The rain eventually arrived Monday night at Kelly Automotive Park.

The BlueSox bats got there first.

Butler banged out 13 hits in five innings of a rain-shortened game — chasing West Virginia starter Brian Cherrington after three innings — in rolling to a 10-2 Prospect League victory over the Miners.

“We’ve got five or six guys in our lineup who hit either third or fourth for their college teams,” BlueSox manager Jason Radwan said. “Some of them are hitting seventh, eighth or ninth for us.

“If we put good swings on good pitches like we did tonight, we’ll be tough to stop.”

The first five batters in the BlueSox lineup were a combined 10-for-14 against Cherrington, collecting eight runs and eight RBI. The game was called approximately 15 minutes after a downpour hit just as the bottom of the sixth inning got under way.

Butler’s win was its first in four tries against West Virginia this season and pulled the BlueSox within a half-game of the Miners in the East Division.

“Their hits weren’t little bloops off the end of the bat or slow dribblers ... They hit the ball hard,” Miners manager Tim Epling said. “Our guy (Cherrington) was leaving his pitches up and they were on him.

“Sometimes you need a game like this. Lessons can be learned. We didn’t locate our pitches tonight and we paid for it.”

Cherrington threw 84 pitches in his three innings of work.

“He was having trouble getting his breaking pitches over and we were sitting on his fastball,” Radwan said.

Danny Hrbek and Will Schneider paced the BlueSox attack. Hrbek homered to right in the first inning, then hit a two-run double high off the right field wall in the second frame. He scored three runs as well.

“I’ve never homered in back-to-back at bats anywhere, ever,” Hrbek said. “I thought the second ball had a better chance of getting out than the first.

“Hitting is contagious. Start out hot and everyone seems to join in. That’s what happened tonight.”

Hrbek hit approximately .330 at Radford before joining the BlueSox. Schneider hit .340 at Morehead State.

Schneider had three singles and a pair of RBI. He is hitting .667 — 14 for 21 — since joining the team.

“I’ve never been on a streak like this,” Schneider said. “I’m just enjoying it, trying to keep it going as long as I can.”

Left-hander Alex Wagner from the University of Toledo made his first start for the BlueSox. After throwing 47 pitches in the first two innings, he settled down and worked all six frames.

Wagner struck out five and threw an even 100 pitches, 60 for strikes.

“Alex had a rocky start, but settled down,” Radwan said. “This was his first start and he’ll build on it.”

After playing nine of their first 11 games at home, the BlueSox begin a four-game road trip tonight at Champion City. Their next home game is a Fireworks Night at 7:05 p.m. Saturday against Chillicothe.

West Virginia 020 000 x — 2 6 1

BlueSox 342 10x x — 10 13 2

W: Alex Wagner 6IP (5K, 2BB). L: Brian Cherrington 3IP (0K, 3BB).

West Virginia (6-4): Nick Delgado 1B RBI, Ryan Perkins 1B, Tanner Levine 2B, Taylor Hillson 1B, A.J. Kloehn 2-1B RBI

Butler (6-5): Garrett Vrbanic 2B 1B 2-R RBI, Danny Hrbek HR 2B 3-R 3-RBI, Will Schneider 3-1B 2-R 2-RBI, Jamie Switalski 2B 1B 2-RBI, Dalton Hoiles 2-1B RBI, Jake Kennedy RBI, Nick Stotler 2-1B

Today: Butler at Champion City