Link Report for Thurs. 9/2 -- Sounds sweep doubleheader

[Mass Haas]

http://www.brewerfan.net/images/store/dailylinkreport.jpg

[Mass Haas]

Thursday's Daily Menu:

Times Central; pitchers subject to change --

 

Nashville: RHP Marty McLeary and LHP Sam Narron in a doubleheader at Oklahoma City (Rangers), 1:50 PM pre-game; 2:05 gametime -- each contest slated for seven innings

Live Audio Link

 

Huntsville: RHP Amaury Rivas at Montgomery (Rays), 6:50 PM pre-game; 7:05 gametime

Live Audio Link

 

Brevard County: LHP Mike Ramlow at Tampa (Yankees); 6:00 PM gametime

Sorry, no audio for this series...

 

Wisconsin: LHP Del Howell at home vs. Quad Cities (Cardinals), 6:15 PM pre-game; 6:35 gametime

Live Audio Link

 

Helena: RHP Stosh Wawrzasek at home vs. Great Falls (White Sox), 7:50 PM pre-game; 8:05 gametime

Live Audio Link

Arizona Rookie (Maryvale): Season complete -- League Champions!

 

DSL Brewers: Season complete

[Mass Haas]

Nashville's doubleheader in Oklahoma City is available for subscription viewing via MiLB.TV.

[Mass Haas]

Thursday night's game wraps up the TV viewing schedule for locals with access to Time Warner Cable Sports 32 -- Fire Up the DVR's!

 

Minor League Baseball: Quad Cities River Bandits @ Wisconsin Timber Rattlers

Thursday, September 2: 6:30-9:30 pm LIVE

 

Rebroadcasts --

Friday, September 3: 1-4 pm

Saturday, September 4: 12-3 pm

Sunday, September 5: 3-6 pm

[Mass Haas]

Follow Thursday's action as it happens:

Here's what you do, right click on each of the links below and choose "Open in New Tab or New Window". Choose "Recap". While you're listening to your minor league game of choice (or watching/listening to the big league Crew when they are playing), simply refresh your game log browsers every so often.

 

Nashville Game One (Gameday also available)

 

Nashville Game Two (Gameday also available)

 

Huntsville (Gameday also available)

 

Brevard County

 

Wisconsin

 

Helena

[Mass Haas]

PCL American North
	Club	W	L	PCT	GB	*ELIM #	Home	Away	L 10	Streak
	Iowa	80	59	.576	-	-	37-31	43-28	6-4	W4
	Memphis	79	60	.568	1.0	5	47-26	32-34	8-2	W1
	Omaha	77	62	.554	3.0	3	39-32	38-30	6-4	W3
	Nashville	73	65	.529	6.5	E	39-31	34-34	7-3	L1

SOU North
	Club	W	L	PCT	GB	*ELIM #	Home	Away	L 10	Streak
*#	Tennessee	41	24	.631	-	-	25-10	16-14	6-4	W1
	Huntsville	32	32	.500	8.5	E	18-13	14-19	4-6	W1
	Chattanooga	32	33	.492	9.0	E	16-19	16-14	6-4	W2
	West Tenn	29	36	.446	12.0	E	16-14	13-22	4-6	L1
	Carolina	27	36	.429	13.0	E	12-18	15-18	4-6	L1

FSL North
	Club	W	L	PCT	GB	*ELIM #	Home	Away	L 10	Streak
	Tampa	40	23	.635	-	-	20-10	20-13	6-4	L1
	Daytona	39	26	.600	2.0	4	22-11	17-15	6-4	W2
	Brevard County	35	31	.530	6.5	E	18-17	17-14	3-7	W1
	Lakeland	32	32	.500	8.5	E	15-12	17-20	5-5	W1
	Clearwater	29	36	.446	12.0	E	16-16	13-20	5-5	L2
*	Dunedin	28	37	.431	13.0	E	15-19	13-18	5-5	L1

