Link Report for Thurs. 5/20 -- Rattlers fall in 15; Huntsville's Bowman fantastic on an eventful organizational night

[TheCrew07]

and just like that I'm tuning back out.

[battlekow]

Wow, Fatse tripled with one out in the bottom of the 11th but was thrown out at home trying to score on Garfield's fly ball.

[TooLiveBrew]

It was a very shallow fly ball. Fatse shouldn't have been tagging imo.

 

 

Just got home, and it was a lot of fun (had to leave before it ended... game went into extras). The Marseco ball looked like it got out in RC, and then bounced back onto the field of play. For those not familiar with Time Warner Field, there's picnic table deck seating in RC that's raised up roughly 10 feet from field level, and it really looked from my vantage point (3B line behind the dugout) that the ball bounced off something much higher than the ground. It really looked like it got out, but the 2B ump was definitely closer than me. It was too bad -- Marseco is such a twig of a guy, I actually joked that there was no way Slappy McGee was going to hit one hard when he came up. It was really cool to see him score the tying run on the wild pitch, too.

 

Odorizzi looked pretty good tonight, but his command wasn't just great, especially of his offspeed stuff. He was working his fastball in the 89-92 range, primarily north of or at 90. Looked like he had a changeup operating around 84-85, and a curve or slider at 78 or so. There looked to be about a half dozen scouts in attendance tonight. Nieves pitched after Odorizzi & was solid. 89-90 with his fastball, change around 84, and breaking pitch around 78. Really similar to Odorizzi, but obv. from the left side

The Peoria (Cubs affiliate) starter Kenneth McNutt (RH) was pretty impressive, aside from the two errors he threw over the 1Bman when fielding bunts early in the game. Maintained a FB velocity of 94 seemingly every time he threw it, including into the 5th inning. He has a funky hitch in his delivery, where he pauses up on his back leg right before he unloads his body toward home plate. I thought that was pretty odd to see (I thought that kind of hitch would be coached out of a delivery)... think what Doug Davis will sometimes do, sort of freezing for a split-second before delivering.

Gomez had a so-so game, but one thing stuck out. He chased down a flyball in the LC gap early in the game that included, yes, running into the outfield wall with his left shoulder. I mean, you're in low-A ball to rehab an injured left shoulder, what on earth are you doing running into a wall? No one would have blamed the guy for just letting up. Plus, D'Vontrey Richardson (LF) was right there & deferred at the last minute to Gomez (CF). Just an absolute head-scratcher to me. Thankfully he seemed ok, but he looked a bit shaken up for the rest of that inning out in the field. He also fouled a ball pretty hard off his left foot in his last PA, and it looked like he took himself out of the game after he was retired that inning (bottom of the 9th). I don't think it's serious or anything, but man -- for a rehab start, he sure was getting dinged up. He seemed to be enjoying himself, though, flashing a smile frequently between innings. I was struck with how big he is (hadn't seen him in person before). He really looks like a power hitter.

 

I took a bunch of pictures, so this weekend I'll sort through them & post the better ones here. Oh, one last thing on Gomez. Some guy was wearing a #27 Gomez jersey tee, and chanting "Carlos Go-mez [clap, clap, clap-clap-clap]" every time Carlos came back into the dugout. In the middle of the game, Gomez finally waved to the guy, and then handed him one of his bats once he got back in the dugout. Pretty cool.

[Mass Haas]

On to the 14th, this is a real trip in Appleton. Position player now in to pitch for Peoria.

 

***

 

Michael Bowman surrenders his first base hit in the 5th vs. Mississippi, Stars up 1-0 on a Chuckie Caufield home run, how about that...

 

***

 

Nice night for player / coach Anderson De La Rosa for Brevard, but do we have to see him so often? Does Shawn Zarraga have any chance of sticking behind the plate?

 

Matt Cline must be a tremendous story, sitting out a year and just raking now. Glad to see they found a spot for him at short tonight with Mat Gamel starting at third base.

[TooLiveBrew]

OH MY GOODNESS

 

Scooter Gennett just thrown out at the plate trying to score from second on a Chris Dennis single to RF. Wow.

[battlekow]

The Rattlers have had the winning run thrown out at home twice now in extra innings tonight. There's also the runner on third base with one out that they failed to score in the 13th. They're creative, these guys.

