Stashak dominates in eight shutout frames

Class A Cedar Rapids' Cody Stashak is the type of pitcher who likes to push the pace. On Thursday night, his tempo was too much for Wisconsin to handle.

The Twins right-hander allowed one hit and struck out eight over a career-high eight scoreless innings Thursday as the Kernels blanked the visiting Timber Rattlers, 1-0. He walked three.

"I like working fast when I start," Stashak said. "I want to get in and out and back in again. When I warm up before an inning, I only throw about five pitches, I try to speed things up. And I think to myself, 'I can't let the pitcher I'm facing beat me.'"

The 22-year-old retired his first 15 batters, fanning five over that span. Juan Ortiz broke up his bid for perfection with a broken-bat single to right field to lead off the sixth inning. 

"It was one of those nights, my bullpen went well before the game and I was able to keep everything low," Stashak said. "I was able to bring what I did well in that with me into the game."

Ortiz was picked off first by Kernels catcher Kevin Garcia, which the 2015 13th-round pick said pumped him up.

"They got that bloop hit and it just gave me some more fire to keep pitching," he said. "I try not to let that stuff get to me. I was confident in every pitch I threw tonight. I'm not going to let a little hit mess up my whole game. But, yeah, that was pretty nice of Kevin to do that."

After getting through the seventh for the first time in his career, Stashak (5-5) was approached by Cedar Rapids pitching coach J.P. Martinez, who wanted to check in on his starter. The St. John's University product said he was adamant about staying on the mound.

"When he came up to me, he asked me if I wanted to go out for the eighth," he said. "I looked at him and said, 'Why are you even asking me that question?'"

Stashak worked around a walk to Max McDowell cap his outing with a scoreless eighth.

In his first full season of professional baseball, the New Jersey native has a 3.17 ERA, a 1.11 WHIP while allowing only two homers in 82 1/3 innings.

"I've been keeping the ball down consistently," he said. "The two homers I've given up, one was an ambush on a first pitch that got up and the other one was a fastball that I left up."

Tom Hackimer struck out one during a 1-2-3 ninth to record his first save of the season.

Jaylin Davis doubled and scored the game's only run on Rainis Silva's groundout in the second. 

Wisconsin starter Jordan Yamamoto (4-4) allowed one run on seven hits and struck out seven in seven innings.