Link Report for Mon. 4/19 -- Brewers off, so listen to Sounds, Stars audio tonight; Rattlers win 9-5

[Mass Haas]

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Huntsville Media Notes

[TheCrew07]

Cain extends his hitting streak to 11! Sadly I've picked every Star at the top of the order but Lo Cain because I didn't want to pick him on the day the streak ended, hence my streak continually being stopped.

 

If Rivas was eligible, I'd nominate him for president.

[homer]

Lucroy 2 - 2. Now hitting a "solid" .500 for the season.

[TheCrew07]

Lucroy 2 - 2. Now hitting a "solid" .500 for the season.

I was just coming here to post that, and earlier I got carried away with my Rivas take so I forgot to mention Lucroy's streak is now at 10 games.

[homer]

Can you imagine what that 1 - 5 for H'ville will be like once Lawrie gets going? It's not like he's not contributing since his OPS is .800 but he's capable of much better numbers.

[wibadgers23]

Yeah, that Huntsville offense is just flat out fun to follow every night. I'm starting to get excited about Taylor Green again as last year I kind of lost interest after his disappointing season. He's currently leading the Southern League in RBI's. As for Lawrie, yeah the batting average is low, but I have to keep reminding myself that he's still just 20 years old.

[TheCrew07]

Seriously Amuary? He didn't give up run but this sequence made me laugh.

 

West Tenn Bottom 3rd

• Alex Liddi hit by pitch.
• With Kuo Hui Lo batting, Jonathan Lucroy picks off Alex Liddi at 1st on throw to Chris Errecart.
• Kuo Hui Lo hit by pitch

[Tedaldtada]

Omg! Lucroy struck out...

 

Pretty stacked lineup for Seattle's AA team. Ackley, Truinfel, and Liddi are names I instantly recognize. probably names we should get to know if any deadline Prince trade talks start to heat up. I'm sure Jack Z. would love to reacquire the big fella.

[sfl2hnq17]

im kinda sad about scooter going cold the last few games.

 

lucroy is only hitting .500......

[BoKnowsBall]

So I was just interested in seeing the scouting report from the old draft threads about Dennis as he is dominating so far this year and found it funny and interesting that one of the players that Caleb Gindl was being compared to in that draft is our very own Kentrail Davis

[TheCrew07]

Amaury isn't throwing enough strikes, the 6th should be his last inning... 74 pitches, 40 Strikes and 34 Balls

[tyguy20204]

Has anyone noticed how Dillard has been pitching in AAA? 6.1 IP/5H/0BB/5K before tonight.

 

And tonight...so far, 4.2 IP/0H/7K.

 

Maybe his new delivery is paying dividends?

[Tedaldtada]

Gindl and Davis are similar. I hope Kentrail has Caleb's power. Btw, Caleb has 3 2-out rbi's tonight.

 

Lucroy picked off another guy at first base as well and Green has another xbh.

 

Nashville's lineup is pretty pitiful tonight.

[twobrewers]

Is it wrong to keep Cain in AA?

 

Nashville's offense is so pitiful, I don't want him wasting his efforts.

 

Sad to see Lucroy struggling tonight. His 2-5 night drops his average down a notch. But at least he picked off two base runners.

 

Looks like Lofgren had some control problems tonight. Let's hope it is temporary.

 

Also, that is 7 doubles already for Taylor Green. Extra base hits are nice.

[battlekow]

Final: Iowa 4, Nashville 0

 

I-Cubs blank Sounds In Series Finale, 4-0

NashvilleSounds.com

 

NASHVILLE - Iowa starter Jay Jackson worked eight scoreless innings of

two-hit ball to lead the visiting Cubs to a 4-0 victory over the Sounds

on Monday evening at historic Greer Stadium in the finale of a four-game

series.

 

With the win, Iowa secured a three-games-to-one series victory over the

Sounds (8-4).

 

Nashville did not put a runner on base until the fifth frame against

Jackson (2-1), who sent down 13 batters in order before Joe Koshansky

looped a one-out single to center. The right-hander picked up the win

with his stellar 86-pitch effort.

 

Blake Parker worked a scoreless ninth for Iowa to complete the shutout,

the second suffered by Nashville this season.

 

 

PCL veteran Jason Dubois staked the visitors to a 1-0 lead when he led

off the second inning with his fifth home run of the year, a solo shot

to center off Chuck Lofgren that careened off the clubhouse building

beyond the center field wall. With the blast, Dubois pulled into a tie

for the league home run lead.

 

 

Iowa doubled the advantage to 2-0 later in the frame when Brad Snyder

doubled and later scored on Jim Adduci's two-out RBI single to left.

 

 

Cubs first baseman Micah Hoffpauir upped the lead to 3-0 in the third

when he tattooed a two-out solo homer to right-center off Lofgren, the

infielder's third longball of the year.

 

 

Iowa continued to add to the advantage in the fourth as Lofgren walked

the bases loaded around a sacrifice before being removed from the

contest. Tim Dillard came on and gave up a run-scoring groundout to

Jackson, which made it a 4-0 contest, then fanned Matt Camp to escape

the jam without further damage.

