Link Report for Games of Thursday, May 7th

[Mass Haas]

http://www.brewerfan.net/images/store/dailylinkreport.jpg

[Mass Haas]

Thursday's Daily Menu:

 

All times Central; pitchers subject to change --

 

Link here for the live audio choices - audio will no longer archive.

 

Sorry, no audio for this Brevard County series.

 

Nashville: RHP Mike Burns at Iowa (Cubs), 6:10 PM pre-game; 6:35 gametime

 

Huntsville: RHP Mark Holliman and LHP Bobby Bramhall in a doubleheader at West Tenn (Mariners), 4:50 PM pre-game; 5:05 gametime; each contest slated for seven innings

 

Brevard County: RHP Mark Rogers at Lakeland (Tigers), 7:00 PM gametime

 

Wisconsin: RHP Trey Watten at home vs. Burlington (Royals), 6:20 PM pre-game, 6:35 gametime

[Mass Haas]

Diehard Sounds fans can watch the series in Iowa via MiLB.TV. The cost is $6.95 monthly, $29.95 for the season for live and archived video feeds. The Sounds will likely be on MiLB.TV approx. 15-20 times this season, I'd imagine. It does not appear single game purchases are still available any longer, and blackouts (Des Moines area in this case) do apply.

[Mass Haas]

Follow Thursday's action as it happens:

Here's what you do, right click on each of the links below and choose "Open in New Tab or New Window". Choose "Recap". While you're listening to your minor league game of choice (or watching/listening to the big league Crew when they are playing), simply refresh your game log browsers every so often.

 

MiLB.com now has Gameday available for AA as well as AAA this season.

 

Nashville:

 

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_box&gid=2009_05_07_nasaaa_iowaaa_1

Huntsville Game One:

 

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=t559&t=g_box&gid=2009_05_07_hunaax_wtdaax_1

 

Huntsville Game Two:

 

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=t559&t=g_box&gid=2009_05_07_hunaax_wtdaax_2

 

Brevard County:

 

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=t503&t=g_box&gid=2009_05_07_breafa_lakafa_1

 

Wisconsin:

 

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?t=g_box&gid=2009_05_07_burafx_wisafx_1&did=t572&sid=t572

[Mass Haas]

This link will be included in each daily report when the Nashville Sounds are scheduled to play. Normally it is updated a few hours prior to gametime.

 

Nashville Media Notes (Adobe .pdf format):

 

[Mass Haas]

Midwest League Standings

[Mass Haas]

 Pacific Coast League (AAA) - PCL American North Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Memphis 15 9 .625 - 9-4 6-5 W1 Iowa 14 11 .560 1.5 7-4 7-7 W1 Omaha 14 11 .560 1.5 5-5 9-6 L1 Nashville 14 12 .538 2.0 6-9 8-3 L1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

 Southern League (AA) - SOU North Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tennessee 12 10 .545 - 5-4 7-6 L1 Huntsville 11 12 .478 1.5 5-7 6-5 W1 West Tenn 10 14 .417 3.0 5-5 5-9 L2 Carolina 11 16 .407 3.5 5-7 6-9 W2 Chattanooga 10 16 .385 4.0 5-6 5-10 L1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

 Florida State League (A+) - FSL North Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Brevard County 20 6 .769 - 10-2 10-4 W9 Clearwater 13 13 .500 7.0 7-9 6-4 L4 Daytona 12 14 .462 8.0 5-6 7-8 L1 Dunedin 12 14 .462 8.0 3-7 9-7 W1 Lakeland 11 15 .423 9.0 8-6 3-9 L1 Tampa 10 16 .385 10.0 5-10 5-6 W1 

[Mass Haas]

Notes from David Weiser's starsboxscore.com

 

First, from Tuesday's 13-10 win over West Tenn:

 

Adam Stern commanded this slugfest - the highest scoring game thus far this season - with two singles, three RBIs, and three stolen bases to widen his lead in the Southern League stolen base race...... Stern, who has hit safely in 20 of his 23 games, came to the plate with the bases loaded and two out in the 8th against Marwin Vega in a 7-7 game and singled to center on a 1-2 pitch to give the Stars their 3rd and final lead of the game, 9-7...... Adam Heether, 2-for-10 since coming down from Nashville, followed with a two-run double to cap the four-run inning. All four runs were unearned due to a one-out throwing error earlier in the inning.

