Fort Wayne, IN: The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers won five out of six games against the Fort Wayne TinCaps at Parkview Field last week. The Rattlers have an early lead in the Midwest League West Division standings with a 13-6 record after their performance at Fort Wayne.
The Rattlers opened the series with four consecutive wins with scores of 8-2 on Tuesday, 9-3 on Wednesday, 9-7 on Thursday, and 11-3 on Friday. On Saturday, a well-fought mound battle between starting pitcher Braylon Owens and the TinCaps Jamie Hitt resulted in a 2-1 Fort Wayne victory. The Rattlers rode the bus home happy after an 8-0 Sunday shutout closed the trip.
The Rattlers were very successful away from home in April with a 9-3 record in twelve road games.
Tuesday’s game was called complete in the sixth inning due to inclement weather and wet grounds.
Wednesday’s game was halted in the middle of the eighth inning to a medical emergency involving Wisconsin shortstop and Milwaukee Brewers #2 prospect Luis Peña.
"Luis Peña overheated and passed out in the dugout during last night's Wisconsin Timber Rattlers game in Fort Wayne,” said Milwaukee Brewers President - Baseball Operations and General Manager Matt Arnold. “He was transported to the hospital and treated with an IV. He is doing well, according to our medical staff, though it is a situation we will continue to monitor."
The Rattlers controlled the majority of the series on both sides of the plate, outscoring Fort Wayne 46-17.
Wisconsin pitchers limited Fort Wayne offensively in the series. The Rattlers had one pitcher go at least five innings in each game, while boasting a team ERA of 2.81 during the stretch. The Rattlers recorded 49 strikeouts while walking just 19 batters over 53 innings.
Travis Smith pitched ten innings - five as the starter on Tuesday and five in a relief appearance on Sunday - earning two wins. Ethan Dorchies, Wande Torres and Bryce Meccage were all winning pitchers as well. Michael Fowler picked up an important Thursday save, striking out three consecutive TinCap batters after inheriting the bases loaded with no outs in the bottom of the ninth.
The Wisconsin bats were busy for the bulk of the series, homering eleven times with a team batting average of .281 (56-for-199). The 26 home runs on the season set the franchise new record for April with still a handful of games remaining this month.
Power was exemplified several times on the road trip, but none topped Friday’s back-to-back-to-back home run sequence from Braylon Payne, Marco Dinges and Andrew Fischer. Payne and Dinges also hit back-to-back home runs late in Sunday’s game to end the home run fireworks. Fischer totaled three homers at Fort Wayne with Luis Castillo and Eric Bitonti each hitting a home run in the series as well.
Payne hit two additional deep flies in the series, bringing his season total to six, tying for the league lead. Payne was rewarded by Minor League Baseball for his outstanding performance in Fort Wayne by being named the Midwest League’s Player of the Week.
Dinges scored eight runs and also drove in eight at Fort Wayne. Fischer knocked in five runs. Josh Adamczewski was hardly off the bases, drawing six walks and eight base hits in 24 plate appearances. David Garcia, Tayden Hall and Josiah Ragsdale each had two doubles during the span.
The Timber Rattler bats fared especially well with two outs in the series, hitting .338 with five home runs, eight doubles and 26 RBI.
The Timber Rattlers will be back in action on Tuesday at Neuroscience Group Field to begin a six-game series with the Quad Cities River Bandits (10-8). The Rattlers faced Quad Cities from April 7-12, winning four of six in Davenport.
SCHEDULE AND PROBABLES:
TUE, April 28th - 6:40 PM: RHP Ethan Dorchies (1-2, 7.04) vs. TBD
WED, April 29th - 12:10 PM: LHP Wande Torres (1-0, 5.14) vs. TBD
THU, April 30th - 6:40 PM: RHP Bryce Meccage (1-0, 2.93) vs. TBD
FRI, May 1st - 6:40 PM: RHP Yorman Galindez (0-2, 7.27) vs. TBD
SAT, May 2nd - 1:10 PM: TBD vs. TBD
SUN, May 3rd - 1:10 PM: TBD vs. TBD