AppleSox Top Bells to Win 400th at Paul Thomas Sr. Stadium

AppleSox pitchers limited their opponent to two-runs-or-less for the fourth time this summer and Wenatchee picked up its 400th win all-time at Paul Thomas Sr. Stadium with a 4-1 victory over the Bells on Saturday night.

Reid Rasmussen (1-1) only allowed one run on a third-inning solo shot by Daniel Gernon and stymied the Bells over five solid innings to become the third AppleSox starting pitcher to toss five innings in a start. He exited with a shoulder injury during the first at-bat of the sixth inning, but both he and Head Coach Ian Sanderson said he would avoid an inactive stint.

Tino Bethancourt launched his second home run in the last three days and has now driven in five runs while also scoring five times in the last three games.

Four AppleSox pitchers combined to toss four shutout innings of relief. Jeffrey Heinrich had the most dramatic inning as he entered an inning after Bethancourt’s two-run shot for the injured Rasmussen in a 3-2 count against Gernon, who reached on an error. With one out, Heinrich got a pop out and a strikeout, but the ball got away and the second out was recorded. A walk followed to load the bases, but Heinrich buckled down and struck out the next two hitters to strand the bases loaded in his AppleSox debut.

Alex Brady also made his team debut and struck out two in a scoreless eighth after allowing a leadoff single. Rance Pittman also allowed a leadoff base-hit in the ninth, but picked up his first save of the 2021 season with a scoreless ninth.

Wenatchee trailed 1-0 entering the bottom of the fourth and would end the inning stranding the bases-loaded, but cashed in before leaving three men on base. Bethancourt was hit by a pitch with one out and and advanced to third after Garrett Cutting followed with a single. Rece Stapp grounded out to score Bethancourt and advance Cutting to third and Cutting scored on a wild pitch to score the eventual game-winning run.

The AppleSox go for the sweep on Sunday night against the Bells. Wenatchee has not announced a starter, but Bellingham will send Kyle Dunning (0-0, 0.00 ERA) to the rubber for the 5:35 p.m. game.

Listen to postgame interviews with Sanderson and Rasmussen below.