Link Report for Thurs. 5/6 -- Big Nights for Loe, Lawrie, Peralta

[colbyjack]

The pitcher the 'Tees was roughed up was Yankees' talented prospect Andrew Brackman.

 

Fithyfrog (I think it was filthy yesterday) should be happy that Lawrie had more than 1 hit in his usual 4 ABs (and I too had noticed the 1-4 trend).

 

Kentrail Davis and Scooter Gennett were among of my favorite draft-eligible players a year ago, so I'm really pleased to see their success continue, especially since they both were placed rather aggressively in their first taste of pro ball. Gennett in particular has to be encouraging.

 

I was pleasantly surprised to see Bucci's numbers. The walks are ugly, but I remember his ERA didn't look too pretty a few games ago, the last time I looked, when he was roughed up more than we're accustomed to. That Howell/Bucci tandem would be fun to catch, and overall there is a lot of promising pitching to follow. Nashville's staff, even without Josh Butler, has been very, very solid.

 

I think Toby jinxed Taylor Green with his P50 doubles quip http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif.

[battlekow]

The pitcher the 'Tees was roughed up was Yankees' talented prospect Andrew Brackman.

Brackman certainly has a prospect's pedigree, but at this point I don't think he's much of an actual prospect.

[battlekow]

Final: West Tenn 5, Huntsville 2

 

Huntsville box score

Obviously the performance that jumps out at you is Brett Lawrie's 4-4, two-double, one-walk, one-steal line. He seems to have one of these games once a week or so; in the past, he's failed to sustain the success and build a legitimate hot streak, but of course it's still very early and he's doing quite well considering he's one of the youngest players in AA. The rest of the Stars barely matched Lawrie's hit total, only mustering five, two of them by Martin Maldonado, who also walked and picked a runner off first. Lee Haydel was 0-3 but with another walk and a sac fly. Caleb Gindl rang up an 0-5, three-strikeout night to forget, and Taylor Green was 0-4. Starter Amaury Rivas turned in a disappointing performance, allowing five runs in 4.1 innings on 10 hits and four walks while striking out none while also reverting back to his more typical fly-ball ways after a couple of worm-burning outings. Even with all those hits today, Rivas has still only allowed 25 in 31.4 innings, but he's sporting a pretty uninspiring 21/16 K/BB. Brandon Kintzler continued his mini-(and righty-)Braddock impression by striking out one in 1.1 perfect innings to preserve his 0.00 ERA.

 

Huntsville play-by-play

Remarkably, Huntsville put a runner on second with no outs in four of the first five innings and couldn't score in any of them.

[colbyjack]

Brackman certainly has a prospect's pedigree, but at this point I don't think he's much of an actual prospect.

 

My point for bringing it up is that BC didn't just beat up on some random A+ filler this evening. Brackman still throws hard, and has one of the highest upsides of any MiLB pitchers.

[battlekow]

Brackman certainly has a prospect's pedigree, but at this point I don't think he's much of an actual prospect.

 

My point for bringing it up is that BC didn't just beat up on some random A+ filler this evening. Brackman still throws hard, and has one of the highest upsides of any MiLB pitchers.

I'd be disappointed if they didn't beat up on Brackman. Everyone else has in his pro career.

[Mass Haas]

You really can't overstate what Huntsville's closer, Brandon Kintzler, has done so far in 2010.

 

Thursday night, he came in with two out and the bases loaded in the 8th, and stranded Jim Henderson's three baserunners by retiring highly-regarded Mariners' 21-year-old third baseman Alex Liddi on an opposite field flyout.

 

In 11.2 innings, Kintzler has allowed four base hits, walked none, and struck out 13.

 

Left-handed batters, brought up to face Kintzler in the late-inning situations he's thriving in, are 0-for-22 on the season against Brandon, a right-handed pitcher.

 

Just the fact that he was tabbed as the closer coming out of minor league spring training indicates the Brewers liked him from the start this spring.

 

So, like undrafted Joe Thatcher, and like Yankee castoff John Axford, Kintzler, the independent league signee and former Padre farmhand proves that no transaction is insignificant.

 

Now if only the David Riske and LaTroy Hawkins multi-year contracts at big money were insignificant...

[Mass Haas]

by Jill Cacic

Director of Media Relations, Huntsville Stars

 

HUNTSVILLE, AL - Huntsville Stars (15-13) second baseman Brett Lawrie went 4-for-4 on the night but never touched homeplate in a 5-2 loss to the West Tenn Diamond Jaxx (14-13) Thursday night at Joe Davis Stadium.

 

Lawrie extended his current hitting streak to seven games while right fielder Caleb Gindl ended his five game home hitting streak. Gindl was 0-for-5 on the night with three strikeouts, completely uncharacteristic for the usually hot-hitting outfielder. The Stars offense compiled nine hits, with third baseman Zelous Wheeler, first baseman Chris Errecart, left fielder Brent Brewer, catcher Martin Maldonado, Lawrie and Gindl all pitching in. They only managed to score two runs however, both in the bottom of the seventh.

 

The Stars trademark aggressive base running was back tonight as Lawrie swiped a bag, brining his season total to six. The Stars defense did not commit an error tonight, something they've accomplished only nine other times this year.

 

Stars' starter Amaury Rivas (4-1) got pegged with the loss after having an off night on the mound. He went 4 1/3 innings giving up five runs on ten hits. Prior to tonight, Rivas had given up a total of 15 hits and four runs in five starts. His ERA rose to 2.10. Relievers Mike McClendon, Jim Henderson and Brandon Kintzler combined to pitch the final 4 2/3 innings. They gave up two hits and walked three. Kintzler was lights-out again tonight, throwing 1 1/3 scoreless innings, striking out one.

