Link Report for Sat. 5/8 -- Rattlers find yet another way to stumble

[twobrewers]

Maybe is it just perception, but it seems like a big Brewers win is inevitably followed by a horrible night by the affiliates. Tough night all around.

 

Hope nothing is wrong with Mark Rogers.

 

I wonder if Capuano is going to be taking Chase Wright's spot in Nashville.

[Mass Haas]

I sure hope it was a planned day off for Huntsville's Taylor Green.

 

When Green and Patrick Arlis, your backup catcher, are the only two bench players, and Arlis enters the game in the 2nd inning after Lee Haydel's departure, it makes you wonder.

 

Huntsville with a needed idle day Sunday (although an in-state travel day) to lick their wounds.

[Mass Haas]

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Rattlers let chances slip away again in loss to Cedar Rapids Kernels

By Cory Jennerjohn, Post-Crescent staff writer

 

GRAND CHUTE — To say the Timber Rattlers are frustrated would be a minor understatement.

 

"It's really frustrating," said catcher Austin Stockfisch, after Cedar Rapids beat Wisconsin 5-4 at Time Warner Cable Field at Fox Cities Stadium on Saturday. "We have to put a lot of it on ourselves just because we got ahead early.

 

"We got three runs and then we kind of went to sleep with the bats and didn't continue to put pressure on a team like that."

 

Of Wisconsin's last 10 losses, seven have been decided by just one run. That's enough to make you want to scream. But it gets worse.

 

The Timber Rattlers have four consecutive losses by one run and in all those games, they've held at least a three-run lead.

 

"We just got to go out and find a way to win," Timber Rattlers manager Jeff Isom said. "It's kind of depressing, but you get late in the games and we're trying not to lose the game instead of playing to win. There's a big difference there."

 

That mentality showed up again on Saturday afternoon. The Timber Rattlers had a 3-0 lead after the second inning. They were on a mental high after ending Tyler Skaggs' scoreless streak at 19 innings. The Kernels' starting pitcher hadn't allowed a run since April 12 when No. 9 batter Carlos George snapped the streak with a two-run single to shallow center field.

 

And then the game suddenly began to unravel. The Timber Rattlers managed just one hit over the final five innings and despite it being 46 degrees in early May, the Kernels got hot.

 

"Our bats weren't there for a couple innings. It's cold," said Kernels center fielder Mike Trout, who went three-for-five and had the game-winning solo home run in the top of the 10th inning. "I mean, you get jammed, you can't feel your hands. The last couple innings, we fought through it and came up with the win."

 

The Timber Rattlers are 1-8 in one-run games and 1-4 in two-run games. What's even more disconcerting is that Jake Odorizzi's effort was wasted. Wisconsin's starting pitcher went 5 2/3 innings, tied a season high with eight strikeouts, scattered four hits and had no walks.

 

"It's easy when a guy can locate pitches," Stockfisch said. "He can beat guys with fast, curve, change, slider. It makes it fun to be able to sit back there and catch and punch guys out like that."

 

For the second straight game, the Timber Rattlers left eight runners in scoring position. They were two-for-10 on Saturday and one-for-nine Friday at Miller Park. The top four batters in the lineup went a combined three-for-15 with no RBI and left a combined 10 runners stranded.

 

"We need somebody to pick it up," Isom said. "All nine guys got to contribute. We got to make the plays. Do a better job on the baserunning side and we got to get our hits as well."