ABOUT LAST NIGHT: The Timber Rattlers beat the Burlington Bees 2-1 last night. Trey Watten pitched a career high eight innings and allowed one unearned run for the win. Daniel Meadows pitched a scoreless ninth for the save.
HOW TO SCORE TWO RUNS: Pete Fatse was at third with two outs in the first inning and scored on a passed ball charged to Burlington catcher Sean McCauley. In the top of the sixth, Fatse scored from third base again. This time it was on a bases loaded walk to Corey Kemp issued by Burlington reliever Eric Basurto.
A BLEMISH: Watten retired the first seven batters he faced in the game. Shawn Griffin got the first Burlington hit with a bunt single and he would go to second on a throwing error. Watten retired the next eight batters before giving up another hit to Griffin.
AN UNEARNED RUN: Eric Hosmer doubled to leadoff Burlington’s sixth inning. Watten retired the next two batters and appeared to be out of the inning on a line drive to left off the bat of David Wood. But, the ball was misjudged for an error and Hosmer scored the run. Watten got the next batter and pitched a perfect eighth to finish his evening.
THE WHOLE PICTURE: Watten allowed three hits, did not walk a batter and struck out six over his three innings. Of the 24 outs recorded by Watten, there were 14 groundouts, four fly outs and six Ks.
SAVINGS PLAN: Meadows struck out a pair of batters in the bottom of the ninth his first professional save.
I’M WALKIN’, YES, INDEED, I’M WALKIN’: Rattlers second baseman Brett Lawrie walked four times in four plate appearances last night. As a team, the Rattlers drew nine walks last night.
AAAAAAYYYYYY! Fatse had two hits, walked once, stole a base, and scored both Rattlers runs. The 24th round pick of the Brewers in the 2009 draft has at least one hit in all five games as a Rattler since joining the club. He is 6-for-19 (.316) on the season.
CAIN WATCH: The Milwaukee Brewers sent outfielder Lorenzo Cain to the Rattlers to work his way back from injury. Last night, Cain was 1-for-2 with two walks. He is 2-for-6 with three walks and a run scored in two games with the Rattlers.
ANOTHER STEP FORWARD: The win last night moved the Timber Rattlers back above the .500 mark to 40-39. Since winning the first game of the second half put their record at 35-36, the Rattlers have either been one game under .500, at .500, or one game over .500 for their overall record.
ABOUT THE OPPONENTS: The Burlington Bees are the Midwest League affiliate of the Kansas City Royals. They are the defending Midwest League Champions. The Bees went 29-41 and finished seventh in the eight team Western Division. Burlington is off to a 4-5 start in the second half. It’s early, but they are tied with Quad Cities one game behind Clinton for the wildcard spot and two games behind the 6-3 Timber Rattlers.
SEASON SERIES: The season series is tied 4-4. Burlington took two out of three from the Rattlers at Time Warner Cable Field May 5-7. The teams split a four game series at Community Field June 14-17.
COMPARE AND CONTRAST: The Timber Rattlers are hitting .245 as a team. They have scored 330 runs (4.2/game) and hit 37 home runs. The Bees are hitting .244 as a team. They have scored 339 runs (4.3/game) and hit 30 homers. Wisconsin pitchers have a team ERA of 3.93 while allowing a total of 352 runs (4.5/game). Burlington pitchers have a team ERA of 4.06 while allowing 386 runs (4.9/game). The Timber Rattler defense has committed 94 errors. The Bees defense has committed 96 errors. Wisconsin is 14-21 on the road this season. Burlington is 13-27 at home this season.
BURLINGTON STARTING PITCHER: RHP Sam Runion was a second round pick of the Royals out of A.C. Reynolds High School in Ashville, North Carolina in the 2007 draft. He is 2-4 with a 6.60 ERA in 12 starts for the Bees this season. Runion split time between the Appalachian League and the Midwest League last season. Runion went 2-5 with a 5.75 ERA in nine games (five starts) for the Bees to start last year. He was 3-4 with a 3.35ERA in 10 starts after being transferred to the Burlington (NC) Royals. Runion is 3-4 with a 6.08 ERA in 15 starts for the Bees this season. In his start prior to this afternoon, Runion allowed four runs on four hits with four walks and two strikeouts over 5-1/3 innings pitched at Quad Cities on June 30. He was not involved in the decision. Runion faced the Timber Rattlers on June 16 at Community Field. Wisconsin scored three runs on nine hits over five innings, but had a no decision in the game. Runion is rated as the #28 prospect in the Kansas City organization by Baseball America.
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