Peoria Cheifs at Wisconsin Timber Rattlers
April 16th, 2004
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| Wisconsin |
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LOB PEO-6, WIS-8, 2B-Santor, Dryer, Collins, Bradford, Navarro, HR-Frisella, SB-Navarro
WP-Drown 2, Brey
Appleton Post Crescent
by Brett Christopherson
Ryan Feierabend picked a perfect time to be forgetful.
Ignoring a rough first outing in which he lasted only one inning, the left hander bounced back in impressive fashion in leading the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers past the Peoria Chiefs 5-1 Friday night in a Midwest League game at Fox Cities Stadium.
Wheather it was popping the mitt with his fastball or mixing things up with an effective array of curveballs, sliders and changups the 18 year old baffled the Chiefs batters and not only earned his first victory of the season but helped the Timber Rattlers win their fourth straight game.
"I felt real good," Feierabend said. "When I was warming up, the last time I almost felt too good. This time I felt like I knew I was going to pitch good tonight."
Feierabend struck out six and scattered just four hits and recorded two outs in the eighth inning before giving way to reliever Juan Ovalles.
At one point, Feierabend retired 12 straight batters and left the game throwing only 91 pitches.
His only mistake was leaving a pitch out over the middle of the plate that Peoria's Sal Frisella drove over the left field wall in the fourth inning, snapping a streak of 22 1/3 innings in which Rattlers pitchers hadn't surrendered a run.
"I knew that what you saw last week with Ryan Feierabend wasn't the Ryan Feierabend I thought we'd see the rest of the year." said Timber Rattlers manager Steve Roadcap. "The ball jumped out of his hand the way that it did in spring training. It was nice to see him throw the way that he did tonight."
The difference from his last start, a 10-3 loss to Clinton April 10 at Fox Cities Stadium in which he gave up five earned runs, was that Feierabend was able to consistently get in front of batters.
"When you're ahead of the count you can control what the batter is going to do, basically," said Feierabend. "When it's 2-1 or 3-1, that's a fastball count. But if you're 0-2 or 1-2, you can spike a curve into the dirt or throw something where you're almost like wasting a pitch, but you're really not because they might offer at it."
The Game
Oswaldo Navarro went three for four with two doubles and Ryan Feierabend pitched 7 2/3 solid innings in leading the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers past the Peoria Chiefs 5-1 in a Midwest League game Friday night at Fox Cities Stadium in Grand Chute.
The Timber Rattlers, winners of four straight games, jumped out to a 3-0 lead after two innings when Navarro drove in Sam Bradford on a double to right center field. In the fifth, Rattler catcher Chris Collins singled home Adam Jones.
Jones finished with two runs scored, while Feierabend allowed only four hits while striking out six.
Timber Rattlers reliever Brian Stitt worked out of a bases loaded jam in the ninth by retiring the one batter he faced. It was Stitt's third save of the season.
Wisconsin hurlers saw their 22 1/3 scoreless inning streak come to an end when Peoria's Sal Frisella hit a solo home run in the fourth inning. The Rattlers' Bradford ended a zero for 14 slump to open the season when he connected on a two out single in the second.