MID Western
	Club	W	L	PCT	GB	*ELIM #	Home	Away	L 10	Streak
	Quad Cities	40	24	.625	-	-	14-15	26-9	5-5	W3
	Clinton	36	29	.554	4.5	-	20-14	16-15	5-5	L2
	Kane County	35	29	.547	5.0	5	18-12	17-17	6-4	W1
	Beloit	33	29	.532	6.0	3	18-14	15-15	6-4	W1
*	Cedar Rapids	34	31	.523	6.5	4	18-14	16-17	3-7	W1
	Peoria	31	32	.492	8.5	1	18-16	13-16	6-4	L1
	Wisconsin	31	34	.477	9.5	1	17-16	14-18	6-4	L1
	Burlington	21	41	.339	18.0	E	14-17	7-24	3-7	L1

PIO North
	Club	W	L	PCT	GB	*ELIM #	Home	Away	L 10	Streak
	Helena	19	11	.633	-	-	8-7	11-4	9-1	L1
*	Great Falls	17	12	.586	1.5	8	10-4	7-8	8-2	W3
	Billings	14	14	.500	4.0	5	8-6	6-8	5-5	L2
	Missoula	11	18	.379	7.5	2	6-8	5-10	2-8	L5

AZL Central
	Club	W	L	PCT	GB	*ELIM #	Home	Away	L 10	Streak
#	AZL Brewers	34	22	.607	-	-	13-12	12-10	3-6	W1
&	AZL Reds	31	24	.564	2.5	E	12-8	14-9	8-2	W6
	AZL Dodgers	30	25	.545	3.5	E	12-11	13-8	5-5	L1
	AZL Indians	21	35	.375	13.0	E	8-14	10-13	2-8	L2

DSL S.D. North
	Club	W	L	PCT	GB	*ELIM #	Home	Away	L 10	Streak
#	DSL Mariners	43	28	.606	-	-	23-13	20-15	7-3	L1
	DSL Cardinals	39	32	.549	4.0	E	24-11	15-21	5-5	L2
	DSL Athletics	32	39	.451	11.0	E	17-19	15-20	6-4	W2
	DSL Brewers	28	43	.394	15.0	E	17-18	11-25	3-7	W1

[Mass Haas]

PDF document:

 

Nashville Media Notes

The Sounds are officially eliminated from playoff contention

[Mass Haas]

PDF document:

 

Huntsville Media Notes

 

***

 

Rattler Radio Blog

Media notes and more...

[battlekow]

Final (game one): Nashville 3, @Oklahoma City 2 (7 innings)

Sounds take twinbill opener from RedHawks, 3-2

Nashville Sounds

 

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. - Sounds right-hander Marty McLeary worked a seven-inning complete game and Brendan Katin ripped a go-ahead RBI double in the fifth inning to lead Nashville to a 3-2 victory over the Oklahoma City RedHawks in the first game of a doubleheader on Thursday afternoon at AT&T Bricktown Ballpark.

 

McLeary (7-9) allowed two runs, both on solo homers, over seven innings of work to pick up the victory for the Sounds, snapping a personal two-game skid with his 106-pitch quality start.

 

Oklahoma City took a 1-0 lead in the second when Ryan Garko belted a two-out solo homer to left-center off McLeary, the infielder's 12th big fly of the year.

 

The RedHawks doubled their lead in the third when catcher Taylor Teagarden led off with a solo blast to left-center, his second roundtripper of the year.

 

The Sounds rallied to tie the contest in the fourth. Joe Koshansky, Luis Cruz, and Ray Olmedo posted three consecutive one-out singles off Oklahoma City starter Doug Mathis, the last of which made it a 2-1 ballgame as Koshansky scored from second on the knock. Johnny Raburn followed with a game-tying RBI groundout.

 

Koshansky's single in the frame extended the Nashville first baseman's longest hitting streak of the year to 13 games, one shy of the best effort by a Sounds batter all season.

 

Nashville took its first lead of the afternoon in the fifth when Adam Stern (2-for-3) led off with a single and later scored on Brendan Katin's two-out double to left, giving the visitors a 3-2 advantage.

