Link Report for Wed. 7/8 -- Four Audio Inteviews, including Escobar

[TheCrew07]

It looks like Ellington hit a GS in Helena... no box score update, I'm switching audio to that game as usual.

 

edit. Nope, a 3R HR.

[battlekow]

Express Quiet Sounds, 10-0

NashvilleSounds.com

 

NASHVILLE - The Round Rock Express shutout the Nashville Sounds 10-0 on Wednesday evening at historic Greer Stadium. Express first baseman Mark Saccomanno went 4-for-5 with a double, while catcher Lou Santangelo added a double and three-run home run in the cause.

 

The Express struck first in the top of the second by plating four runs off Sounds starter Nick Green. Saccomanno and Chris Johnson singled to begin the inning, followed by a Yordany Ramirez RBI-base hit to give the Express a 1-0 lead. Santangelo then hit his third home run of the year, a three-run shot to right field for a 4-0 Express advantage.

 

On the first pitch of the fourth inning, Express second baseman Jason Smith homered to right field that extended the Express lead to 5-0.

 

Round Rock tacked on another run for a 6-0 lead in the fifth on an RBI-single by Smith that scored Saccomanno. Wes Littleton came in to relieve Green later in the inning and allowed a single and a two-run double that upped the Express lead to 8-0.

 

Littleton allowed three consecutive singles to begin the eighth inning, with the Express scoring on a Brian Bogusevic two-run single that gave Round Rock a 10-0 lead.

 

Express starting pitcher Mark McLemore (3-4) picked up the win, allowing two hits while striking out three over five scoreless innings.

 

On his first start since coming off the disabled list, Green (2-4) took the loss after surrendering seven runs on nine hits in 4 and 2/3 innings.

 

Sounds second baseman Hernan Iribarren went 2-for-4 on the evening, extending his hitting streak to seven games.

 

The Sounds and Express continue with the second game of a five game series at 7:00 pm CT on Thursday evening at historic Greer Stadium. Right-hander Tim Dillard ( 8-3, 3.90) takes the hill for Nashville against right-hander Jeremy Johnson (5-6, 3.24) for Round Rock.

 

Thursday will be a huge day at Greer Stadium, as the first 2,000 fans through the gates will receive a limited edition collectible Ryan Braun Bobblehead. It will also be a Purity Faith Night, featuring the headlining music act Jars of Clay.

 

Nashville box score

Very little to see here. Hernan Iribarren had two hits, and Adam Heether continues to buck for a call-up, going 1-3 with a double and a walk. Rare sight: Brendan Katin also walked. Alcides Escobar, Angel Salome, and Cole Gillespie went a combined 0-11 with zero times on base, and Salome allowed Round Rock to go 3-3 on SB attempts, plus a throwing error. If the Brewers were considering giving Nick Green a shot on the heels of his shoulder injury, they probably aren't anymore.

 

Nashville play-by-play

[battlekow]

Huntsville's Struggles Continue in Series Starter

Brett Pollock

 

Lucas May drove in five runs and a five-run eighth inning broke open a close game and carried Chattanooga to an 11-5 win over Huntsville Wednesday night in the opener of a four-game set at AT&T Field. The Lookouts evened their second half record at 8-8, while the Stars matched a season-high with their sixth straight loss to fall to 7-10 in the second half and 45-41 overall. The Stars have allowed 45 runs on 58 hits in the last five games.

 

May put the home team on the board in the first inning with a sacrifice fly before the Stars came right back in the top of the second to tie the game on a double by Taylor Green that scored Kevin Melillo, who had led off with a double. Green finished with three hits and has now collected six hits in 11 at-bats in three games since returning to the lineup.

 

Jonathan Lucroy doubled with two outs in the third and came into score on a Drew Anderson single to give the Stars their first lead of the night. Chattanooga answered back with two in the bottom half of the inning on a double by May that scored James Tomlin and Josh Bell, both of whom had walked. Stars starter Josh Wahpepah was lifted after three innings, giving up three runs, two earned, on two hits, while walking three and fanning four.

 

The Stars battled back to tie the game in the top half of the fourth when Vinny Rottino led off with a double and scored on a single by Green, who was thrown out trying to stretch it into a double. Mike McClendon took over on the hill in the bottom half of the fourth and gave up the go-ahead run after Tommy Giles led off with a double and scored on Tomlin's two-out, two-base hit.

