Link Report for Games of Sat. 5/21

[Mass Haas]

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

[Mass Haas]

Saturday's Daily Menu:

Times Central; pitchers subject to change --

 

Nashville: LHP Sam Narron at Salt Lake City (Angels), 7:20 PM pre-game; 7:35 gametime

Live Audio Link

iPad/iPhone: Listen

MiLB.TV -- for subscribers

Huntsville: RHP Michael Bowman at home vs. Montgomery (Rays), 6:43 PM gametime

Live Audio Link

iPad/iPhone: Listen

Traditional broadcast via the Montgomery feed: Listen

Brevard County: TBD at Fort Myers (Twins), 5:05 PM gametime

Live Audio Link -- look for the Fort Myers feed off the master MiLB.com audio list

 

Wisconsin: RHP Brooks Hall and TBD in a doubleheader at home vs. Burlington (Athletics), 4:45 PM pre-game; 5:05 gametime; each contest slated for seven innings

Live Audio Link

[Mass Haas]

As of this post (late morning), RHP Brooks Hall is actually on the Helena roster. He'll be activated later today with more roster shuffling to take place as the Midwest League offices overlook (understandably) the various paper moves to get through this brutal stretch of doubleheaders.

 

***

 

MiLB.com lists RHP Nick Bucci as Saturday's Brevard starter. RHP Kyle Heckathorn has been idle for six days now, so we'll see. Perhaps they're giving Heckathorn a planned skip of a rotation turn. MiLB hasn't had the Manatee starter correct for a few days now.

[Mass Haas]

Follow Saturday's action as it happens:

Nashville (Gameday also available)
Huntsville (Gameday also available)
Brevard County

Wisconsin Game One

Wisconsin Game Two

[Mass Haas]

PCL American North
	Club	W	L	PCT	GB	*ELIM #	Home	Away	L 10	Streak
	Omaha	23	18	.561	-	-	11-7	12-11	5-5	L2
	Iowa	19	22	.463	4.0	100	9-8	10-14	5-5	W2
	Memphis	16	24	.400	6.5	98	12-11	4-13	5-5	L1
	Nashville	16	24	.400	6.5	98	11-11	5-13	7-3	W3

SOU North
	Club	W	L	PCT	GB	*ELIM #	Home	Away	L 10	Streak
	Tennessee	26	16	.619	-	-	12-5	14-11	7-3	W4
	Jackson	24	16	.600	1.0	29	12-8	12-8	7-3	L1
	Chattanooga	20	21	.488	5.5	24	11-14	9-7	3-7	L3
	Huntsville	20	21	.488	5.5	24	11-5	9-16	2-8	W1
	Carolina	12	29	.293	13.5	16	8-13	4-16	2-8	W1

FSL North
	Club	W	L	PCT	GB	*ELIM #	Home	Away	L 10	Streak
	Daytona	30	12	.714	-	-	13-6	17-6	6-4	W3
	Clearwater	26	16	.619	4.0	25	14-9	12-7	5-5	W1
	Dunedin	24	18	.571	6.0	23	8-10	16-8	9-1	W6
	Lakeland	21	21	.500	9.0	20	10-9	11-12	5-5	W1
	Tampa	18	24	.429	12.0	17	10-13	8-11	7-3	W3
	Brevard County	15	27	.357	15.0	14	7-15	8-12	4-6	L3

MID Western
	Club	W	L	PCT	GB	*ELIM #	Home	Away	L 10	Streak
	Burlington	29	11	.725	-	-	15-3	14-8	6-4	L1
	Wisconsin	22	18	.550	7.0	-	14-11	8-7	7-3	W3
	Peoria	22	19	.537	7.5	30	13-7	9-12	5-5	W2
	Quad Cities	22	19	.537	7.5	30	9-10	13-9	8-2	W1
	Beloit	21	20	.512	8.5	29	11-8	10-12	4-6	L3
	Cedar Rapids	21	20	.512	8.5	29	11-8	10-12	1-9	L1
	Kane County	16	26	.381	14.0	23	9-13	7-13	7-3	W1
	Clinton	11	31	.262	19.0	18	5-17	6-14	2-8	L2

[Mass Haas]

Nashville Media Notes

Huntsville Media Notes

Chris with a soggy but hopeful Timber Rattlers media notes link, game one lineup, and other need-to-know info

[YoungGeezy]

Very nice first showing for Hall tonight, minus a rough 4th where he gave up four straight hits before recording an out. He throw I believe 51 strikes in 76 pitches (not 100% sure) and in the fourth he throw 17 of 21 believe for strikes. So that may have been an issue that he was just getting to much of the plate. Overall, very encouraging and I am excited that he is finally up! Hopefully we can get a good scouting report a bit later on where he was, what he was all throwing, and what were his plus pitches.