 

The Diamond Jaxx snapped a 1-1 tie in the 3rd in the Stars' first visit to Pringles Park this year on a two-run single to right by Yamid Haad, set up by a passed ball by Jonathan Lucroy. Lucroy's 6th passed ball is already more than Angel Salome had in the first half of last season. Lou Palmisano, in 2007, had all of two all season. The notorious Jeff Alfano, in his record-setting year of 23 in 1999 (the Brewers' first season in Huntsville), had seven in April........ While Baseball America ranks Lucroy 10th among the Brewers' top minor league prospects, they also say that "he still needs to work on the intricacies of catching such as blocking balls, framing pitches, and calling games..."

 

Both teams swapped runs in the 4th and 5th innings before the Stars rallied for four in the 6th to take a 7-5 lead. Vinny Rottino and Freddy Parejo singled in runs and both would score when Haad threw the ball into center field trying to cut down Parejo, who was trying to advance to second base on the throw home. However, the lead was short lived, as Marshall Hubbard doubled in two runs with two out in the bottom half of the inning to get the game tied again at 7-7. That set the scene for Stern's two-out heroics in the 8th...... The Stars added two more in the 9th for needed insurance, with Stern driving in the Stars' 13th run with a two-out single...... The win snaps a five-game losing streak for the Stars, who are a game and a half in back of the Smokies, who were to play Mississippi in the other Jackson that was also hard-hit by storms.

 

Wednesday's game was rained out -- the 5th rainout this month. With two double-headers, that's a total of seven games washed out, the most in one month since May 1986.

 

Decision-less Mark Holliiman and winless Bobby Bramhall will start Thursday's double-header in Jackson, which was hit hard by stormy weather, just as we have in Huntsville. In fact, it rained again and I've lost count how many consecutive days of rain we've had, but we've had enough. The Stars will come home for a Monday-Friday series against the Dodger-affiliated Chattanooga Lookouts next week....... Bramhall has been shelled for 13 runs in 9 2/3 innings in his last three starts, going no further than three innings in one start and an inning and 2/3 in another...... Former Huntsville pitcher Patrick Ryan gets his 4th start of the season in Thursday's double-header.

 

The last Huntsville player to steal three bases in one game was Alcides Escobar who did it on August 6 of last year -- at Pringles Park...... Drew Anderson and Adam Stern now rank 9th and 10th among the Southern League's top hitters..... Anderson is 9-for-19 (.474) in his last five games...... Chris Errecart went 2-for-5 with an RBI in Brevard County's 5-4 win over Clearwater Wednesday. But he also struck out three times -- six times in 13 at-bats for the Manatees.......

 

Despite losing four of their last five, the Stars have hit .276. Pitching remains a sore point -- 8th in the SL with a 4.68 ERA, but there are some bright spots. Starter Chris Cody is 9th among ERA leaders with a 2.05 mark. Casey Baron is 3-0 with a 1.42 ERA and has been unscored upon in seven of his nine appearances. So has reliever Mike McClendon (2-1, 1.45)..... Robert Hinton has a team-leading three saves and has been unscored upon in his last six appearances...... J.R. Hopf stole his first base as a Huntsville Star in the 4th after walking in his final plate appearance in the game.

 

The Brewers are taking an extra-cautious approach to their former #1 draft pick, pitcher Mark Rogers, who is down in Brevard. Rogers, who was drafted in 2004, worked only one inning in his last start, May 2 vs. Lakeland, but he pitched a 1-2-3 inning, striking out one. He's thrown 6 1/3 scoreless innings over three starts, struck out four, walked none, and given up five hits. He's held FSL batters to a .227 average.

 

Carlos Corporan has made it to the majors, appearing in Wednesday's 15-3 rout over the Reds. Corporan, appearing as a defensive replacement for Jason Kendall, singled on a soft fly in the 9th off former Chattanooga Lookout shortstop/pitcher Paul Janish and scored in a five-run inning on Craig Counsell's double....... Corporan is the 183rd former Huntsville Star to make it to the show.

 

Matt LaPorta became the 182nd former Huntsville Star to make it to the majors when he made his debut with the Cleveland Indians Sunday. LaPorta, starting at right field and batting 8th, went 0-for-4 and struck out twice, leaving four runners on. Monday, he came up with his first major league hit -- a home run in the 7th inning off Brian Tallet in Cleveland's 12-inning 9-7 win over Toronto..... Also Thursday, the Seattle Mariners signed Steve Bray to a minor league contract and assigned him to the Diamond Jaxx. The Diamond Jaxx now have four former Stars on their roster: outfielder Mel Stocker and pitchers Luis Pena and Patrick Ryan, as well as Bray..... Ryan is 1-1 with a 9.50 ERA after five games, three of which were starts. Pena appeared in just one game, and that was back on April 13. Stocker is hitting .304 and after five games, has three stolen bases.