 

The RedHawks didn't go down without a fight, however, placing runners on first and third with two outs in the bottom of the seventh before McLeary induced a game-ending groundout from Max Ramirez to secure the one-run victory.

 

Mathis (5-7) took the loss for Oklahoma City after giving up three runs in his six frames of work.

Nashville box score

McLeary allowed 11 hits and a walk, but hey, it's a win. Stern was on three times with two hits and a walk.

Nashville play-by-play

[bretsky07]

Dan Merklinger is actually starting game 2 for the Sounds today.

[battlekow]

Final (game two): Nashville 5, @Oklahoma City 4 (7 innings)

Sounds sweep RedHawks in doubleheader

Nashville Sounds

 

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. - The Nashville Sounds defeated the Oklahoma RedHawks in an exciting nightcap that was a back-and-forth affair featuring four lead changes to close out a doubleheader sweep on Thursday evening at AT&T Bricktown Ballpark.

 

With the sweep, Nashville (74-65) took three of five from the RedHawks in the series and notched a 9-7 win in the season series between the clubs. The Sounds have won 13 of their last 18 contests.

 

First baseman Joe Koshansky recorded knocks in both contests to extend his hitting streak to 14 games for the Sounds, matching the longest by a Nashville player this season. Left-hander Dan Merklinger (1-0) made his career Triple-A debut for Nashville in the nightcap and earned the victory. The 24-year-old hurler allowed four runs on six hits over five innings of work, throwing 103 pitches (60 strikes).

 

Nashville took an early 1-0 lead when Norris Hopper led off the contest with a double and later came plateward on an Erick Almonte groundout.

 

The opposing catchers in the contest got into the longball act over the next two frames as the teams exchanged the lead.

 

Kevin Richardson put the RedHawks in front, 2-1, in the second with a two-out, two-run blast to center off Merklinger, his eighth dinger of the year, before Sounds backstop Martin Maldonado answered with a two-run shot of his own in the top of the third to put Nashville back on top by a 3-2 count. The longball, which came on an 0-1 offering from Oklahoma City starter Guillermo Moscoso, was Maldonado's seventh homer of the season.

 

The back-and-forth affair continued in the bottom of the third frame, as Oklahoma City rallied for a pair of runs against Merklinger to jump back ahead, 4-3. PCL veteran Esteban German opened the frame with a double and scored the tying run when Willy Taveras followed with an RBI single to left. Taveras moved to third on a Chris Davis single then hustled home with the go-ahead run on a Max Ramirez sacrifice fly.

 

Koshansky extended his hit streak to 14 games in the fourth when his opposite-field, two-run homer to left off Moscoso, which also scored Brendan Katin (2-for-3), pushed the visitors back on top by a 5-4 score. The home run was Koshansky's team-leading 25th of the season. His 14-game hit streak matches Eric Farris for the longest by a Nashville player in 2010.

 

Sounds closer Chris Smith worked the sixth frame in scoreless fashion behind Merklinger and returned to the hill following a nearly two-hour rain delay in the middle of the seventh to retire the RedHawks in order to nail down his PCL-leading 25th save of the season.

 

Moscoso (7-7) took the loss for Oklahoma City after working all seven innings, allowing five runs on seven hits while striking out seven batters.

 

The Sounds travel to New Orleans on Friday to close out their 2010 season with a four-game set at Zephyr Field. Right-hander Josh Butler (5-1, 4.99) will man the bump in Friday's 7:00 p.m. series opener and face New Orleans right-hander Nic Ungs (1-2, 7.43).

 

Nashville box score

Merklinger found the veterans of the PCL a little less to his liking than FSL kids, striking out just two and walking three. One of Katin's hits was a double. Johnny Raburn was on all three times with two singles and a walk. How about Smith coming back in after the long delay? Didn't seem to affect him: he struck out three overall and didn't allow a baserunner.