[YoungGeezy]

Also, it was great to see Lasker come out of the bullpen and have a nice outting tonight. Hopefully that gets his confidence back after 3 straight terrible starts where he could not get past the 2nd inning.

 

PAST 3 STARTS

3GS 3IP 8H 11ER 12BB 2 K

 

Tonight's Relief Appearence

1 G 3 IP 1H 0ER OBB 1K

[battlekow]

Final: @Fort Myers 7, Brevard County 6

Brevard County box score

Very poor outing for Kyle Heckathorn: 5 IP, 10 H, 7 R, 6 ER, 3 BB, 2 K, 1 HR. After walking just one batter in his first four starts (23.2 IP), he's walked 14 in his last five (27 IP). It's the fourth straight start he's allowed 4+ runs in (though in the first of those, all four runs were unearned). As noted above, Maverick Lasker was much more effective in tonight's relief appearance than he'd been in his last three starts. Scooter Gennett and D'Vontrey Richardson each homered in the first inning, their first and third respectively, to spot Heckathorn a three-run lead he couldn't hold; Richardson also walked. Actually, everyone had a reasonably productive game. Logan Schafer had two hits, Kentrail Davis singled, walked, and was hit by a pitch, and Khris Davis singled and was also hit by a pitch. Richardson played center field; Schafer was the DH.

Brevard County play-by-play

BC scored a run in the 9th to get within one run:

Brevard County Top of the 9th

• Logan Schafer singles on a line drive to center fielder Aaron Hicks.
• Kentrail Davis grounds out to first baseman Nathan Hanson. Logan Schafer to 2nd.
• Khristopher Davis singles on a ground ball to shortstop Brian Dozier. Logan Schafer scores. Throwing error by shortstop Brian Dozier.
• D' Vontrey Richardson grounds into a force out, third baseman Anderson Hidalgo to second baseman Nicholas Romero. Khristopher Davis out at 2nd. D' Vontrey Richardson to 1st.
• Brock Kjeldgaard strikes out swinging.

[battlekow]

Final (game one): @Wisconsin 4, Burlington 3 (7 innings)

Rattlers welcome Hall to the Midwest League with a win

Chris Mehring/Wisconsin Timber Rattlers

GRAND CHUTE, WI – Milwaukee Brewers pitching prospect Brooks Hall can now say that he won his Midwest League debut. Hall, the newest Wisconsin Timber Rattlers pitcher, picked up the victory in a 4-3 win over the Burlington Bees in the first game of a doubleheader Saturday night at Time Warner Cable Field. TJ Mittelstaedt chipped in with a pair of RBI and Eric Marzec worked the final two innings for the save.

Wisconsin (23-18) got on the scoreboard first. Chris Dennis tripled to start the second inning. Mike Walker doubled him home and the Rattlers were up 1-0.

But, Burlington (29-12) answered with three runs in the top of the third of Brooks. They started the inning with four straight singles off Hall. Nino Leyja’s single was the fourth of the series and he drove in the run to tie the game 1-1. Douglas Landeaeta and Yordy Cabrera had consecutive sacrifice flies to take a 3-1 lead.

Wisconsin rallied in the bottom of the third. Reggie Keen drew a walk with one out. Nick Shaw followed with a double. Mittelstaedt doubled into the left field corner to drive in two runs and tie the game at 3-3. Dennis followed with a single to right and the Rattlers went back in front, 4-3.

Hall settled down after the rough third inning and set down the Bees in order in the fourth. In the fifth, Hall retired the first two batters. But, a walk and a hit batsman put the tying run in scoring position and the lead run on base with cleanup batter Yordy Cabrera coming to the plate. Hall was not phased and struck out Cabrera looking at a 1-2 fastball that caught the inside corner to the right-hand hitting prospect of the Oakland A’s.

Hall allowed three runs on six hits with a walk and three strikeouts in his five innings of work on Saturday.

Marzec relieved Hall to start the top of the sixth and he worked around a two out single in the sixth and a two out walk in the seventh to record the save.

The Rattlers have won four straight games.