[Mass Haas]

Wrigley helps Charlotte outslug Brevard 11-8

By Jonathan Gantt, Charlotte Stone Crabs (so obviously from a Charlotte perspective, that's understandable)

 

PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. -- Henry Wrigley went 5-for-5 at the plate to help the Charlotte Stone Crabs outslug the Brevard County Manatees 11-8 at Charlotte Sports Park on Thursday night.

 

Wrigley enjoyed arguably the best individual single-game performance by a Crabs player with a 5-for-5 night at the plate that left him just a triple short of the cycle. He collected four RBIs and crushed his eighth home run of the season while setting a franchise-high for hits in a game.

 

The Stone Crabs offense set a single-game record for runs in an inning (six in the second) and tied a record most hits in a game this season with 11.

 

Tampa Bay Rays rehabbing outfielder Matt Joyce also went deep with a two-run homer to highlight his 2-for-5 night at the dish.

 

The Crabs (21-19) jumped out to an early lead when Wrigley hit a line drive, RBI-single with two outs to score Tim Beckham from second base. But Brevard answered with three runs in the top of the second with a rally that included two hit batters, a wild pitch, an error, a triple and a single.

 

The Charlotte offense then erupted for a six-run outburst in the bottom of the second inning. Jake Jefferies started the inning with a leadoff single followed by consecutive singles from Matt Hall and Reid Fronk to load the bases. Beckham came through with a two-RBI double down the left field line and then scored on another RBI-single from Wrigley. Joyce then capped the rally with a two-run blast over the right field bullpen to give the Stone Crabs their highest single-inning run output of the season.

 

The Manatees (16-25) could not match that output in the next frame, but they did manage to put another two runs on the board to keep the game within reach when Brock Kjeldgaard knocked an opposite-field, two-run home run off Charlotte starter Richard De Los Santos. The longball was his second of the season and only the third for the Manatees all season long -- until Anderson De La Rosa parked a 1-2 offering from De Los Santos in the visitors bullpen over the left field wall in the top of the fourth. De Los Santos gave up two more singles and a walk before being pulled from the game. Tommy Rafferty stepped into the difficult and gave up a sacrifice fly that tied the game before retiring the next batter to end the inning.

 

The Stone Crabs regained the lead in the bottom of the inning when Wrigley doubled to left, stole third base and scored on a single from Anthony Scelfo. Wrigley then added some insurance in the next frame with a two-run moonshot to left field that nearly left the ballpark. The longball was his eighth of the season.

 

Wrigley picked up his record-setting fifth hit in the bottom of the eighth inning with a double to right-center field that looked like a possible triple off the bat. Isaias Velasquez replaced him at second base as a pinch runner and eventually scored on an RBI double from Jefferies.

 

Rafferty (3-1) pitched 2 2/3 innings and gave up one run to earn his third win of the season before giving way to Neil Schenk who pitched two scoreless innings. Zach Quate then closed out the game with a scoreless ninth to earn his fifth save of the season.

 

The teams continue the series at Charlotte Sports Park tomorrow with first pitch at 7:05 PM (6:05 Central). Right-hander Chris Andujar (3-1, 2.63) will start for Charlotte against fellow righty Wily Peralta (3-1, 3.38).

[Mass Haas]

Amazingly, we're still listening to Chris in Appleton and the Sounds have wrapped up their game in Fresno (a 6-2 loss.)

 

When the original title of this Link Report was "Late Night Audio", it was meant to point us to Stu.

 

Actually, Chad is going strong still (nearly midnight Central Time) thanks to the long delay in Mississippi.

 

What a bizarre night...

[battlekow]

Final: Fresno 6, Nashville 2

Sounds open road trip with 6-2 loss to Grizzlies

Nashville Sounds

 

FRESNO, Calif. - The Nashville Sounds opened their West Coast road trip

on the short end of a 6-2 loss to the Fresno Grizzlies on Thursday

evening at Chukchansi Park in the opener of a four-game series.

 

Fresno notched its league-leading 28th victory in the matchup between

the top two teams in the Pacific Coast League.

 

 

Grizzlies starter Joe Martinez (4-1) turned in an outstanding effort,

allowing two runs on five hits over 7 2/3 innings to notch the victory.

 

 

Fresno took an early 2-0 lead against Sounds starter Chuck Lofgren with

single runs in the first and second innings.

 

 

Brock Bond led off the Grizzlies' first with a triple and scored later

in the frame on a Buster Posey sacrifice fly. An inning later, Fresno

third baseman Jesus Guzman slugged his fourth home run of the year, a

one-out solo shot to left.