 

Nashville play-by-play

[battlekow]

Final: @Tampa 13, Brevard County 6

Brevard County box score

Believe it or not, BC actually led this game 5-1 in the 5th inning before the wheels came off. Mike Ramlow was fine in another spot start, striking out six in 3.2 innings while allowing just a run, but Brandon Ritchie gave up five scores and new 'Tee Dexter Bobo made an inauspicious FSL debut by giving up four more. Erik Komatsu, Juan Sanchez, and Sean McCraw all had two hits, each including a double. Sean Halton also had two hits, and Angel Salome also doubled.

 

Brevard County play-by-play

After getting the last out of the 5th and recording a 1-2-3 6th, Bobo had a rather forgettable 7th (not that Buddy Flores's was any better):

 

Tampa Bottom of the 7th

• Zoilo Almonte doubles (9) on a fly ball to right fielder Juan Sanchez.
• With Jack Rye batting, Zoilo Almonte steals (8) 3rd base.
• Jack Rye strikes out swinging.
• Jose Gil singles on a line drive to left fielder Brock Kjeldgaard. Zoilo Almonte scores.
• Anderson Feliz walks. Jose Gil to 2nd.
• With Raymond Kruml batting, Jose Gil steals (4) 3rd base. Anderson Feliz steals (2) 2nd base.
• Raymond Kruml singles on a ground ball to right fielder Juan Sanchez. Jose Gil scores. Anderson Feliz to 3rd.
• Pitcher Change: Ruben Flores replaces Dexter Bobo.
• Jose Pirela walks. Raymond Kruml to 2nd.
• Bradley Suttle flies out to left fielder Brock Kjeldgaard.
• Addison Maruszak walks. Anderson Feliz scores. Raymond Kruml to 3rd. Jose Pirela to 2nd.
• Myron Leslie hits a grand slam (6) to right field. Raymond Kruml scores. Jose Pirela scores. Addison Maruszak scores.
• Zoilo Almonte pops out to second baseman Steve Braun in foul territory.

[battlekow]

Final: @Montgomery 6, Huntsville 3

Huntsville box score

Amaury Rivas has been a little wild the last two times out, tonight walking six and hitting two more in six innings. He only allowed three runs, though; the other three came off Robert Hinton as the Biscuits broke a three-all tie in the 8th. Brett Lawrie was 2-5, including his 16th triple, and Lee Haydel also tripled. Taylor Green was on twice with a single and a walk, and Caleb Gindl took a big 0-5 collar.

 

Huntsville play-by-play

[battlekow]

Final: Great Falls 2, @Helena 1

Voyagers down Brewers in pitchers' duel

Brett Billings/Helena Brewers

 

The Helena Brewers fell to the Great Falls Voyagers on Thursday night in a pitchers' duel 2-1.

 

RHP Stosh Wawrzasek (2-4, 5.20) took the loss. He threw five innings and allowed two earned runs. Wawrzasek struck out four and walked one.

 

Helena's only run came in the fourth inning. Nick Shaw, who was recently promoted from Arizona, started the inning with a double and later scored on a fielding error.

 

The run tied the game at one apiece at the time, but the Voyagers scored again in the fifth and held the Brewers scoreless for the rest of the night.

 

RHP Alex Periard made an appearance on the mound for the Brewers after being transferred here earlier this week from Arizona on a rehab assignment. Periard didn't allow a runner in one inning of work.

 

The loss ensures Great Falls of a series win, but Helena will look to avoid the sweep tomorrow night. LHP Spencer Arroyo (7-2, 2.49) is starting on the mound for the Voyagers. The Brewers are starting LHP Evan Frederickson (3-3, 4.93). First pitch is a 7:05. Gates open at 6:00.

 

Helena box score

The Brewers drew no walks. Mike Walker went 2-4. Robbie Garvey also had a double.

 

Helena play-by-play

[LouisEly]

Cutter Dykstra's OBP for the season is now up to .422, which I believe leads the organization; while where he will end up defensively is in question, methinks a few people wrote him off a bit too soon. Hopefully he can build his arm strength and develop the footwork to stay at 3B. He's only 10 months older than Gennett, and has a higher OPS than Gennett. That OBP would look real nice in the leadoff spot.