[Mass Haas]

Rattler Radio Blog:

 

May 7, 2009: Game Notes

 

May 7, 2009 Starting Pitcher (RHP Trey Watten)

 

May 7, 2009 Starting Lineup (Vass - Miller - Dykstra your outfield left-to-right)

[BoKnowsBall]

Anyone know when Komastu is supposed to be back? The Rattlers could really use an offensive boost

[TheCrew07]

Rogers walked 3 and only struck out 1, and all 3 walks came in the 2nd but he managed 2 scoreless.

[battlekow]

Another homer for Mat the Batt.

[TheCrew07]

WI hits 3 HRs in the 4th with Dykstra getting his 1st but they are still losing 10-4 as Watten really struggled today.

 

BC down 1-0 into the bottom of the 8th, Farris and Gindl with 2 hits a piece.

 

Huntsville wins Game 1 in the 11th, Aguilar strikes out 2 of 3 batters for the save.

 

Nashville up 4-2 in the 9th, Gwynn and Gillesie with 2 hits a piece. Smith coming in to attempt the save.

 

edit. The boxscore gets me again, Dykstra's HR was actually a 3R HR in the 6th.

 

Nashville wins.

 

Braddock comes in and strikes out the side in the 8, BC ties it in the 9th.

[battlekow]

Somehow Corey Hart got ejected in the 6th inning for BC. Wonder what happened.

[Mass Haas]

Nashville Pre-Game Chat with Reliever Chris Smith

"On or Out in Three" -- he'll explain; relatively new to relieving...

 

Final: Nashville 4, Iowa (Cubs) 2

 

Nashville Site Game Summary:

Link for Mike Burns photo, text follows --

 

Sounds Win Series Finale In Iowa, 4-2

 

DES MOINES - The Nashville Sounds edged the Iowa Cubs by a 4-2 score on Thursday night at Principal Park in the finale of a four-game series, improving their PCL-best road record to 9-3 on the year.

 

Mat Gamel and Joe Koshansky each clubbed solo homers for Nashville and starting pitcher Mike Burns (4-0) threw seven innings of one-run baseball, his fifth consecutive quality start.

 

The Sounds claimed three of the four games at Principal Park this week and hold a 5-3 lead in the season series between the division rivals.

 

Iowa starter Esmailin Caridad (3-2) took the loss after surrendering just two runs on seven hits in seven innings of work.

 

After Gamel's team-leading eighth homer gave the Sounds a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning, Iowa's Brad Snyder singled and Chris Robinson reached on an error with one out in the bottom of the inning. Doug Deeds launched a line drive toward the left field wall, but a fan reached over the wall to snag the drive and pull it into the stands. Deeds was awarded second base by virtue of a ground rule double but baserunner Robinson, who likely would have scored on the play, was sent back to third. Burns then retired Nate Spears and Andres Blanco to keep the game knotted 1-1.

 

Koshansky slugged his sixth roundtripper of the year in the top of the seventh to stake Nashville to a 2-1 advantage. He belted a leadoff solo shot to left-center off Caridad.

 

The Sounds padded their lead with two eighth-inning runs off Iowa reliever Jason Waddell. Tony Gwynn delivered a one-out RBI double and scored one batter later on an error to push the visitors' lead to 4-1.

 

Jake Fox drove in a run in the bottom half of the eighth with an infield hit, but the Cubs were unable to complete a comeback as Nashville closer Chris Smith worked a scoreless ninth for his fifth save.

 

AUDIO: Alcides Escobar Game-Ending Catch

 

The Sounds continue their road trip on Friday in Omaha, when they open a four-game series against the division-rival Royals with a 7:05 PM series opener. Left-hander Chase Wright (1-3, 5.74) will man the bump for Nashville to face Omaha southpaw Lenny DiNardo (1-1, 3.68).

 

Nashville Box Score

Wow, Mike Burns needed only 77 pitches to get through 7.2 innings in what may be the second most impressive Brewer minor league pitching performance this season (it's going to be tough to top Evan Anundsen's no-hitter); Burns was asked to sacrifice bunt in three AB's, two were successful; Alcides Escobar and outfielder Jason Bourgeois with the two Nashville errors -- Mat Gamel handles his two ground balls cleanly; R.J. Swindle K's his only batter to strand a Burns runner in the 8th; Cole Gillespie on all three times up; Tony Gwynn two more hits, a .375 OBP; Angel Salome must be hitting into ridiculous bad luck -- .197 in 61 AB's, only 11 K's...

