APPLETON- WI – The West Michigan Whitecaps were strong in all phases as part of an 8-4 victory over the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers in front of 1,230 fans Tuesday night at Fox Cities Stadium.
On the mound, starting pitcher, Garrett Hill (1-0) dominated in five scoreless innings with a season-high eight strikeouts to earn the victory. At the same time, both Rey Rivera and Eliezer Alfonzo tallied three-hit performances as the Whitecaps won the first game of a series for the first time this year.
The ‘Caps opened the scoring in the first inning when Andre Lipcius and Daniel Cabrera connected for back-to-back, run-scoring doubles to take a 2-0 lead. In the fourth, Rivera launched his first homer of the season to straightaway center field to extend the advantage to 8-0. In the sixth, West Michigan added four more runs in an inning highlighted by a two-run double from Spencer Torkelson to increase the lead to 7-0.
In the seventh, Timber Rattlers third baseman Chad McClanahan launched a one-out grand-slam against Whitecaps reliever Brendan White to slice the ‘Caps lead to 7-4. Pitcher Yaya Chentouf came in to toss 1.2 innings of scoreless relief before Alfonzo finished his three-hit night with an RBI single before Ruben Garcia collected the final three outs to help West Michigan pick up the Tuesday night victory.
In the seventh, Timber Rattlers third baseman Chad McClanahan launched a one-out grand-slam against Whitecaps reliever Brendan White to slice the ‘Caps lead to 7-4. Pitcher Yaya Chentouf came in to toss 1.2 innings of scoreless relief before Alfonzo finished his three-hit night with an RBI-single before Ruben Garcia collected the final three outs to help West Michigan pick up the Tuesday night victory.
Hill was tremendous in the win, setting a Whitecaps season-best for strikeouts in a single game with eight while becoming the teams’ first starting pitcher to collect a victory since the 2019 season. The Whitecaps record improves to 5-7 while the Timber Rattlers fall under .500 to 6-7.
UP NEXT
The Whitecaps continue this six-game set against the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers on Wednesday at 7:35 pm. The Whitecaps send pitcher Chance Kirby to the mound Wisconsin pitcher Reese Olson. Broadcast coverage with Dan Hasty starts on the Whitecaps Baseball Network at 7:20 pm. A limited number of tickets are available for select Whitecaps 2021 home contests by calling the Whitecaps front office at 616-784-4131 or visiting www.whitecapsbaseball.com.