 

The Diamond Jaxx starting line-up combined for 12 hits on the night, with everyone except right fielder Joe Dunigan and second baseman Jeff Dominguez getting a hit. They only struck out four times, compared to the Stars' 13. West Tenn starter Dan Cortes (3-1) went six innings, giving up the two Huntsville runs on six hits.

 

The Diamond Jaxx and Stars face off again tomorrow at 7:00 PM for game four of the five-game series. Alex Periard (1-2) will be taking the mound for the Stars.

[Mass Haas]

Link while active, text follows:

 

By Danny Davis, AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

 

The Nashville Sounds finally figured out the Round Rock Express' offense.

 

After allowing 36 hits in its last three games against Round Rock, Nashville limited Round Rock to four hits in a 3-1 victory. The loss snaps Round Rock's season-high three-game winning streak and drops the Express to 10-17, the worst record in the Pacific Coast League.

 

The Express offense was derailed on Thursday by Nashville starter Kameron Loe.

 

Loe pitched six innings of one-hit baseball and did not allow a run. Loe, who struck out four , has not given up an earned run in his last 21 innings.

But for as dominant as Loe was on Thursday, the Express did have a chance to score some runs in the fifth inning. But, a night after leaving 14 runners on base, Round Rock again squandered a big opportunity.

 

Loe walked three of the inning's first four batters to load the bases with one out. But Jason Bourgeois struck out and Brian Bogusevic grounded out to end the inning.

 

Just before his strikeout, Bourgeois nearly cleared the bases but a liner down the left-field line was barely foul.

 

"We had a golden chance," Round Rock manager Marc Bombard said. "They held us in check."

 

Round Rock also put runners in scoring position in the second and eighth innings but were unable to produce any runs.

 

Loe and the two pitchers who relieved him didn't need much of a cushion on the scoreboard but Nashville (17-9) gave them all the run support they needed with two swings of the bat.

 

Adam Stern hit a solo home run in the first inning to score the game's first run and Jonathan Lucroy hit a solo homer run in the seventh inning to give the Sounds a 2-0 lead.

 

Trailing 3-0, Round Rock got its lone run on an RBI triple by Drew Meyer in the seventh inning.

 

The Express offense wasted a solid pitching performance from starter Roy Corcoran, who allowed one hit and one run over five innings. The 29-year-old Corcoran was making his first start of the season after nine relief appearances.

 

Overall, Round Rock allowed five hits on Thursday.

 

Round Rock dropped to 3-12 in games decided by two runs or fewer.

[Mass Haas]

Read Brett Christpherson's full blog post here-- it includes the following:

“I thought we came out and obviously very aggressive,” Rattlers manager Jeff Isom said. “I like the way ‘D-Vo’ ended up turning a single into a double and sparked us a little bit. And then as the weather cooled down, so did our bats.

 

“But Rondon and Blazek went out there and struck out 12, they attacked the strike zone – off-speed pitches and sliders were very good. And we just didn’t make a whole lot adjustments. That’s something that we’ve done a good job of all season long. It just happens (we did) nothing after the first two innings. You’ve got to tip your cap to their side, obviously. But we have to make adjustments, as well.”

 

Del Howell, meanwhile, turned in his best outing of the season in a no-decision. The 22-year-old lefty – the Brewers’ 15th round draft choice in 2009 and rated by Baseball America as the 22nd best prospect in Milwaukee’s minor league system – didn’t surrender a hit until the third, struck out three and allowed two earned runs and five hits over 5 1/3 innings.

 

He came in winless in one decision and toting a 12.34 ERA but did a good job of mixing speeds and keeping the ball low as he induced nine groundouts.

 

“He got out of a tough situation there with (runners on) second and third in the fifth inning and got a big strikeout with one out,” Isom said. “And then he got the (third) out (shortly) after that.

 

“He made pitches when he had to. Unfortunately, he made a mistake to (Stidham), and he hits a two-run home run. But overall, very pleased with what I saw with Del’s performance tonight.”

 

Stat pack

 

1: Wins for the Rattlers this season in one-run contests. They have lost seven such games.

 

.352: Scooter Gennett’s current batting average, which ranks third in the league. He finished with a hit in four at-bats on Thursday.

 

.476: Batting average of Rattlers left fielder Khris Davis over his last six games. That stretch includes a pair of homers and six RBI. He nearly hit for the cycle, finishing with a single, two doubles and a homer in Wednesday’s second contest, which followed the completion of Tuesday’s suspended game. Davis was held hitless in three trips to the plate on Thursday.

[Never Outhustled]

Kam Loe was the best offseason move the Brewers made. He had a tollerable ERA pitching for Texas a few years ago, I could easily see him being solid in the NL. Lots of Texas pitches have turned their careers around after leaving that hitters haven.

[TheCrew07]

X! I hope you start posting again. Good to see a post from you.

[MoreTrife]

I skimmed the post looking for mention of it, but didn't see it. Will Ferrell entered the game for Round Rock and threw one pitch. Here's a link to a story with video: http://sports.yahoo.com/m...debut-aft?urn=mlb,239434

[pete]

Who is number 4 on the Sounds? My internet skills are lacking - I couldn't find it on the Sounds site. I'm kind of surprised that Ferrell did his thing in the middle of the game. Kind of funny though.

[Mass Haas]

Middle of the game, but not part of the game. That was a stand-in, not an actual Sounds player.