Timber Rattlers' Herrera goes the distance

Carlos Herrera watched his club drop the opener of Thursday's doubleheader and decided to take matters into his own hands in the finale.
Milwaukee's No. 30 prospect turned in the first complete game of his career, allowing two hits and a walk while striking out six over seven innings as Class A Wisconsin topped Burlington, 4-0, in the nightcap of the twinbill. The Bees took the opener, 4-1.

"He's always had an up-tempo approach, very aggressive mind-set, and he goes after the hitters from pitch one," Wisconsin pitching coach Steve Cline said. "That was very evident tonight. He was 14-of-22 first-pitch strikes on the night. He had 11 of what we call early-count outs, where you get outs with three pitches or less. That was very evident from the start."
After starting the season with Rookie-level Helena, Herrera (2-0) made his Midwest League debut on July 9 against Burlington, surrendering three runs on five hits in four innings. Less than three weeks later, the 19-year-old turned things around with an aggressive approach.
"That's part of our philosophy, our organization," Cline said. "We preach throwing strike one. We preach trying to get the hitter out in three pitches or less. That's all part of the lessons he started to learn initially last year in the [Rookie-level] Arizona League."
Herrera yielded a double to Julian Leon to open the second inning and a single to Zane Gurwitz leading off the third, but got out of each frame unscathed. After picking off Jonah Todd at first to end the third, the native of the Dominican Republic retired the final 12 batters in a row.
"He pitches with a lot of confidence," Cline said. "He throws his stuff with a lot of conviction. That's all part of what was going on tonight. We preach fastball command, and he was able to pitch back and forth with fastball-changeup and occasionally side to side with his fastball and slider."
The Brewers acquired Herrera from the Mariners in December 2015. One area of expected growth for the 6-foot-2, 150-pound righty is physical development. Cline, who worked with him last year in Arizona, has been impressed with his charge's steady progress.

"I think he's getting stronger, but when you look at him, you're not going to see that because he's got one of those frames that's wiry. He could probably eat three good meals a day and still not put on any weight because that's how his metabolism is," the pitching coach said with a laugh. "He's a very upbeat, energetic guy. He's making strides, just looking at him tonight compared to last summer, maybe they're not quite as quick as we'd like, but he came to a new organization in the trade. We took our time with him because of the fact that he was a young guy. He's progressing quite well."
Herrera also gave his staff a lift after the Timber Rattlers dropped the opener. Josh Pennington (0-2) was tagged for three runs in the first inning for Wisconsin before giving way to Colton Cross in the fourth. 
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"It gives you an opportunity to give those guys in the bullpen, if they've been used quite a bit, to give them an extra day," Cline said. "You're heading into the last month of the season where I think there's only two scheduled off days in the whole month. Unless the weather cooperates once in a while and gets us a rainout, you go into the month of August maybe with a little bit of a breather.
"We still have five more games on this road trip before we return back home, but any time you can get a guy to go out there and fill up seven innings for you, it's a boost not only for him but for the whole pitching staff."
Weston Wilson went 3-for-3 with two doubles and two RBIs for the Timber Rattlers.