 

 

The Grizzlies upped the lead to 6-0 in the sixth. After the first three

batters of the frame reached to load the bases, Joe Borchard tacked on a

run with a sacrifice fly. Fresno first baseman Brad Pill followed by

belting a three-run homer to left that chased Lofgren from the game. It

was the infielder's fourth roundtripper of the season.

 

 

Nashville finally broke up Martinez's shutout bid in the eighth. Second

baseman Ray Olmedo put the visitors on the board when his two-out double

plated Drew Anderson, who had drawn a walk in front of him. The

two-bagger extended Olmedo's hit streak to 10 games, matching his

longest effort of the year. Trent Oeltjen followed with an RBI single to

make it a 6-2 contest.

 

 

Grizzlies reliever Osiris Matos escaped further damage in the frame when

he caught Adam Heether looking at a third strike with two runners on to

end the inning. The right-hander finished out the game to notch his

first save of the year.

 

 

Nashville shortstop Luis Cruz doubled in the fifth inning to extend his

hitting streak to 11 games, the longest by a Sounds player all season.

 

 

Lofgren (5-3) took the loss for the Sounds after surrendering a

season-high six runs on six hits, including a pair of homers, over 5 1/3

innings of action. It marked only the second time in nine starts this

season that the left-hander allowed more than three runs in a contest.

 

 

The teams meet again on Friday in another 9:05 p.m. CT contest.

Left-hander Chase Wright (2-1, 4.10) will take the hill for the Sounds

to face Fresno southpaw Matt Yourkin (2-0, 3.50).

Nashville box score

Tough night for Lofgren, who might have made a different team as a LOOGY out of spring training, on the day that two of his teammates get The Call. Speaking of which, Jonathan Lucroy started and went 0-2 before being removed, presumably after word reached the Sounds about the decision to DL Gregg Zaun. Heether was 1-4. Josh Anderson missed his second straight game. Martinez, Fresno's starter, is the pitcher whose face Mike Cameron fractured with a line drive last year.

 

Nashville play-by-play

 

[Mass Haas]

One of the more potentially exciting aspects of Zach Braddock's callup would be if Brandon Kintzler was bumped to AAA, with Nick Green taking over closer duties in Huntsville. Not saying that it will happen, but that it should happen and would be fun (and deserving for Kintzler) if it did.

[YoungGeezy]

Did I miss the news somewhere about Mike Jones being bumped up to Nashville? When did that happened?

[battlekow]

Final: Peoria 9, Wisconsin 6 (15 innings)

Mercedes first position player to win in Chiefs history

Nathan Baliva/Peoria Chiefs

 

Grand Chute, WI - The Peoria Chiefs blew two late leads but

scored four runs in the 15th inning to win the longest game of the

season both time wise and inning wise, 9-6 against the Wisconsin Timber

Rattlers Thursday night. Backup catcher Mario Mercedes threw 1 2/3

innings to earn the win, thought to be the first in franchise history

for a position player. The Chiefs are now 24-17 on the season as they

win the series two games to one.

Hak-Ju Lee started the 15th with a single off new reliever

Andy Sauter and he was sacrificed to second by Logan Watkins. After Greg

Rohan popped out the Chiefs took the lead with a two-out barrage of

hits. Wisconsin intentionally walked Justin Bour and Matt Cerda put the

Chiefs on top 6-5 with a ground-rule double to right-center. Nelson

Perez delivered a two-run single to second for an 8-5 lead and he

advanced to second on a throwing error. Jonathon Mota made it 9-5 with a

single to center before Charles Thomas delivered the Chiefs fifth hit

of the inning. Francisco Guzman, the ninth batter of the inning grounded

out to end the four-run frame with the Chiefs leading 9-5.

 

Mercedes walked two and gave up a single to load the bases

with one out in the bottom of the 15th. After Franklin Romero popped

out, D'Vontrey Richardson singled to right to cut the lead to 9-6. With

the winning run at the plate the Chiefs called on Larry Suarez who

struck out Cutter Dykstra on three pitches to end the game for his first

career save.

 

Wisconsin jumped out on top in the second inning without the

benefit of a base hit. Chiefs' starter Trey McNutt walked Khris Davis to

start the inning and Michael Marseco laid down a sacrifice bunt.

