Davies Dominates, Rattlers Sweep Clinton and Move Into Wild Card Lead

CLINTON, IA - Starting pitcher Zach Davies went the distance and the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers defeated the Clinton LumberKings 5-0 on Monday night at Ashford University Field. The win allowed the Rattlers to conclude a four-game sweep of the LumberKings. The win, combined with the results of two other Western Division games, also allowed the Rattlers to take over the Second Half Wild Card Lead.
Wisconsin (65-68 overall, 34-30 second half) grabbed the lead in the third inning. Darren Seferina doubled with one out. KJ Harrison drove in Seferina with a two-out single and the Rattlers had a 1-0 advantage.

The Rattlers added to their lead with a two-out rally in the top of the fifth. Tristen Lutz started the outburst with a double to left-center to keep the inning alive. Harrison followed with a double to right-center to score Lutz. Gilbert Lara was next and he hit a double off the wall in right to get Harrison home for a 3-0 lead.

Clinton (66-68, 27-37) had a threat against Davies in the bottom of the fifth inning as the first two batters reached on singles against him. But, Davies stranded both runners with a strikeout, a flyout, and a grounder to second.

Wisconsin tacked on two more runs in the seventh inning. They loaded the bases with no outs against reliever Matt Clancy on a single and two walks. Payton Henry drove in the first run of the inning by grounding into a force play at second base. Chad McClanahan made it 5-0 in favor of the Rattlers with a sacrifice fly to center.

Davies gave up a pair of singles with one out in the bottom of the seventh, but gloved a liner off the top of the mound and threw to first to end the inning with Wisconsin's fourth double play of the night.

The right-hander set down the LumberKings in order in the eighth and ninth innings to record the first nine-inning, complete-game shutout by a Wisconsin pitcher since David Goforth tossed one in Game Two of the first round playoff series against the Burlington Bees on September 7, 2012.
 
Davies needed just 85 pitches for the seven-hit shutout. He walked none and struck out six in the game.

In the Second Half Western Division Wild Card Race, the Cedar Rapids Kernels beat Kane County Cougars 5-1 and the Peoria Chiefs defeated the Beloit Snappers 9-4 on Monday night. The Kernels clinched the Second Half Western Division Title with their win.

Wisconsin, which has gone 5-1 in their last six games, is now 34-30 in the second half. Both Kane County and Beloit are both 33-30 and fall to a half-game behind Wisconsin. There are six games remaining in the regular season.
 
The Timber Rattlers are off on Tuesday. They will resume play on Wednesday with the start of a three-game series against the Beloit Snappers at Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium. Dylan File (7-9, 4.08) is the scheduled starting pitcher for Wisconsin.   Beloit has named Gus Varland (0-0, 0.79) as their starter. Game time is 7:05pm.
Wednesday night is a Local Five Night. Follow Local Five and their staff members on Social Media to find out how you can purchase a ticket to this game for $5. 

All fans may enjoy Cher-Make hotdogs and Pepsi products for $1. Fans 21 and older may purchase 12-ounce domestic beers for $1. This is a part of the final Bang for Your Buck Night at the ballpark with Y100 of regular season! Also, one lucky fan will win two charter airfare tickets courtesy of AAA Travel and Funjet Vacations.

This is the first of three games in which Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Keon Broxton is scheduled to play for the Timber Rattlers.

If you can't make it out to the ballpark, there are many ways to catch the action. The radio broadcast is on AM1280, WNAM starting with the Potawatomi Hotel & Casino Pregame Show at 6:45pm. Spectrum Sports will televise the game starting at 7:00pm. The broadcast is also available on the Tune In and IHeart Radio apps. Subscribers to MiLB.tv can watch the game over the internet.