 

Adam Stern broke a 14 at-bat hitless drought with a one-out triple in the fifth and scored on a wild pitch to get the game tied at four. Casey Baron started on the mound in the bottom of the sixth for the Stars and retired the first two hitters before Russ Mitchell belted a home run to put the home team back on top at 5-4. The teams traded runs in the seventh inning, as Huntsville tied the score again on a run-scoring hit by Anderson before the Looks took the lead for good at 6-5 on May's fielder's choice grounder against Baron, who took the loss to fall to 4-4.

 

The Looks tallied against Robert Hinton in the eighth on a two-run double by Ramon Nivar and successive run-scoring hits by May, Andrew Lambo and Adam Godwin. The Stars have now been scored on in 22 out of 44 innings in their last five games.

 

The series continues Thursday with right-hander Mike Jones making the start for the Stars against Lookouts' right-hander JD Durbin. Coverage of the game begins at 6:00 pm central time and can be heard through the internet at www.huntsvillestars.com.

 

Huntsville box score

Good nights for the two guys whose lines I check first, Jonathan Lucroy and Taylor Green; the former went 1-3 with a double and two walks (49/41 BB/K now) and the latter 3-4 with a double. Really bad night for Robert Hinton (did you realize he's still just 24?), who was getting my hopes up after a great June; he allowed five runs in the 8th to blow what was a one-run game wide open, and that was with Chuckue Caufield throwing a guy out at home.

Huntsville play-by-play

[battlekow]

Scarpetta tosses a gem

Chris Mehring

 

GRAND CHUTE, WI - Cody Scarpetta gave up one hit over six innings and struck out nine for the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers on Wednesday night against the West Michigan Whitecaps. Wisconsin's offense pushed a run across in the first inning and that was enough for a 1-0 Timber Rattlers win.

Wisconsin (42-40 overall, 8-4 second half) grabbed a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. Juan Sanchez and Peter Fatse singled to start the inning and both moved up on a grounder to third. Brett Lawrie knocked in Sanchez with and RBI grounder to second.

Scarpetta was in control all night. He faced the minimum over six scoreless innings. The only hit Scarpetta allowed was a one out double to Brent Wyatt in the top of the fifth. But, Wyatt tried to stretch the hit into a triple. A strong relay throw from Lawrie to third beat Wyatt by plenty for the second out of the frame.

The righty from Rockford, Illinois only went to a three-ball count on a batter twice in the game and worked quickly and efficiently to put himself in position to pick up his first win since May 17.

West Michigan starting pitcher Luke Putkonen was almost as good as Scarpetta. Almost. He allowed three hits, walked one, and struck out five.

Efrain Nieves took over for Scarpetta in the top of the seventh. Nieves, who had allowed nine runs on eight hits and four walks over two innings in his previous outing, worked around a two out single in the seventh and a leadoff walk in the eighth. The lefty from Puerto Rico retired the side in order in the ninth to pick up the save, the first of his professional career.

The Whitecaps are 51-32 on the season and 8-5 in the second half, but the Timber Rattlers are 4-0 against the Midwest League affiliate of the Detroit Tigers in 2009.

Game two of the series is Thursday night. The Timber Rattlers have Trey Watten (4-6, 3.52) as the scheduled starting pitcher. West Michigan has Casey Crosby (7-2, 3.25) as the scheduled starter. Game time is 7:05pm.

Wisconsin box score

It was the Cody Scarpetta show tonight, as you probably guessed from the previous comments--9/0/1 K/BB/H in six innings is wonderful. Great to see a start like that on a Suppan night for the big club. As mentioned, Juan Sanchez made a nice play in the field and also had two of the Rattlers' three hits. Lorenzo Cain and Brett Lawrie

were both 0-3.

Wisconsin play-by-play

Scarpetta finished with a flourish:

 

West Michigan Top 5th

 

• Billy Nowlin called out on strikes.
• Jordan Lennerton strikes out swinging.
• Alden Carrithers grounds out, shortstop Michael Marseco to first baseman Corey Kemp.
  