McNutt's throw to first sailed down the right-field line to put runners

on second and third with nobody out. A grounder to second by Austin

Stockfish scored Davis before McNutt struck out Erik Miller and retired

rehabbing Brewers outfielder Carlos Gomez to end the frame.

 

Rattlers starter Jake Odorizzi cruised through the

first three innings with five strikeouts and one baserunner allowed.

Watkins led off the fourth with a double and Rohan singled to put

runners on the corners. Bour doubled down the line to tie the game at

one and after a flyout Perez doubled home two for a 3-1 Chiefs lead.

 

The Chiefs added to their lead in the fourth as Lee reached

on an infield single and stole second before Watkins walked. A wild

pitch moved both runners up 90 feet and Rohan made it 4-1 with a

groundout to shortstop.

 

The game remained 4-1 into the ninth as the Chiefs bullpen

turned away the Rattlers without a hit allowed through 3 1/3 innings.

Jordan Latham entered in the ninth looking for his eighth save of the

season but first since May 4. Chris Dennis started the frame with a

single and Davis walked on four pitches. Marseco crushed a double to cut

the Rattlers' deficit to 4-2 and put the tying run in scoring position

with nobody out. Pinch-hitter Peter Fatse delivered a sac fly in foul

territory to left and the throw home by Lee got away allowing Marseco to

move to third. Pinch-hitter Cameron Garfield lined out to short on a

great play by Lee to bring Gomez to the plate. A wild pitch on the first

delivery by Latham hit the screen on a fly to score Marseco and tie the

game. Gomez then popped out in foul territory to Mota to send the game

to extras.

 

Wisconsin had the winning run in scoring position in both

the 10th and 11th innings. With two down in the 10th against Latham,

Scooter Gennett singled and moved to second on a wild pitch before

Latham intentionally walked Dennis. Davis popped up to second to end the

threat. Against Yohan Gonzalez in the 11th Fatse tripled to right

with one out. The Chiefs infield moved in and Garfield lifted a flyball

to medium centerfield. Guzman made the catch and threw a strike home

that Mota caught on one hop. Fatse bowled Mota over but the Chiefs'

catcher absorbed the contact and held on the end the inning.

 

The Chiefs took the lead in the 12th against Andre

Lamontagne. With two down Guzman walked, stole second and stole third as

Lee worked a full-count. Lee delivered a go-ahead single to right to

score Guzman for a 5-4 Chiefs lead.

 

Wisconsin took advantage of a Chiefs defensive mistake to

tie the game in the bottom of the inning. With one down Richardson

singled up the middle and Dykstra flew out to center. Gennett

singled to left and the ball bounced off Watkins leg for an error to

allow Richardson to score the tying run. The throw back in by Watkins

got away allowing Gennett to move to third but Gonzalez stuck out Dennis

to end the inning.

 

In the 13th Davis led off with a double and was sacrificed to

third by Marseco. The Chiefs intentionally walked Fatse to set up the

force and Garfield flew out to right with Fatse taking second base.

Gonzalez struck out Romero to end the inning.

 

Mercedes came out of the bullpen to pitch in the 14th and

got two quick pop-ups before Gennett singled to center and stole second.

Dennis singled to right and Perez threw Gennett out at the plate to end

the inning and send the game to the 15th.

 

McNutt threw 4 2/3 innings and allowed just one unearned run

on one hit and three walks while striking out four. Steven Grife was in

line for the win before the ninth with 2 1/3 perfect innings and two

strikeouts. Ronny Morla threw one shutout inning with a walk and a

strikeout. Latham allowed three runs, two earned on three hits and two

walks over two innings. Gonzalez allowed just one unearned run on four

hits over three innings while striking out three. Mercedes allowed one

run on four hits and two walks over 1 2/3 innings. Suarez nailed down

his first career save with a strikeout on three pitches.

 

Wisconsin box score

It's really late, I'm tired, and just thinking about this game makes me even more so. Check the comments up thread for a pretty accurate representation of what it was like to listen to the game. I'd forgotten at this point that Odorizzi even started today.

 

Wisconsin play-by-play

The missed chances:

 

Wisconsin Bottom 11th

• Michael Marseco flies out to center
  fielder Francisco Guzman.
• Peter Fatse triples (5) on a fly
  ball to center fielder Francisco Guzman.
• Cameron Garfield
  flies into double play, center fielder Francisco Guzman to catcher
  Jonathon Mota. Peter Fatse out at home on the throw.

