Rucinski in complete control for Rockford
Katie Roupe / Observer-Reporter Despite the rain, the Washington Wild Things played a game for diehard fans donned in ponchos and umbrellas Monday night.
Katie Roupe / Observer-Reporter The Washington Wild Things' Shawn Blackwell pitches against the Aviators during Monday night's game.
After a rain delay, the Wild Things continued to play in the rain when a full rainbow spanned the width of the field during the game Monday.
Katie Roupe / Observer-Reporter The Wild Things' Darian Sandford gets a base hit off of a bunt during the bottom of the first inning against the Aviators.
The sniper-like action started early Monday night and emboldened Rockford Aviators starting pitcher Drew Rucinski with confidence.
If he wanted to throw his fastball two inches under the batter’s hands on the inside corner of the plate, then it happened. If Rucinski thought about a tricky off-speed pitch just low and outside, then it was no problem.
And chances were, he was getting a swing and a miss, too.
Rucinski, Rockford’s only representative in last week’s Frontier League All-Star game, threw a five-hit complete game in the Aviators’ 5-1 win over the Wild Things on a soggy night at Consol Energy Park.
Rucinski (4-6), an Ohio State University product who is in his third season with Rockford, allowed only a first-inning run, walked only one batter and added 10 more to his league-leading strikeout total. Washington hitters had 15 swings and misses against Rucinski.
“I was able to locate my fastball and mix in my other pitches when I had to,” Rucinski said. “The strikeouts came with it. I was just trying to fill up the strike zone and let it happen.”
A lanky right-hander, Rucinski retired 15 of 16 Washington hitters at one stretch and nine of the game’s last 10.
Having already surpassed the 100-pitch mark, Rucinski began the ninth inning by giving up a leadoff single to C.J. Beatty. There was, however, never any doubt that Rucinski would remain on the mound to try for a complete game. Aviators manager James Frisbee might have needed a court order or the Jaws of Life to remove his pitcher.
Rucinski retired the next three batters to give Rockford its first three-game winning streak of the season.
“He’s an all-star pitcher. We knew that going in,” said Beatty, who had two of Washington’s hits.
“We beat him early in the year, but it was a low-scoring game. He’s a great pitcher. He knows what kind of team he has. It’s not going to score a bunch of runs for him, so he pitches that way. He tries to strike everyone out.”
That was obvious early in the game as Rucinski had nine of his strikeouts in the first five innings.
“He throws hard, and his changeup is good against lefties,” Beatty said. “He didn’t walk guys. He came right at us.”
Walks are what hurt Washington starter Shawn Blackwell (3-5). He issued five in 6 1/3 innings. Four of the walks came in the fourth inning when Rockford scored the go-ahead run for a 2-1 lead.
The Aviators chased Blackwell in the seventh when Jeff Kremer, a rookie from Duke, had a two-run single. Rockford tacked on an insurance run in the eighth when Greg Van Horn’s sacrifice fly scored Kenny Bryant.
After Rockford took a 1-0 lead, Washington scored its lone run in the bottom of the first inning. Darian Sandford led off with a bunt single and advanced on two stolen bases, his 38th and 39th of the season. Sandford scored on Beatty’s single up the middle.
The Wild Things, however, didn’t have another hit until A.J. Nunziato’s broken-bat double in the sixth.
“(Rucinski) is one of the best pitchers in the league, by far. … He didn’t let off the gas tonight,” Beatty said.
Rucinski has been a hard-luck pitcher for the Aviators, who stumbled out of the gate with a 3-18 record that cost manager Rich Austin his job. Frisbee has turned things around as Rockford has gone 16-17 over its last 33 games.
“We brought guys in here who hustle, play hard and want to win,” Rucinski said. “(Frisbee) has got us going, and we’ve bought into his style.”
While the Aviators are surging, the Wild Things have gone in the opposite direction. After starting 14-8, they have lost 22 of 33 and are a season-low five games under .500.