 

Somebody's gotta say it...

 

...

 

 

FREE BRENDAN KATIN

[Mass Haas]

Not quite the typical Florida State League crowd, but on some days, not too far off:

 

Only about 75 fans showed up Wednesday when the Tampa Yankees took on the Brevard County Manatees at Steinbrenner Field. The New York Yankees may sell their Class A Tampa Yankees affiliate to a group of Orlando investors, a move that could move the minor-league team to Orlando.

 

http://www2.tbo.com/exposure/ar/659/372/2010/09/02/66045_steinbrenner-field.jpg

 

Story -- it would bring a team closer to the Manatees to help out with travel, but that's about it from a Brewer perspective...

[CheezWizHed]

Well, having the Rays in Tampa competing head-to-head with the Yankees, I can see why the Yank's MiLB in Tampa isn't very popular... Imagine having a cubs minor league team in 'Tosa.

[Mass Haas]

Link while active, text follows:

 

Brewers’ offense silenced

By AMBER KUEHN, Helena Independent Record

 

Great Falls manager Chris Cron believes if the Pioneer League playoffs were to start today, his team could win a ring.

 

Looking at the way the Voyagers pitching staff has dominated the Helena Brewers the past two nights, Cron might not be too off base.

 

Great Falls pitchers worked the fastball effectively, pounded the strike zone and threw nasty breaking balls to beat the Brewers for the second straight night, 2-1, Thursday at Kindrick Legion Field.

 

Helena now holds just a half-game lead over the Voyagers in the second-half standings, but caught a lucky break when Billings lost to Missoula in the first game of a doubleheader. The Brewers need to win the second half or finish with a better overall record than Billings to make the playoffs.

 

It’s no secret how the Voyagers locked up their postseason berth by winning the first half—pitching.

 

“It starts and ends with that. It’s everything when you go up against an offensive force like these guys have been,” Cron said of the Brewers. “They’ve been swinging the bat extremely well — then we come in here and have done an outstanding job limiting them to just one run. You’ve got to tip your hat to our kids, they’ve done a hell of a job pounding the strike zone.”

 

The Brewers (38-31 overall, 19-12 second half) have gotten on the board just once in the past 18 innings against Great Falls, scoring in the fourth on an error by Voyagers third baseman Andy Wilkins. But from the fifth inning on, Helena had just two hits and would finish with only five in the contest.

 

“Our pitching staff did a great job tonight keeping us in the game,” said Helena first baseman Mike Walker, the only Brewer with more than one hit. “If this one’s on anybody it’s probably on our offense.”

 

Helena did play well defensively, working out of two bases-loaded jams, making several heads-up plays in the infield and striking out six Voyagers on the night. Still, the Brewers had three errors, including a throwing mishap by catcher Rafael Neda that plated what wound up being the winning run for Great Falls (41-27, 18-12).

 

Steven Upchurch (4-2) earned the win for the Voyagers in his best outing of the year, striking out a season-high six and allowing just five hits and a run. Doug Murray and Jacob Wilson were perfect in relief, and the staff did not issue a walk in the contest. Brewers pitchers walked four.

 

Stosh Wawrzasek (2-4) was handed the loss after giving up five hits and two runs through five innings while fanning four. The bullpen gave up just two hits the rest of the way, as Helena was able to keep Great Falls’ lead manageable thanks to a leaping catch by Carlos George and a nice back-handed scoop by Walker on balls that could’ve easily resulted in extra bases for the Voyagers.

 

Great Falls struck first blood in the second inning, when Rafael Vera singled home Mike Blanke. It was the third straight hit for the Voyagers, who refuse to take any plays off despite having already guaranteed they will be playing past next Friday.

 

“Everybody knows we’re already in the postseason, but you also want to go into the postseason with a little momentum,” Cron said. “I’m a big momentum guy. You’re in it, you might as well win it.”

 

The Brewers would like to extend their season as well, but most of the players realize it’s going to take an all-around effort to do so.

