Link Report for Mon. 8/16 -- High-Scoring Afternoon: Stars Hang On, Rattlers Don't

[Mass Haas]

Stars pull off dramatic comeback win

By Aaron Morse, Huntsville Stars

 

Brett Lawrie hit a two-out, two-RBI double and the Huntsville Stars (27-24, 60-61) scored seven runs in the sixth inning to rally from a five run deficit on their way to a 9-7 victory over the West Tennessee Diamond Jaxx (24-27, 63-57) Monday afternoon.

 

The victory made a winner out of Wily Peralta (1-1) who went six innings, giving up six runs (three earned) on seven hits. He walked one and struck-out seven.

 

The 21-year old right-hander had to work around some shaky Stars defense in the first inning. With one out, Johan Limonta doubled sharply down the right field line. Peralta got Alex Liddi to ground right back to the mound; he had Limonta caught dead to rights between second and third but his throw to second was dropped by shortstop Andy Machado. That allowed Limonta to go to third and everybody was safe.

 

Then he was hit with some bad luck as a Carlos Peguero chopper up the middle was hit so slowly that no play was available for Machado to make. The infield single drove in Limonta and West Tenn grabbed the early 1-0 lead (audio). Scott Savastano followed with a grounder that Machado booted, loading the bases with only one down. The Stars paid for their bad defense as Joe Dunigan singled in two runs to extend the West Tenn lead to 3-0 (audio).

 

West Tennessee tacked on an insurance run in the top of the second on a two-out RBI single from Liddi (audio).

 

However the Stars were able to get that run back in the bottom half of the frame when Taylor Green doubled in Drew Anderson (audio), who’d drawn a lead-off walk.

 

Peralta and his counterpart Jarrett Grube were lights out for the next three innings before the Diamond Jaxx struck again in the sixth. With one out Joe Dunigan reached on an infield single. Bonilla followed with his second homer of the afternoon to extend the advantage to 6-1 (audio).

 

It was not Peralta’s best outing but the Stars made him a winner thanks to their epic comeback in the bottom of the sixth. Lee Haydel provided the spark Huntsville needed with a perfect bunt single down the third base line. Lawrie followed with a double to the left field corner. That’s when the Z-man, Zelous Wheeler, singled home both runners to cut the deficit to 6-3 (audio). An Anderson double put runners at second and third with still nobody out. It also chased Grube from the game as the Diamond Jaxx brought in Wes Littleton. He was greeted by a Chris Nowak chopper to short that Carlos Triunfel mishandled, allowing everyone to be safe as the Stars cut the lead to 6-4 (audio). Littleton walked Green to load the bases. His control continued to escape him as he walked Machado (audio) and Caleb Gindl as well and all of a sudden the game was tied at six (audio). Nick Hill entered the game and struck-out two batters before Lawrie hacked at the first pitch and doubled in two runs to give the Stars an 8-6 lead (audio).

 

Robert Hinton tossed a scoreless seventh, but Michael Fiers gave up a homer to Bonilla in the eighth to cut the Stars’ lead to one (audio). Huntsville responded immediately in the bottom half of the frame when Haydel hit a sacrifice fly to score Gindl from third (audio).

 

The 9-7 lead held up as Jeremy Jeffress nailed down his second save of the year with a scoreless ninth inning (final out).

 

The win moves Huntsville to within 3.5 games of the Wild Card lead. They have an off day Tuesday before taking on the Birmingham Barons on Wednesday. Michael Bowman will be on the mound and you can catch all the action on the Stars Radio Network.

[Mass Haas]

Link while active, text follows:

 

Ain’t afraid of no Ghosts

By MARK VINSON, Helena Independent Record

 

For seven innings Monday night, Casper pitcher Albert Campos had the Helena Brewers eating out of his hand. With one swing, Cody Hawn erased all that.

 

Hawn’s two-run homer in the eighth inning capped another late rally as the Brewers won for the fourth time in their last five games, beating the Ghosts 3-2 in a Pioneer League contest before 1,058 at Kindrick Legion Field.

 

“Man, it was awesome,” said Hawn, whose 10 home runs lead the Pioneer League. “I picked it up good out of his hand and there it went. I knew it as soon as I hit it. It was a very good feeling.”

 

The mistake was one of the very few Campos made. The 6-4 righthander from Venezuela was coming off a dominant eight-inning four-hitter in his last outing and baffled the Brewers like few others have this season.

 

“He threw great,” said Hawn, who grounded out, walked and was hit by a pitch in his first three plate appearances. “He just made that one mistake.”

 

That mistake allowed Helena (27-25, 8-6 second half) to leapfrog Great Falls in the Pioneer League’s North Division for first place. Casper falls to 24-29, 7-8 in the South Division.

 

Campos allowed just three hits and four balls out of the infield in the first seven innings, picking up eight of his season-high nine strikeouts along the way.

 

“He’s just attacking hitters, being aggressive with all of his pitches,” Casper manager Tony Diaz said. “It’s just a shame he didn’t win it.”

 

Helena, which leads the league with six victories in games in which it trails after seven innings, trailed 2-0 entering the eighth. The rally began with Robbie Garvey’s one-out triple to the rightfield fence. Franklin Romero, Jr. then singled to left for his second hit of the game to cut the Casper lead to 2-1.

 

Diaz made the long walk to the mound and looked at ace closer Juan Perez, who was throwing in the bullpen. Perez is second in the league with seven saves and has a 1.47 earned run average. But after a lengthy deliberation, Diaz stayed with Campos.

 

“Obviously, I made a mistake and it cost us,” Diaz said. “It’s really on me. I lost the game. I had my closer ready and didn’t bring him in.”

