July 25 Game Notes

ABOUT LAST NIGHT: The West Michigan Whitecaps beat the Timber Rattlers 8-5. The Whitecaps scored four runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to snap a 4-4 tie. Justin Henry had two hits, scored two runs, and drove in three for the Whitecaps.

EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED: Last night’s starting pitchers – Alfredo Figaro of the Whitecaps and Michael Pineda of the Timber Rattlers – were ranked #1 and #4 in the Midwest League ERA race respectively heading into the contest. Figaro gave up a season high ten hits and a season high four earned runs in five innings. Pineda gave up four runs (three earned) over 4-2/3 innings. Neither pitcher was involved in the decision.

UP EARLY: The Rattler scored once in the first and twice in the second to grab an early 3-0 lead.

BACK TO EVEN: The Whitecaps scored twice in the third and – after Wisconsin scored a run in the top of the fifth – twice in the bottom of the fifth to tie the game 4-4.

KEY PLAY: The Whitecaps had the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the sixth. Rattler reliever Keith Meyer gave up a double Henry that drove in two runs. Rattler left fielder Denny Almonte tried to get Henry at second but, his throw sailed to the West Michigan bullpen and two more runs scored for an 8-4 lead.

ERRORS IN UNLIKELY PLACES: Wisconsin committed two errors last night and both were by outfielders. Maximo Mendez misplayed a single in the third inning that led to an unearned run for the other outfielder miscue.

50/50: Rattler slugger Joe Dunigan continued his hot hitting with two more hits last night. Dunigan is on a season-high six game hitting streak and is 12-for-24 during this run. He is one game shy of his career-high hitting streak of seven games, which he collected in 2007 with Everett.

STOLEN MOMENTS: Wisconsin picked up three more stolen bases last night. Dunigan stole second base in the top of the fifth inning to add to his team-leading total of 20. Mendez stole his nineteenth base of the season last night. Almonte swiped his tenth base of the year. As a team, the Rattlers have 119 stolen bases and they are tied with Burlington for third in the Midwest League in that category. Cedar Rapids leads the league with 182 and Beloit is second with 135.

ALL NINE: The Rattlers knocked out 13 more hits in the game last night and all nine batters in the lineup had at least one hit. Edilio Colina, Almonte, and Joe White joined Dunigan with a two-hit game.

AGAINST THE EAST: This is the last road game against an Eastern Division opponent for the Timber Rattlers in 2008. So far this season, Wisconsin is 4-13 in road games against the East.

ABOUT THE OPPONENTS: The West Michigan Whitecaps are the Midwest League affiliate of the Detroit Tigers. They finished the first half with a record of 37-31 and qualified for the playoffs as the Eastern Division Wild Card. The Whitecaps are 16-16 in the second half. West Michigan has a record of 27-22 at home this season.

COMPARE AND CONTRAST: The Timber Rattlers are hitting .239 as a team and have scored 367 runs (3.7/game). Wisconsin has hit 35 home runs this season. The Timber Rattler pitching staff has a combined ERA of 3.96. West Michigan is hitting .254 as a team and has scored 448 runs (4.5/game). The Whitecaps have hit 45 home runs this season. The West Michigan pitching staff has a combined ERA of 3.39.

2008 SEASON SERIES: West Michigan leads the season series 4-1. The Whitecaps took two out of three games from the Timber Rattlers on Time Warner Cable Field at Fox Cities Stadium from April 28-30. West Michigan won the first game of the series 4-3. The Rattlers won game two 7-5. The Whitecaps took the rubber game 6-1. West Michigan has won the first two games of this series.

WEST MICHIGAN STARTING PITCHER: LH Jonathan Kibler was Detroit’s 30th round pick of the 2007 draft. The former Michigan State Spartan was a third-team All-Big Ten selection as a junior after going 5-5 with a 4.34 ERA. He split time between the Gulf Coast League and Oneonta of the New York-Penn League last season and compiled a 3-2 record with a 2.41ERA over those two stops. Kibler, wo was named Midwest League Pitcher of the Week on May 19, is 9-4 this season and leads the Midwest League in ERA with a 1.94. Over 112.2IP he has allowed 71 hits and walked 25 for a WHIP of 0.85. In his start prior to this evening, Kibler was beaten at Burlington. On July 20 at Community Field, he allowed one run on four hits over six innings and saw his three-game winning streak end.