 

“Obviously it’s really important this part of the season to be able to beat anybody,” Walker said. “Unfortunately we haven’t been able to score too many runs the last two nights.”

[Mass Haas]

Stars’ play-off hopes on life support after loss to Montgomery

By Aaron Morse, Huntsville Stars

 

The Huntsville Stars (32-33, 65-70) rallied from two runs down to tie the game in the seventh, but some bad defense and some bad luck cost them in the eighth as they fell to the Montgomery Biscuits (33-33, 71-63) by a final score of 6-3 Thursday night.

 

With the defeat, Huntsville finds themselves four games out of the Wild Card race with only five games remaining in the regular season. They must win the remainder of their games and the West Tenn Diamond Jaxx must lose the remainder of their games in order for Huntsville to make the play-offs.

 

The Stars jumped out to the early lead in the second inning. Drew Anderson lined a single into right field to start things off. After Chris Nowak was hit by a pitch, Taylor Green crushed a ball to deep right field. Unfortunately it was not quite deep enough as John Matulia reeled it in on the warning track. On the play Anderson advanced to third. That’s when Andy Machado delivered a clutch single up the middle to make the score 1-0. Huntsville nearly got another run when Lee Haydel hit a liner to right; Nowak tried to score on the play and Matulia threw him out to end the inning. But the lead would not last long.

 

The Biscuits came roaring back in the bottom of the frame. Matulia led-off with a triple to right. One out later, Matt Fields delivered a sacrifice fly to center. Caleb Gindl’s throw barely was not in time as Matulia slid around the tag of Anderson De La Rosa. Stars’ starter Amaury Rivas had some uncharacteristic control problems in the game, and they were on full display in the second as he hit Matt Spring and Shawn O’Malley to put runners on first and second with two outs. Rashad Eldridge singled up the middle to drive in the second run of the inning.

 

Huntsville trailed 3-1 until the seventh inning when Nowak was hit by yet another pitch. Green found a hole on the right side as he singled. But it appeared the rally might be stunted when a sacrifice bunt attempt ended up getting Nowak thrown out at third base. De La Rosa made sure that was not the case as he singled to left to drive in Green and cut the Biscuits’ lead to one. Brett Lawrie beat out an infield single to drive in the second run of the inning and knot the game at three.

 

Reliever Robert Hinton ran into some bad luck in the eighth. After Matt Spring singled to start the inning, the Biscuits tried to bunt him over. The ball went to first baseman Nowak who fired to Machado covering second. It deflected off his glove and into shallow right field, putting runners at first and second with nobody out. An intentional walk loaded the bases, and one out later things got interesting. Hinton and the Stars clearly felt he was getting squeezed with Jose Ruiz at the plate. Ruiz eventually walked to drive in the go-ahead run. Then Henry Wrigley hit a grounder to Green who threw home to try and get the lead runner. But the home plate umpire ruled that De La Rosa’s foot came off the plate and another run was in. Once again the Stars were displeased with the call. Yet another walk drove in the third run of the inning. Hinton was visibly upset as he shouted at the home plate umpire. Nowak must have said something wrong over at first because the first base umpire ejected him from the game. A ground-out ended the inning but the damage was done as the Stars found themselves down 6-3.

 

They were unable to push across any runs in the ninth despite a Lawrie two-out triple as they dropped the rubber match in the series.

 

Huntsville returns to “The Joe” for five must-win games against Mobile starting Friday night at 7:00 PM central time. Wily Peralta (1-3, 4.10 ERA) will be on the mound. You can catch all the action on www.huntsvillestars.com.

[Mass Haas]

Final: Quad Cities (Cardinals) 7, Wisconsin 4, 11 innings

 

Rattlers fall in 11 innings to Quad Cities

By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers

 

GRAND CHUTE, WI - The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers got a late, big hit to tie Thursday's game against the Quad Cities River Bandits at Time Warner Cable Field. But, Quad Cities scored three runs in the eleventh inning and beat the Rattlers 7-4. Wisconsin committed four errors in the game and that led to four unearned runs for the River Bandits.