West Michigan Top 6th

• Joseph Bowen strikes out swinging.
• Avisail Garcia strikes out swinging.
• Luis Salas grounds out, second baseman Brett Lawrie to first baseman Corey Kemp.

 

 

[battlekow]

Idaho Falls Chukars 9, Helena Brewers 5

 

Helena box score

The game was tied 5-5 after nine, but Rob Currie allowed four runs in his second inning of work to give the Chukars the ten-inning win. Josh Prince keeps getting on base, going 2-4 with a walk, and keeps being a little reckless when on base, stealing a bag but also getting picked off (while on second, no less). Scott Krieger and Chris Ellington continue to be a powerful 3-4 combination with a triple and home run, respectively. In contrast, Cutter Dykstra continues to not do much of anything, on the surface anyway, drawing a walk but going 0-3 otherwise and committing his 8th (!) error. I can't defend the fielding, but coming into today he was wielding a .115 BABIP in his nine games, having gotten only one hit on his 17 grounders so far, and his 8/6 BB/K supports the fact that he's seeing the ball pretty well but getting unlucky; in any case, it's just ten games. On the other side of the controlling-the-strike zone fence, Hitaniel Arias sure seems overmatched by the Pioneer League at the moment, going 0-4 with two strikeouts to drop his line to .186/.255/.326 with a 2/16 BB/K. Meanwhile, Edgar Trejo, who himself seemed quite overmatched at Wisconsin earlier this year, went 1-3 with a walk, his fifth walk already against just nine strikeouts. After a terrible first start and a solid second one, 6th-rounder Hiram Burgos had merely a bad start this time out; he sure sounded like the type of advanced-pitchability guy that should carve up the Pioneer League, but apparently not.

 

Helena play-by-play

The decisive 10th inning:

 

Idaho Falls Top 10th

• Alberto Espinosa hit by pitch.
• Hilton Richardson hits a sacrifice bunt. Alberto Espinosa to 2nd. Hilton Richardson to 1st.
• Marvin Cooper hit by pitch. Alberto Espinosa to 3rd. Hilton Richardson to 2nd.
• Angel Franco out on a sacrifice fly to left fielder Chris Ellington. Alberto Espinosa scores. Marvin Cooper to 2nd. Hilton Richardson advances to 3rd, on throwing error by left fielder Chris Ellington.
• Deivy Batista homers (5) on a fly ball to left field. Hilton Richardson scores. Marvin Cooper scores.
• Jason Morales grounds out, second baseman Cutter Dykstra to first baseman Hitaniel Arias.
• Carlo Testa flies out to left fielder Chris Ellington.

Krieger temporarily kept the game tied in the 7th with an outfield kill:

 

Idaho Falls Top 7th

• Pitcher Change: Jonathan Pokorny replaces Kristian Bueno.
• Angel Franco grounds out, second baseman Cutter Dykstra to first baseman Hitaniel Arias.
• Deivy Batista singles on a line drive to left fielder Chris Ellington.
• Jason Morales grounds out, pitcher Jonathan Pokorny to first baseman Hitaniel Arias. Deivy Batista to 2nd.
• Carlo Testa singles on a line drive to right fielder Scott Krieger. Deivy Batista out at home on the throw, right fielder Scott Krieger to catcher Shawn Zarraga.

[battlekow]

DSL Orioles/Brewers 6, DSL Cubs 3

 

DSL O's/Brewers box score

Jhonatan Javier was 1-3 with a triple and actually caught for once. Joan Abreu went 0-3 with a strikeout. No Andres Martinez, Juan Barrini, or Luis Chirinos. Eliezer Montano and Edwin Linares both pitched well.

 

DSL O's/Brewers play-by-play

Javier was picked off third in the 6th.

[battlekow]

Brewers blasted in 10th

Curt Synness

 

Idaho Falls shortstop Deivy Batista blasted a pair of home runs and drove in six to lead the Chukars to a come-from-behind 9-5 win over the Helena Brewers in 10 innings Wednesday.

 

The two teams ended regulation play at Kindrick Legion Field tied at 5-all. In the top of the 10th inning, Idaho Falls loaded the bases with none out, and then went up by one on a sacrifice fly by Angel Franco. Next Batista drove a three-run homer over the left-field fence to put the Chukars on top by four markers.

 

Chukars reliever Ryan Morgan then secured the win for the visitors in the bottom of the inning.