Wisconsin Bottom 13th

• Khristopher Davis doubles (11)
  on a fly ball to left fielder Logan Watkins.
• Michael Marseco
  out on a sacrifice bunt, third baseman Charles Thomas to first baseman
  Justin Bour. Khristopher Davis to 3rd.
• Yohan Gonzalez
  intentionally walks Peter Fatse.
• Cameron Garfield flies out to
  right fielder Nelson Perez.
• Franklin Romero strikes out
  swinging.

Wisconsin Bottom 14th

• D' Vontrey Richardson flies
  out to center fielder Francisco Guzman.
• Cutter Dykstra pops
  out to second baseman Matthew Cerda.
• Ryan Gennett singles on a
  ground ball to center fielder Francisco Guzman.
• With Chris
  Dennis batting, Ryan Gennett steals (3) 2nd base.
• Chris Dennis
  singles on a line drive to right fielder Nelson Perez. Ryan Gennett
  out at home on the throw, right fielder Nelson Perez to catcher Jonathon
  Mota.

[battlekow]

Chiefs beat Rattlers in a marathon

Chris Mehring/Wisconsin Timber Rattlers

 

GRAND CHUTE,

WI – The Peoria Chiefs defeated the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers 9-6 in 15

innings on Thursday night at Time Warner Cable Field. Wisconsin rallied

with three runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to tied the game 4-4.

The

Chiefs broke the game open with four two-out runs in the top of the

fifteenth. Nelson Perez drove in four runs for the Chiefs. Peoria

used seven pitchers (including catcher and eventual winning pitcher

Mario

Mercedes). The Rattlers went 3-for-20 with runners in scoring position

and had

the potential winning run thrown out at the plate in two different extra

innings.

 

Wisconsin

(13-27) got on the board first. Khris Davis walked and Michael Marseco

dropped a sacrifice bunt to start the second inning. An error on the

play

put runners at second and third with no outs. Austin Stockfisch got

Davis

home with an infield grounder.

 

 

 

 

 

Peoria (24-17)

took the lead in the top of the third as they strung together four hits

against

Rattlers starting pitcher Jake Odorizzi. Justin Bour doubled in the

first

run of the frame. Nelson Perez doubled in the next two runs for a 3-1

Peoria advantage.

 

The Chiefs

tacked on a run in the fifth. An RBI grounder off the bat of Greg Rohan

made the score 4-1.

 

 

 

 

 

Wisconsin’s

bats stayed silent. They had collected just one hit through the first

eight innings against starter Trey McNutt and relievers Steve Grife and

Ronny

Morla. That changed in the bottom of the ninth inning against Peoria

closer

Jordan Latham.

 

Chris Dennis

singled and Davis walked to start the inning. Marseco appeared to hit a

game-tying homer to right-center. But, the play was ruled a double to

score Dennis. Pinch-hitter Pete Fatse knocked in Davis with a sacrifice

fly and a poor throw to the plate put Marseco on third. He was still

there with two outs, but scored on a wild pitch.

 

 

 

 

 

The Wisconsin

bullpen went into shutdown mode after a leadoff single in the bottom of

the seventh.

Efrain Nieves retired the final six batters he faced. Then, Santo

Manzanillo

pitched three perfect innings.

 

The first

opportunity for the Rattlers to win the game was in the eleventh

inning.

Fatse tripled with one out. He tried to score on a fly ball to shallow

center, but Francisco Guzman threw out Fatse to send the game to the

twelfth.

 

 

 

 

 

The Chiefs

scored a run on a two-out rally in the top of the twelfth against Andre

Lamontagne. Guzman singled with two outs and would steal second and

third

base. Hak-Ju lee singled to knock in Guzman for a 5-4 lead.

 

Wisconsin

answered in the bottom of the inning. D’Vontrey Richardson singled

with one out and he was still at first with two outs. Richardson was

running on a 3-2 pitch to Scooter Gennett and Gennett sent a sinking

line drive

to left. The ball hit in front Logan Watkins and bounced off his chest

to

left-center. Richardson scored to tie the game and Gennett took

third. But, the Rattlers couldn’t get the winning run home.

 

 

 

 

 

Davis started

the bottom of the thirteenth with a double and he was sacrificed to

third. But, he was still at third when the inning ended.

 

The Chiefs

ran out of pitchers and had to put catcher Mario Mercedes into the game

for the

bottom of the fourteenth. Gennett singled with two outs and stole

second.