 

The Rattlers (57-77 overall, 31-35 second half) committed two errors on the first two plays of the game. Luis Mateo singled and went to second when left fielder Hunter Morris overran the ball. Rainel Rosario singled to center and D'Vontrey Richardson missed the ball to allow Mateo to score and Rosario to take second. Later in the inning, Rattlers catcher Cameron Garfield was charged with a passed ball to let Rosario score from third.

 

In the second inning, Michael Marseco's flip to second on a potential force play was high and wound up in right-center. That let Ross Smith take third base. Ted Obregon drove Smith home with an infield grounder and Quad Cities (81-53, 41-24) had a 3-0 lead.

 

Richardson cut into the lead with a solo homer in the second inning. His seventh homer of the season wound up in the Quad Cities bullpen in left-center and got the Rattlers to within 3-1.

 

Wisconsin cut the River Bandits lead to one run with an unearned run of their own in the bottom of the seventh. Scooter Gennett stepped to the plate with two on and two out and his grounder to third was booted for an error to let Garfield score from second.

 

But, Edgar Lara homered in the top of the eighth inning to give Quad Cities a 4-2 lead.

 

Heading into Thursday's game, Wisconsin pinch hitters were 0-for-6 in 2010. Joey Paciorek changed that in the bottom of the eighth. Richardson singled earlier in the inning and Garfield kept the frame alive with a two-out single that put runners on the corners. Paciorek lined a two-run double to left-center and both runners scored to tie the game 4-4.

 

Wisconsin had the winning run on base in the ninth and tenth innings, but could not get the hit to win the game.

 

Quad Cities got the leadoff batter aboard in the top of the eleventh on the fourth error of the night on the Rattlers. Alan Ahmady wound up at second base after a hard grounder to third deflected off the glove of Cutter Dykstra and into left field. After a sacrifice bunt and a walk put runners at the corners, Smith lined a single just over Dykstra's glove for an RBI double and a 5-4 lead. Michael Swinson was next and he lined a single through the drawn-in infield and two runs scored to make the score 7-4.

 

The Rattlers went quietly went down in the bottom of the eleventh inning.

 

Quad Cities is 6-2 against the Rattlers at Time Warner Cable Field this season. Three of those six wins have been in extra innings.

 

Wisconsin was officially knocked out of playoff contention in the Midwest League earlier in the evening when Kane County beat Peoria 5-3 in a rain-shortened game.

 

The Rattlers conclude the home portion of the 2010 schedule on Friday night with a game against the River Bandits. Damon Krestalude (2-9, 7.29) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. Michael Blazek (7-4, 2.94ERA) is set to start for Quad Cities. Game time is 6:35 PM.

 

It is a Bang For Your Buck Night with soda, hotdogs, and Miller Beer for $1. The first 1,000 fans into Time Warner Cable Field will receive a mini-baseball from cars.com.

 

Also, children 12 and under eat free as part of North Shore Bank Family Night in conjunction with momslikeme.com. After the game, there is a fireworks display sponsored by 95.9 KISS-FM. After the fireworks, ThedaCare Orthopedics presents Kids Run the Bases for children 14 and under.

 

If you can't make it out to the ballpark, tune in for the broadcast on AM1280, WNAM starting with the Miller Lite Pregame Show at 6:15 PM.

 

Wisconsin Box Score

17 errors from your center fielder? At some point D'Vontrey Richardson's tools are going to have to translate to smart on-the-field play in 2011; this particular game recap doesn't focus on the moundsmen -- LHP Del Howell walked six in six innings, but surrendered only three hits and would have pitched shutout ball if not for the defense behind him; fellow southpaw Matt Costello took a tough loss, as he allowed just one run in his first four innings (home run) -- but Costello was asked to toss a fifth frame, certainly a season high for him, and RHP Rigoberto Almonte allowed the two baserunners Costello allowed (one reached on another error) to score...

 

Wisconsin Game Log