 

Waiting in the on-deck circle, Hawn was surprised as well.

 

“When (Diaz) came out, I really thought they were going to pull (Campos),” Hawn said.

 

Campos (2-3) got ahead in the count with two strikes, then wasted a pitch that Hawn refused to chase. With a 1-2 count, Campos hung a slider over the middle of the plate.

 

“As good as that guy had been all day, I was just focused on trying to hit the ball back up the middle,” Hawn said. “He hung it right out over the plate. Just that one pitch, he left it up there and I just put good wood on it.”

 

Jimmy Nelson (2-0) earned the win with three innings of one-hit relief, retiring the final nine batters he faced. It was Nelson’s most impressive outing since arriving in Helena.

 

“He’s got good stuff,” Helena manager Joe Ayrault said of Nelson. “It’s just one of those things of getting comfortable for him. Now he’s trusting what he’s doing. He’s comfortable and confident.”

 

So, too were Helena’s hitters, even when Campos looked untouchable.

 

“Our ballclub is the type of team we like to score runs late,” Ayrault said.

 

Casper took a 1-0 lead against Helena starter Evan Frederickson on a fourth-inning single by Blake McDade, who eventually scored on an infield groundout. The Ghosts made it 2-0 on Jordan Ballard’s solo home run off the scoreboard in left-centerfield in the sixth inning against Helena reliever Ryan Bernal.

 

That held up until the Brewers rallied in the eighth.

 

Tuesday's matchup features two of the league’s best starting pitchers, when Helena’s Matt Miller (6-1, 2.62 ERA) faces Casper’s Tyler Gagnon (4-1, 3.40).

 

All photos by Ben Coulter, Independent Record

Helena pitcher Evan Frederickson fires a strike toward home plate Monday night against the Casper Ghosts at Kindrick Legion Field. The Brewers won 3-2.

 

http://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/helenair.com/content/tncms/assets/editorial/c/74/969/c74969f2-a9b7-11df-9632-001cc4c03286-revisions/4c6a0fc367be1.image.jpg

 

Helena second baseman Shea Vucinich connects with the ball

 

http://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/helenair.com/content/tncms/assets/editorial/a/6a/aaa/a6aaaa1c-a9b7-11df-8819-001cc4c03286-revisions/4c6a0f8cb5ac4.image.jpg

 

Helena centerfielder Franklin Romero Jr. dives back to first base safely.

 

http://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/helenair.com/content/tncms/assets/editorial/b/7c/485/b7c48598-a9b7-11df-be7a-001cc4c03286-revisions/4c6a0fa941cc0.image.jpg

 

Frederickson throws a routine ground ball to first base

 

http://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/helenair.com/content/tncms/assets/editorial/e/72/9f0/e729f0ac-a9b7-11df-98d6-001cc4c03286-revisions/4c6a0ff6c5b47.image.jpg

 

Helena third baseman Greg Hopkins makes the tag on Casper Ghost's shortstop Christhian Adames during the second inning.

 

http://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/helenair.com/content/tncms/assets/editorial/d/95/dfb/d95dfb58-a9b7-11df-9335-001cc4c03286-revisions/4c6a0fe142790.image.jpg

[Mass Haas]

Link while active, text follows:

 

No repeat heroics for Morris in Rattlers' loss to Kernels

By Cory Jennerjohn, Post-Crescent staff writer

GRAND CHUTE — Not too many players get a chance to win a game.

 

Some wait their entire career.

For Hunter Morris, it happened twice in one series. The 6-foot-2, 208-pound lefty eased into the batter's box in the bottom of the ninth with the Timber Rattlers down 11-10 to Cedar Rapids at Time Warner Cable Field at Fox Cities Stadium.

Erik Miller was on third base and Kentrail Davis waited patiently on first with two outs.

Unfortunately for Morris, he didn't have any late-game heroics as he sent a pop fly to left for the game's final out, ending the team's four-game winning streak.

"Obviously, in that situation you want to get the job done," said Morris, who joined the club in June after setting an Auburn single-season record with 23 home runs. "Right there, any kind of base hit would've been huge."

He should know. On Saturday night with the Timber Rattlers down 5-4, he blasted a two-run double to center to score Kentrail and Khris Davis.

But Morris knew he didn't have to do it all himself. Heck, this was a team that scored six runs in the second inning — while hitting for the cycle — and four runs in the sixth.

"That first is what's most important," said Morris, who's hitting .254. "I don't need to drive in three. And let the guy behind me do the rest."

The top five batters in the Timber Rattlers' batting order knocked in eight of the team's 10 runs and batted 10-for-23 with a double, triple and a home run.

"A base hit there, a double there scores two," said Rattlers manager Jeff Isom. "You can't take anything for granted with a club like this, especially with the elements what they were with the wind blowing out."

Of course, being the hero and getting your batting helmet slapped by everyone with a maroon and black jersey would've been pretty cool, too.

"It's disappointing to not be able to do it twice, but that's part of the game," Morris said.

With 20 games left and only 10 at home, the Timber Rattlers are still in the Midwest League playoff picture. But they can't let chances to gain ground in the standings get away from them.

Which is why losing a game up 6-0 early and 10-7 going into the ninth is so tough to swallow.

"That's one that you definitely don't want to let get away," Morris said.

 

Post-Crescent blog report with additional quotes, including one from Jeff Isom on Cutter Dykstra's status

 

Post-Crescent blog report on a team cycle

[filthyfrog]

Raise your hand if you thought Scooter Gennett would have more doubles and homers than Brett Lawrie at this point in the season. Yeah, me neither.