 

 

Lofgren (2-1) suffered his first loss in his shortest outing of the

year. The southpaw allowed four runs on four hits in just 3 1/3 innings

of work.

 

 

Dillard turned in an outstanding relief outing for Nashville, fanning

seven batters over 4 2/3 hitless frames.

 

 

Trent Oeltjen singled in the seventh to provide the Sounds' second hit

of the evening.

 

 

The Sounds continue their homestand on Tuesday by welcoming the Oklahoma

City RedHawks (AAA-Rangers) to town for the 7:05 p.m. opener of a

four-game series. Right-hander Marco Estrada (0-0, 0.00) takes the hill

for Nashville to make his third start of the year. The RedHawks will

counter with left-hander Michael Kirkman (1-0, 4.50).

Nashville box score

Lofgren walked three (one intentional), all in the 4th, and struck out none. Dillard's 4.2 innings were not only hitless but perfect save for a catcher's interference call on Ben Johnson. Speaking of Mr. Johnson, we sure are seeing a lot of him--no Angel Salome for the second straight night; Salome's now played in three full games this year out of a possible 12. Apart from the two singles mentioned, Adam Heether was the only other Sound to reach base, with a walk. Eric Farris was 0-4.

 

Nashville play-by-play

Six of Dillard's seven K's were swinging, including the last three and four of the last five batters he faced.

[battlekow]

Bandits face loaded question in loss

Steve Batterson/Quad-City Times

Before packing their bags for a three-day series at Beloit, the

Quad-Cities River Bandits left Modern Woodmen Park with loaded

bases and an empty feeling on Monday.

 

Quad-Cities loaded the bases three times, twice with nobody out,

but capitalized just once in a 9-5 Midwest League loss to

Wisconsin.

 

"We did not make the most of our opportunities," River Bandits

manager Johnny Rodriguez said. "We are off to a good start at 9-3,

but after winning the first two games, it would have been good to

sweep the series."

 

Two of the missed opportunities came early against Timber

Rattlers right-hander Nick Bucci, a pitcher for bronze-medal

winning Team Canada in the 2009 World Cup of baseball.

 

Bucci loaded the bases to open both the fourth and fifth

innings, but Quad-Cities collected just one run on a sacrifice fly

by Ryan Jackson as it fell behind 5-1.

 

Two outs recorded on a bizarre play that began with the infield

fly rule being called left the River Bandits scoreless in the

fourth inning and Wisconsin turned a double play to limit damage in

the fifth.

 

Quad-Cities loaded the bases again in the seventh, and Devin

Shepherd cleared them with a two-out grand slam that cut into what

had grown into a 9-1 Timber Rattlers' lead.

 

"That is the disappointing thing," Rodriguez said. "If it was

5-1 as it was when we went to the bullpen, I felt like we could

still find a way to scratch back into the game. The relief effort

was not what it needed to be."

 

Wisconsin tagged River Bandits reliever LaCurtis Mayes for four

runs in the sixth, two on a double by Khris Davis and two more on a

homer by Chris Dennis that blew the game open.

 

"That did not help us," Rodriguez said. "When we go to the

bullpen, we look for them to give us a chance but when you give up

four like that, it makes it very difficult."

 

WISCONSIN 9, QUAD-CITIES 5

 

TWO, NOT THREE: Quad-Cities avoided becoming a potential

triple-play victim in fourth inning.

 

Walks to Niko Vasquez and Devin Shepherd sandwiched around a

single by Matt Adams loaded the bases. Frederick Parejo followed

with a sky-high pop-up in front of the batter's box, and home plate

umpire Jeff Klinghoffer immediately signaled that the infield fly

rule was in effect.

 

Wisconsin pitcher Nick Bucci attempted to the field the ball and

after it popped out of his glove and onto the turf, Adams and

Shepherd advanced.

 

By rule, runners can advance at their own risk when the infield

fly rule has been called, but there is no force out on the play. A

relay throw to third could have resulted in an easy triple play

with both Vasquez and Adams in the vicinity, but the Rattlers'

first throw went home.

 

As Vasquez began to retreat to third, Bandits manager Johnny

Rodriguez had him leave the field of play, resulting in an

automatic out but also ending any chance of Adams getting tagged

out at third and denying a triple play Rodriguez said "would have

been embarrassing."

[battlekow]

Final: Huntsville 9, West Tenn 2

 

Huntsville box score

These Stars will hunt. Remarkably, the Fab Five were a collective 13-24 with six walks tonight. The damage: Lo Cain: 2-4, two walks, stolen base, four runs scored; Brett Lawrie: 4-6, double; Caleb Gindl: 3-4, two walks, four RBI (three with two outs); Jonathan Lucroy: 2-6 with two runners picked off first; Taylor Green: 2-4, two doubles, two walks. Wow! Lucroy did strike out twice, tripling his season total, which tells you all you need to know about how much Southern League pitching has been fooling him so far. Lee Haydel chipped in with a single and a walk, his fourth free pass of the year; he had only 17 all of last year. Amaury Rivas continues to be a little wilder than we've grown to expect, walking three and hitting two batters in his six innings; he'll need to cut down on those once the hits start falling in, though that hasn't been a problem so far, as the two hits he surrendered today make just eight safeties allowed in his three starts. Rivas also struck out four.