 

Nashville Game Log

All said and done in just two hours, six minutes...

[Mass Haas]

Final: Lakeland (Tigers) 2, Brevard County 1

Walk-off wild pitch loss with one out...

 

Brevard County Box Score

Lucas Luetge allowed one run over four middle relief frames with ten ground ball outs as the main innings-eater behind Mark Rogers and Rigo Almonte; Caleb Gindl (aka Superman) doubled, singled and walked, as Lee Haydel, Eric Farris and Gindl all had two hits at the top of the order, but the Manatees stranded ten; Steffan Wilson in left field (saw a bit of action there yesterday as well) with Chris Errecart at first and Sergio Miranda the DH; Brent Brewer was part of three double plays on defense, but took the dreaded golden sombrero (0-for-4, four K's, .532 OPS); yes, Rogers' two scoreless innings were "eventful"...

 

Brevard County Game Log

Intimate throng of 399 watched in Lakeland; yeah, not sure why Hitting Coach Corey Hart would be ejected after a leadoff single in the 6th, unless he was barking at the home plate umpire during the subsequent at-bat; critical strikeout by Wilson with one out and a man on 3rd in the 8th; GIDP by Farris to end the 9th didn't help; looks like a heck of a game drama-wise, though...

 

You just can't let catcher Martin Maldonado be thrown out at the plate for the first out in the 3rd -- how to waste a chance at a big inning:

 

Brevard County Top 3rd

• Martin Maldonado singles on a fly ball to left fielder Andy Dirks.
• Lee Haydel singles on a ground ball to right fielder Christopher White. Martin Maldonado to 2nd.
• Eric Farris singles on a ground ball to center fielder Kyle Peter. Martin Maldonado out at home on the throw, center fielder Kyle Peter to catcher Jordan Newton. Lee Haydel to 2nd.
• With Caleb Gindl batting, throwing error by Andrew Hess on the pickoff attempt, Lee Haydel to 3rd. Eric Farris to 2nd.
• Caleb Gindl walks.
• Chris Errecart pops out to second baseman Justin Henry.
• Steffan Wilson flies out to center fielder Kyle Peter.

[Mass Haas]

Final: Burlington (Royals) 12, Wisconsin 8

And this was apparently a totally anemic Burlington squad offensively...

 

Wisconsin Site Game Summary

 

Magnificent seven for Van Stratten

By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers

 

GRAND CHUTE, WI - Burlington Bee outfielder Nick Van Stratten made a triumphant return to the lineup Thursday night at Time Warner Cable Field. Van Stratten was activated from the Burlington disabled list before the game and celebrated by driving in seven runs to lead the Bees to a 12-8 win over the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers. Van Stratten homered, doubled, and had a pair of singles in six at bats. His performance offset the offensive fireworks of the Rattlers, who homered three times in the game.

 

Burlington (9-17) grabbed a 4-0 lead with two runs in the second and two more in the third. Van Stratten, in his first game off the disabled list, sent two Bees home with a two-out single in the top of the second. David Wood's two-run homer in the third accounted for the Burlington runs in that inning.

 

Wisconsin (10-16) put together a two-out rally in the bottom of the fourth inning to tie the game. Brock Kjeldgaard hit his team leading fifth homer of the season to get the Rattlers on the board. Corey Kemp and Jose Duran singled to keep the inning going for Michael Vass. The Rattler left fielder hit a homer to left-center and make the score 4-4.

 

But, the Bees put together a six-run fifth to take control of the game. Rattler starting pitcher Trey Watten gave up a double, a walk, and a runner reached on an error to load the bases. McCauley singled to left to drive in one run and an error on the play allowed another run to score.

 

Jose Bonilla greeted Wisconsin reliever Liam Ohlmann with an RBI single that made the score 7-4. One out later, Van Stratten hammered a pitch from Ohlmann over the left field wall for a homer and three more RBI.

 

Wisconsin pulled a little closer in the bottom of the sixth. Vass knocked in a run with a sacrifice fly. Cutter Dykstra was next and he lined a two-run homer to left-center and the Rattlers were within 10-7.

 

But, Van Stratten padded Burlington's lead with a two-run double in the top of the seventh inning.

 

Brett Lawrie's RBI single in the bottom of the seventh got Wisconsin to within 12-8. But, that was it for the scoring in the game.