Chris Dennis singled to right, but Perez came up thrown and just got

Gennett at

the plate to send the game to the fifteenth.

 

 

 

 

 

Peoria had

Lee at second with two outs in the fifteenth against right-handed

reliever Andy

Sauter and the Rattlers elected to intentionally walk lefty Justin

Bour. Matt

Cerda foiled the strategy with a ground rule to send Lee home. Perez

singled to drive in Bour. Then, Jonathan Mota knocked in a run with an

infield single. An error on the play allowed the final run of the

inning

to score for a 9-5 lead.

 

Wisconsin

made a last-ditch rally in the bottom of the fifteenth. Davis singled

and

Marseco walked. One out later, Cameron Garfield walked to load the

bases. Richardson scored in Davis with a two-out single to knock

Mercedes

out of the game.

 

 

 

 

 

Pitcher Larry

Suarez, who tossed 2-1/3 innings on Tuesday night and didn’t have many

pitches in him for Thursday’s game, came in to face Cutter Dykstra.

Suarez struck out Dykstra on three pitches to put an end to the game.

 

Milwaukee

Brewers’ outfielder Carlos Gomez went 1-for-4 with a pair of stolen

bases

for the Timber Rattlers in his second and final rehab start. He left

the

game after the bottom of the ninth inning.

 

 

 

 

 

The Rattlers

welcome the Burlington Bees to town on Friday night to start a four-game

series. Eric Arnett (0-3, 8.07) is the scheduled starting pitcher for

Wisconsin.

Nick Wooley (1-2, 5.18) is the scheduled starter for the Bees.

 

Tomorrow

night is a North Shore Bank Family Night in conjunction with momslikeme.com.

Children

12 and under eat free. After the game, ThedaCare Orthopedics presents

Kids Run the Bases for children 14 and under.

 

 

 

If you can’t

make it to the game, you can tune in on AM1280, WNAM beginning with the

Miller

Lite Pregame Show at 6:15pm. Game time is 6:35pm.

[battlekow]

Final: Huntsville 5, Mississippi 4

Huntsville box score

After a long rain delay in the first inning that knocked out the M-Braves' starter after two thirds of an inning, the Stars rode a four-run 7th inning to victory, holding on tight as Mississippi scored two runs each in the 8th and 9th. Starter Michael Bowman fortunately avoided being knocked out by the delay and tossed six sparkling shutout innings, allowing just one hit, two walks, and a hit batter while striking out five. After Nick Green worked into some trouble in the 9th, Brandon Kintzler came on and allowed a two-run single before closing out his 7th save. Brett Lawrie and Lorenzo Cain again had good nights (great to see Lawrie string a couple together); each had two hits and a walk, with one of Lawrie's hits being a two-out, two-run triple, already his seventh three-bagger of the year. Chuckie Caufield got the Stars on the board in the 4th with a solo homer, his first of the year.

 

Huntsville play-by-play

The winning 7th:

 

Huntsville Top 7th

• Anderson Machado called out on
  strikes.
• Martin Maldonado singles on a ground ball to center
  fielder Alex Romero.
• Offensive Substitution: Pinch hitter
  Scott Krieger replaces Michael Bowman.
• Scott Krieger singles
  on a ground ball to center fielder Alex Romero. Martin Maldonado to
  2nd.
• Lorenzo Cain singles on a ground ball to left fielder
  Cody Johnson. Martin Maldonado scores. Scott Krieger to 2nd.
• Pitcher
  Change: Thomas Palica replaces Ryne Reynoso, batting 9th.
• Coaching
  visit to mound.
• Lee Haydel pops out to shortstop Randy Gress.
  
• Brett Lawrie triples (7) on a ground ball to left fielder
  Cody Johnson. Scott Krieger scores. Lorenzo Cain scores.
• Zelous
  Wheeler reaches on fielding error by shortstop Randy Gress. Brett
  Lawrie scores.
• Chris Errecart grounds into a force out, third
  baseman Donell Linares to second baseman Eric Duncan. Zelous Wheeler
  out at 2nd.

[battlekow]

Did I miss the news somewhere about Mike Jones being bumped up to Nashville? When did that happened?

Check the Transactions thread.

[Mass Haas]

Nothing from a Nashville perspective, but these two links representing the Fresno Bee's game coverage will give you a sense of how dominating this 28-12 Grizzlies team has been, and well-positioned to help their San Franciso parent club.