Huntsville play-by-play

The score might have been even more lopsided if not for Steffan Wilson's rough night. He twice stranded the bases loaded with two outs (1st & 8th innings), grounded out unproductively with runners on second & third and one out in the 4th, and struck out after Green's leadoff double in the 7th. That's 0-4 with RISP and nine LOB, seven of them in scoring position.

[WisconsinSportsRule]

I'm very excited for not only LuCroy, but also Lo Cain. We really could use Cain to be the leadoff guy and put Rickie where he ideally belongs (#2 ).

[Mass Haas]

Monday's scheduled Florida State League game between the Lakeland Flying Tigers and the Brevard County Manatees has been postponed due to heavy rain and wet playing conditions at Joker Marchant Stadium. The game will be made up as part of a doubleheader on Thursday, June 17.

 

Tuesday's 10:30 AM (9:30 CT) game between the two teams will be played as scheduled.

 

***

 

Since the teams never got underway, we'll likely see Wily Peralta pitch Tuesday AM -- otherwise LHP Dan Merklinger.

[True CryM]

Didn't watch the game or anything, but Rivas's stuff must have been pretty electric. Hitting two, walking three, while only allowing one run on two hits is pretty impressive. Especially since it was against some very formidable foes within the Mariners organization. Mike McClendon remains spotless on the year. I remember once upon a time he was considered an OK prospect with the WV Power. Maybe he's the next Tim Dilliard - just good enough to remain in the system, but not good enough to break through.

[igor67]

LuCroy was not a terribly high strikeout player last year, but the contact so far has been pretty incredible. Much more interesting though are Gindl's 2 lonely punch outs. In almost 50 ABs that's a rate of 1K/ 23.5 AB compared to last year's 1/4 AB ratio. Sample is still small, but that's a drastic of enough difference that it is hard not to see his year end rate still showing a substantial improvement in contact rate from last year. And on that theme what kind of player does Gindl turn into if his contact rate improves a lot and he keeps on walking at a healthy clip?

[Mass Haas]

Mehring --

 

Gut check

Walk-up music (I'm even more clueless than Chris)

[hsvstarsfan]

Can you imagine what that 1 - 5 for H'ville will be like once Lawrie gets going? It's not like he's not contributing since his OPS is .800 but he's capable of much better numbers.

Brett went 4-for-6 Monday night, snapping a 2-for-23 slump.

There's no telling how far the Stars will go now if Cain, Gindl, Lucroy, and Green stay hot. Together those four players are hitting .380 with 29 RBIs, accounting for 59% of the team total.

 

 

[Tedaldtada]

Igor, to answer your question, if Gindl continues to show improved contact rate and walk rate, he would be a carbon copy of Brian Giles or maybe even a Shin Soo Choo.

 

Also, I just want to say that it is very easy to imagine Chris M. moving up very quickly in the broadcasting world.

[Mass Haas]

Link while active, text follows:

 

Errors hurt Jaxx against Huntsville

By MATT VINES, jacksonsun.com

 

The West Tenn Diamond Jaxx started a new series Monday, but the same errors plagued the Jaxx in a 9-2 loss to Huntsville.

 

The Jaxx's defense committed four errors, increasing their total to nine in the last two games.

 

But the Stars didn't need the Jaxx's help as they pounded out 16 hits to make all of their nine runs earned.

 

Jaxx starter Dan Cortes lasted 3.1 innings, giving up four runs on six hits.

 

Cortes (0-2) has allowed eight runs in eight innings in two starts this season.

 

Huntsville's Jonathan Lucroy and Taylor Green produced consecutive RBI hits in the third inning for two runs, while Caleb Gindl added two more fourth-inning runs to double the Stars' lead to 4-0.

 

Carlos Peguero scored the Jaxx's first run on an Amaury Rivas wild pitch in the bottom of the fourth to cut Huntsville's lead to 4-1.

 

But Rivas (2-0) didn't make many mistakes as he allowed only two hits in six innings for the win.

 

Rivas has a 1.13 ERA in two starts.

 

West trailed just 5-1 in the bottom of the seventh, but Dustin Ackley struck out with two runners aboard to finish the Jaxx's last meaningful threat.

 

The Stars scored one in the eighth and three in the ninth to secure the win.

 

Alex Liddi was the only West Tenn player with more than one hit as he went 2-for-3, but Liddi had two errors. Liddi has committed five errors in the last two games.

 

Huntsville's Lorenzo Cain went 2-for-4 with four runs while Gindl had four RBIs.

 

After taking three of five from the Southern League defending champion Jacksonville, the Jaxx (4-7) have lost five of their last six games.

 

West Tenn will attempt to climb out of the Southern League North cellar as the Jaxx are tied with Chattanooga (4-7)

 

The Jaxx will play Huntsville (7-4) today in the second game of the five-game series at 7:05 p.m. in Pringles Park.