 

Wisconsin begins a road trip with a game Friday night at South Bend. The Rattlers have Evan Frederickson (1-1, 7.79) as the scheduled starting pitcher. The Silver Hawks will counter with Trevor Harden (4-1, 2.64) as their starter. Game time is 6:00 PM CDT.

 

Wisconsin Box Score

Four TimberRattler errors, including Brett Lawrie's 6th, is unacceptable -- five errors for Brock Kjeldgaard at first base by May 7th? Ugh, five runs allowed were unearned; big 22-year-old LHP Brandon Ritchie was the mound bright spot -- he's been excellent through ten brief appearances; Lawrie, Kjeldgaard, and Jose Duran each reached base three times; Lawrie's 8-for-13 stolen base ratio will need improvement; that Van Stratten kid drove in seven from the leadoff spot -- you might not see that elsewhere in all of minor league baseball this year...

 

Wisconsin Game Log

Erik Miller with an outfield assist to the plate to end the 4th...

[Mass Haas]

Lots of tidbits here in the Post-Crescent post-game blog entry by Brett Christopherson

[Mass Haas]

Final, Game One: Huntsville 6, West Tenn (Mariners) 5, 11 innings (scheduled for seven)

Final, Game Two: Huntsville 7, West Tenn 1

 

Huntsville Site Doubleheader Summary

 

Offense Continues Assault on Jaxx Pitching

Stars Sweep Twin Bill

By Brett Pollock / Huntsville Stars

Mark Holliman spun six solid innings and Chuck Caufield knocked in three runs to lead Huntsville to a 7-1 win in game two and a doubleheader sweep of West Tenn Thursday night at Pringles Park in Jackson, TN. The Stars have won the first three games of the five-game set to improve to 13-12 and temporarily move into a tie for the North Division lead with Tennessee, pending the outcome of the second game of the Smokies' twin bill in Mississippi (Tennessee is up 6-0 through four innings as of this "post time"), while the Diamond Jaxx dropped to 10-16 overall and 5-8 at home. The Stars 6-5 win in the first game was their ninth by one run and made it 14 games this season decided by a single tally.

 

The Stars jumped on Patrick Ryan, who toiled on the hill for Huntsville last season, with a pair of runs in the first inning and then tacked on two more in the second on run-scoring hits by Jonathan Lucroy and Adam Heether. The Stars took a 5-1 lead on a run-scoring single by Caufield in the third and pushed the lead to 7-1 in the fifth when Caufield belted a two-run homer, his first at the double-A level. Ryan took the loss but was let down by four errors committed behind him that made three of the seven runs he allowed unearned. The right-hander gave up 10 hits, walked two and fanned one in falling to 1-2.

 

Holliman gave up a solo home run to Marshall Hubbard in the home first and then shut out the Jaxx over the next 5 1/3 innings, allowing only three more hits. He matched his longest outing of the season and grabbed his first win after striking out a season-high six and issuing just one walk. Derrick Ellison allowed three singles with two outs in the home seventh but struck out former Stars' outfielder Mel Stocker to end the game.

 

Huntsville Game Two Box Score

Add an outfield assist to Chuck Caufield's productive game; Adam Heether has driven in eight runs in his last three games; Jonathan Lucroy one of four Stars (Kevin Melillo, Vinny Rottino, and Adam Stern) with more walks than strikeouts...

 

Huntsville Game Two Game Log

Stars played errorless ball in both games, the Diamond Jaxx had six errors combined...

 

Kevin Melillo led off the top of the eleventh inning in the opener with a single off of Nick Hill, moved to second base on a Johnny Raburn sacrifice bunt and scored the game winning run when Adam Stern doubled into left field. Omar Aguilar then retired the side in order in the bottom of the inning to nail down his first save.

 

The Stars, trailing 4-2, had runners at first and second base and one out in the fifth inning but could not score when former Stars' pitcher Steve Bray came on to strike out Shane Justis and Adam Heether and were denied again in the sixth when Melillo, as a pinch-hitter, flied out to right field with the bases loaded and Vinny Rottino was then thrown out at the plate trying to score from third base. However, Heether blasted a three-run home run off Bray in the top of the seventh to put the visitors back on top at 5-4.

 

Mike McClendon, who had retired the first five hitters he faced after taking over for starter Bobby Bramhall, allowed a leadoff single to Matt Mangini in the bottom of the seventh before Stocker came into pinch run and stole second base. Jeff Dominguez dropped down a bunt single to push Stocker to third and pinch-hitter Oswaldo Navarro followed with a squeeze bunt that delivered Stocker with the tying run. Robert Hinton tossed 1 2/3 innings of scoreless relief before Josh Wahpepah threw two shutout frames to grab his first win of the season.