 

The Brewers jumped out to a 5-0 lead after three innings. They scored two runs in the first, on a ringing triple to right-centerfield by Scott Krieger, scoring Mike Brownstein, and an RBI ground out by John Ellington.

 

A critical play occurred when Helena's Josh Prince was picked off at second base by pitcher Santiago Garrido, prior to Krieger's three-bagger. The lost run would come back to haunt the home team. The Brewers later had another runner picked off at second, this time by the catcher, and a third runner thrown out attempting to steal.

 

The hosts' Chris Ellington powered a three-run homer over the left field fence in the third, plating Prince and Krieger. It was Ellington's sixth home run of the season.

Idaho Falls got back into the contest, when they tallied two runs in the fourth and then knotted it up in the fifth frame, on Batista's three-run blast.

 

Brewers' right fielder Krieger helped keep his squad in the game, when he threw out Batista attempting to score in the seventh.

 

The Chukars' Patrick Keating relieved starter Garrido in the sixth, with Morgan hurling the final two stanzas to register the win.

 

Hiram Burgos started on the hill for Helena and went five innings, before giving way to Kristian Bueno. Jon Pokorny and Robert Currie pitched the final four innings. Currie was tabbed with the loss.

 

Batista and J.D. Alfaro finished with three hits apiece for the Idaho club.

 

Helena's Prince and Krieger rapped two base knocks each, while Ellington drove in four runs, bringing his league-leading total to 20 RBIs. Prince stole his 18th base of the year (in just 15 games), tops in the Pioneer league.

 

The Brewers fall to 8-7, and are one game behind Northern Division leaders Great Falls and Missoula, which are both 9-6. Idaho Falls is 10-3 and leads the Southern Division.

 

The two teams play the third of a four game series tonight at Kindrick Field, beginning at 7 p.m.

 

http://www.helenair.com/content/articles/2009/07/09/sports/top/50spl_090709_brewers.jpg

 

Helena Brewers' Edgar Trejo reaches for first base while Idaho Falls' Tito Espinosa attempts the tag on a pick-off- attempt during Wednesday's game at Kindrick Legion Field. (Lisa Kunkel Independent Record)

[Mass Haas]

Nashville Notes:

Jason Bourgeois first game in several days, and a Patrick Arlis sighting behind the plate as a late-inning replacement.

 

Interviews with two of the three Sounds All-Stars (Brendan Katin's interview was linked two days ago) --

 

Chat with All-Star Reliever R.J. Swindle

Had forgotten that Swindle's a Canuck...

 

Chat with All-Star Shortstop Alcides Escobar

His command of the language is thorough, a wonderful transformation in that regard -- ready for Cory Provus and Telly Hughes...

[Mass Haas]

Huntsville's pitching just horrid tonight, the Stars are now down 9 to 5. Much like Dillard, I'm not sure I like the idea of trying to recycle pitchers who stunk as SP, had success as RP, and putting them back in a starting role. All it's doing is backing up the train of legitimate prospects coming up the chain.

It looks like the Stars needed Josh Wahpepah to make a spot start only, between Josh Butler going to the DL and Nick Green moving up to AAA. A rotation of Hand - Bramhall - Holliman - Jones - Welch isn't very inspiring at the moment, though. Hand is certainly of interest, at least, despite his last outing.

[Mass Haas]

(All Photos by Lisa Kunkel, Helena Independent Record)
Brewers' Josh Prince jumps over Idaho Falls' Chanse Cooper after turning the double play during Wednesday's game at Kindrick Legion Field.

http://images.townnews.com/helenair.com/content/articles/2009/07/09/sports/top/50spl_090709_brewers-2.jpg

Brewers' Chris Ellington bats

http://images.townnews.com/helenair.com/content/articles/2009/07/09/sports/top/50spl_090709_brewers-3.jpg

Brewers' Edgar Trejo dives back to second base while Idaho Falls' Angel Franco shows the umpire the ball

http://images.townnews.com/helenair.com/content/articles/2009/07/09/sports/top/50spl_090709_brewers-4.jpg

Brewers' Josh Prince throws to first

http://images.townnews.com/helenair.com/content/articles/2009/07/09/sports/top/50spl_090709_brewers-5.jpg