 

And we thought Nashville had been playing well -- now that squad is minus Salome, Farris, Katin, Lucroy, Estrada, Axford, and Braddock. Yikes...

[Mass Haas]

Brett Christopherson's blog post has quotes from Carlos Gomez and much more -- check it out.

[Mass Haas]

First up, Stu on Fresno.

 

More importantly, I now know why I couldn't pull in the Nashville audio last night, as Stu explains. Thought it was my flash player the whole time.

[TooLiveBrew]

Oh, and I forgot to mention that Cutter Dykstra's walk-up music is some Miley Cyrus song. I don't know if he lost a bet, or what's up with that.

[battlekow]

Stars weather the weather, get third straight win

Aaron Morse/Huntsville Stars

 

After sitting through a rain delay that lasted two hours and 12 minutes,

the Huntsville Stars (21-20) used an outstanding performance from

Michael Bowman (3-4) to prevail 5-4 over the Mississippi Braves (20-21)

Thursday night into Friday morning.

 

The Stars put runners on

first and third with two away in the top of the first before the teams

were called off the field due to the impending thunder storm. The delay

forced the Braves to switch pitchers, Ryne Reynoso (0-1) replaced

starter Richard Sullivan when the game resumed.

 

The Stars did

not need to switch pitchers as Bowman had yet to throw a pitch in the

game so rust would be at a minimum. That was certainly the case as he

tossed six innings of one-hit ball, walking two and striking out five.

 

 

Chuck Caufield got the Stars on the board in the top of the

fourth with a solo homer off Reynoso. It’s the first long ball of the

year for Caufield.

 

Huntsville would get some much-needed

insurance in the top of the seventh. With one away Martin Maldonado

singled up the middle. Scott Krieger pinch hit for Bowman and came up

big with a single to center for his second hit as a Huntsville Star.

Back to the top of the order the Stars went and Lorenzo Cain continued

his excellent season with a single to left to drive home Maldonado.

Cain’s single chased Reynoso from the game. Relief pitcher Thomas

Palica was greeted rather rudely by Brett Lawrie as the former first

round pick smacked his league-leading seventh triple of the year,

clearing the bases and extending the lead to 4-0. A Braves error

allowed Lawrie to cross home to complete the scoring. When the dust

cleared, the Stars had a 5-0 advantage.

 

Robert Hinton relieved

Bowman for the bottom half of the seventh inning and got some help from

Cain, who made a spectacular catch as he crashed into the wall 380 feet

away from home plate on a ball hit by Mauro Gomez.

 

Hinton

would run into trouble in the eighth inning as Randy Gress started

things off for the Braves with a double to left. Two outs later, Hinton

walked Alex Romero. A Donell Linares single drove in Gress and that

was quickly followed by an Eric Duncan RBI single as well. With the

lead cut to 5-2, manager Mike Guerrero brought in Nick Green to put out

the fire. In his first appearance for the Stars this season, Green got

some help from Chris Errecart. The first-baseman made a nice catch over

the railing in foul territory on a pop-up to end the inning.

 

 

Green gave up a lead-off single in the bottom of the ninth. One out

later, another single brought the tying run to the plate. That would be

all for Green as Brandon Kintzler entered to try and finish off the

victory. Kintzler would walk pinch-hitter Orlando Mercado to load the

bases. But he would bounce back to strike-out Travis Jones on three

straight pitches. Romero would single home Gress and Willie Cabrera,

and the Stars found themselves only up 5-4.

 

With the tying and

winning runs aboard, Kintzler got Linares to line out to Cain to secure

his seventh save of the season.

 

Lawrie and Cain

both had big days at the plate as Brett went 2-3 with a run scored and

two driven in. Cain also had a couple of hits with a run scored and a

RBI. Cain swiped his 10th base of the year, but not to be out-done;

Lawrie stole two bags to take the team lead with 11. Meanwhile

Caufield’s homer extended his hitting streak to four games.

 

 

The win pulls the Stars to within a half game of West Tennessee for the

second place spot in the North Division. The Smokies also won Thursday,

so Huntsville remains four games out of first.

 

The Stars are

back on the air Friday night for game two of the five-game set with the

Braves. Join us on the AM 1450/92.9 FM WTKI and the Stars Radio Network

or www.huntsvillestars.com beginning at 6:50pm Central Time. Former

first round pick Mark Rogers (2-3, 4.20 ERA) heads to the mound to take

on Mississippi’s Mike Minor (1-3, 3.43 ERA).