 

The series continues Friday night with left-hander David Welch taking the hill for the Stars against Diamond Jaxx right-hander Justin Souza . Coverage of the game begins at 6:50 PM central time and can be heard through the internet at www.huntsvillestars.com.

 

Huntsville Game One Box Score

That was some serious 7th (final scheduled inning) drama; 15 hits for the Stars, five players with multi-hit games; another uneven pitching line for southpaw Bobby Bramhall, now with an 8.50 ERA after five starts...

 

Huntsville Game One Game Log

Let's hope Omar Aguilar gets on a fantastic run with this 1-2-3 save...

[Mass Haas]

Link while active, text follows:

 

Baseball: Familiar face returns to top I-Cubs

By RANDY PETERSON

randypeterson@dmreg.com

Advantage Mike Burns.

 

The former Iowa Cubs pitcher returned to last summer's home, Principal Park, Thursday night. He came back a winner.

 

Burns limited the Cubs to seven hits during Nashville's 4-2 win before an announced crowd of 4,100. He helped himself at the plate, too, with a pair of sacrifice bunts.

 

"No revenge, none at all," said Burns, a free agent last season after posting an 8-12 record with Iowa. "Of course you always want to do better against your old organizations, but when you bounce around from team to team, you make a lot of good friends.

 

"I have nothing against the Cubs organization."

 

Burns' record improved to 4-0, after a solid 7-inning stint.

 

An exuberant fan cost the Cubs a run in the fourth inning against Burns, a triple-A all-star last season.

 

Doug Deeds hit a liner that would have ricocheted off the upper part of the left-field fence, had a fan not grabbed the ball by reaching from the skyboxes.

 

Instead of two runs scoring, providing the Cubs a 2-1 lead at the time, umpires sent Chris Robinson back to third.

 

"I guess that's what happened, I didn't see it," Deeds said. "It would have been another run, but that kind of stuff happens sometimes."

[wvpowerblkwel]

Zach Braddock with a nice inning in relief striking out the sides 123 in the eigth inning. Gave up a leadoff double in the 9th that eventually led to the winning run. I think Zach is finally gonna get where we all have expected him to be if he continues to stay healthy!

[Mass Haas]

Link while active, text follows:

 

Mistakes hurt Timber Rattlers in loss to Bees

By Brett Christopherson

Post-Crescent staff writer

 

GRAND CHUTE - Nick Van Stratten feels just fine, thank you very much.

 

But Wisconsin Timber Rattlers manager Jeff Isom? Ah, next question, please.

 

"I was asking (pitching coach) Chris Hook when the last time we had a one-two-three inning was," Isom said following an error-marred 12-8 Midwest League setback to Burlington on Thursday at Fox Cities Stadium. "It's been awhile. And when you're giving up base runners and you're having problems scoring runs and you're playing from behind, you make a mistake and they start scoring runs and things fall apart.

 

"It's tough to play that way. We've got to do a better job of making sure we play a clean defensive game."

 

The Rattlers - losers of five of their past six contests - committed four errors, including two in an ugly six-run fifth for the Bees, who turned a 4-4 tie into a 10-4 advantage.

 

Burlington batted around the order and collected four of its 15 hits in the frame, highlighted by Van Stratten's two-out, three-run homer to left.

The blast capped a career game for the left fielder, who was activated off the disabled list earlier in the day after suffering a bone bruise in his left thumb two weeks ago at Clinton.

 

Van Stratten added a pair of singles and a two-run double and finished with seven RBI in six trips to the plate. His homer came on the first pitch he saw - an inside fastball - from reliever Liam Ohlmann.

 

"I came out there and started seeing the ball pretty good. It was a pretty good night," Van Stratten said.

 

Maybe too good?

 

"He swung it well, and we gave him some pretty good pitches to hit," Isom said. "We didn't help out our cause very much. Anytime you get seven RBIs and four hits you're doing something right, but we've got to make pitches against him."

 

And play better defense, too. Five of the 12 runs the Rattlers allowed were earned, which prompted Isom to deliver a brief, but blunt postgame message to his club.

 

"Well, the bus leaves at six o' clock tomorrow (morning)," he said as Wisconsin opens a four-game series at South Bend, Ind., today. "And the guys that want to play will be there on that bus."