Ashby, Rattlers combine on one-hitter

Aaron Ashby was unhittable in his third start of the year.
The Brewers' No. 9 prospect struck out 10 batters over five hitless innings and combined with two Wisconsin relievers on a one-hitter in a 9-0 victory over Cedar Rapids in the first game of a doubleheader Tuesday afternoon.
Ashby, 20, whiffed 10 of the 17 batters he faced before Peter Strzelecki allowed a double in the sixth, and Tyler Gillies struck out two in a perfect seventh to wrap up Wisconsin's seventh win. Ashby (1-1) threw 49 of his 83 pitches for strikes, walked three and threw one wild pitch in his strongest outing since last summer.

Cedar Rapids had its chances to threaten against the lefty but failed to connect early. Ashby walked Gabriel Maciel, the first batter of the game, and allowed him to take second on a wild pitch before striking out Trey Cabbage to end the frame. He struck out two in the second, worked around a two-out walk in the third, struck out the side in the fourth to strand Cabbage after another free pass, and wrapped up his afternoon with a 1-2-3 fifth that included a pair of strikeouts.

It was the most strikeouts for Ashby since he totaled a dozen on Aug. 24 of last year at Clinton. He struck out 10 on Aug. 19, also against Cedar Rapids.
Ashby, the nephew of veteran Major Leaguer and two-time All-Star pitcher Andy Ashby, was Milwaukee's fourth-round pick in last year's Draft out of Crowder Junior College. The 6-foot-2 starter went 2-3 with a 3.59 ERA in 13 outings last season, including seven starts with Class A Wisconsin, before returning to the Midwest League this spring. Tuesday's win was his best overall performance since last July 21 when he struck out four and held Rookie-level Ogden to a pair of hits over a career-long seven innings for Helena.
Gameday box score: Wisconsin 9, Cedar Rapids 0
The Kansas City native had allowed seven runs on 11 hits and four walks across his first two starts of the year on April 7 and 12 against Cedar Rapids and Quad Cities.
Wisconsin jumped ahead in the first on David Fry's two-run homer. Je'Von Ward added a two-out RBI triple and, two innings later, Chad McClanahan added an RBI triple of his own to plate Fry for a four-run cushion. Yeison Coca hit his second home run in the fifth off reliever Carlos Suniaga and the Timber Rattlers tacked on three more runs in the sixth on hits from Antonio Pinero, Brice Turang and Coca. Turang went 1-for-2 with two walks and accounted for Wisconsin's third run-scoring triple of the game.
Shortstop Michael Davis, a 23-year-old 24th-round pick out of Texas Tech last year, had the Kernels' only hit of the game in the sixth. Andrew Cabezas (0-2) started for Cedar Rapids and was charged with four runs on six hits and a walk over four innings. He struck out five.