcher, who turned the game over to the bullpen for the sixth. Rudy had five strikeouts in the scoreless outing.
The Timber Rattlers scored twice more in the sixth inning. Eduardo Garcia tripled, and Tayden Hall walked with two outs. Jesús Chirinos drove in Garcia with a single to knock West Michigan starting pitcher Colin Fields out of the game.
Three Wisconsin relievers closed out the game with four scoreless innings. Root allowed a hit and struck out two over two shutout innings. Rodriguez tossed a 1-2-3 eighth inning with a strikeout. Rund struck out two in a perfect ninth inning to close out Wisconsin’s third shutout of the Whitecaps in the series.
Bennett Lee had all three of West Michigan’s hits on Friday night. Felix Valerio had three hits for the Timber Rattlers.
In the first four games of this series, Wisconsin pitchers have allowed two runs – one earned – and struck out 41 over 37 innings.
The Timber Rattlers have won five games in a row. This is the fourth time they have won five in a row. The Timber Rattlers are also 25 games over .500 for the first time since 2001. Plus, Friday’s shutout was their ninth of the season, which ties the Dayton Dragons for the Midwest League lead in that category.
Game five of the series is Saturday night at Neuroscience Group Field. Yujanyer Herrera (5-1, 3.40) is set to start with Devin Williams scheduled to pitch in relief for the Timber Rattlers. West Michigan will counter with Joe Miller (4-1, 2.53) as their starting pitcher. Game time is 6:40pm CDT.
Star Wars Night presented by Stacey Hennessey is happening on Saturday at the stadium. Players and coaches will wear this year’s Star Wars jerseys for this game. Those jerseys are available in an online auction at this link. We will have characters from the movies at the stadium for fans of all ages to meet. Fireworks are set to go off after the game courtesy of Menasha Corporation. Kids aged twelve and under may run the bases courtesy of Menasha Corporation after the fireworks are done for the evening.
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