Wisconsin box score (game one)

Pretty solid full-season debut for Hall. As YoungGeezy indicated, he threw a lot of strikes; Chris had him at 50 of 76. In addition to the walk, he hit a batter, but still pretty good control. Dennis has 10 extra-base hits in 19 games with the Rattlers. Keen tried to nab his 18th base but was instead caught for the sixth time.

Wisconsin play-by-play (game one)

[narwhalattack]

Hall sounds really promising!

 

By the way, does anyone have a scouting report on him?

[YoungGeezy]

Here is a transcript of an interview with Hall after he was drafted. So its not an actual scouting report but I found it helpful

BR: Yeah, that’s kind of what I was thinking there too. Now, about then your pitches that you do throw… I had read that your fastball is clocked, routinely, over 90.

Hall: Yes, sir.

BR: How hard do you throw? What kind of pitches do you throw?

Hall: This year, I mean, this year I got up to 96. It was 96 this year.

BR: Okay.

Hall: I’d say a couple of games. I mean I’m usually like 92, 93 on the fastball there. I got a slider, a circle change and a curveball.

BR: Oh, so you throw four pitches?

Hall: Yes, sir.

BR: Excellent. And just because I’ve never had the fortune of seeing you pitch in person, do those breaking pitches, do you throw them for strikes or are they more of the swing and miss strikeout pitches or what?

Hall: No, I throw them for strikes, yes, sir.

Actually here is one from Jim Breen (Bernies Crew) prospect madness in March of 2011

http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/fanblogs/117516348.html

Hall features an 88-91 MPH fastball that can reportedly hit 94 MPH. That velocity is expected to increase as he fills into his lean, lanky frame. He also throws a curveball and a changeup, which are both solid yet unspectacular pitches at this point in his career. Scouts believe all three pitches will develop into at least average deliveries, however, giving him the requisite three-pitch repertoire to stick in the rotation.

The main issue with the 20-year-old Hall is that he has not seen very much time on the mound. His mechanics are largely considered clean, but they are inconsistent. 2011 should prove to be an important season for his development as a pitcher.

If everything happens perfectly for Hall, he could develop into a good #3 pitcher in the big leagues. Lack of a premium secondary pitch prevents anything more than that -- though that can obviously change in a hurry with someone so young.

[battlekow]

Final: Montgomery 9, @Huntsville 6

Huntsville box score

The Stars were down 8-0 in the 7th before scoring five runs against the prize of the Matt Garza trade, Chris Archer, to make it interesting. Michael Bowman got blitzed for seven runs in four innings. The big news for Stars fans was of course Huntsville native Hunter Morris making his team debut, and he didn't disappoint, going 2-4 with a triple. Erik Komatsu and Hainley Statia each doubled

Huntsville play-by-play

Looks like Komatsu maybe got robbed here; if that had fallen in, the game would have been even more interesting:

Huntsville Bottom of the 7th

• Brandon Jones singles on a ground ball to right fielder John Matulia.
• Steffan Wilson singles on a ground ball to right fielder John Matulia. Brandon Jones to 2nd.
• Hunter Morris singles on a ground ball to shortstop Tim Beckham. Brandon Jones to 3rd. Steffan Wilson to 2nd.
• Martin Maldonado hit by pitch. Brandon Jones scores. Steffan Wilson to 3rd. Hunter Morris to 2nd.
• Sergio Miranda grounds into a force out, second baseman Cole Figueroa to shortstop Tim Beckham. Steffan Wilson scores. Hunter Morris to 3rd. Martin Maldonado out at 2nd. Sergio Miranda to 1st.
• Hainley Statia doubles (2) on a line drive to right fielder John Matulia. Hunter Morris scores. Sergio Miranda to 3rd.
• Pitcher Change: Neil Schenk replaces Christopher Archer.
• Lee Haydel singles on a line drive to left fielder Reid Fronk. Sergio Miranda scores. Hainley Statia scores.
• Erik Komatsu flies into double play, right fielder John Matulia to first baseman Henry Wrigley. Lee Haydel doubled off 1st.

[battlekow]

Hunter Morris 2-for-4 in Huntsville Stars debut

Mark McCarter/Huntsville Times

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama -- Hunter Morris, the first Huntsville native to play for the Stars, made his debut a memorable one.

Morris went 2-for-4 and scored two runs as Huntsville's first baseman in its 9-6 loss to the Montgomery Biscuits Saturday night.

Morris, a Grissom High graduate and All-SEC player for Auburn before being drafted by Milwaukee in the fourth round last June, had two other long flies caught on the warning track, one on a spectacular sliding catch by leftfielder Reid Fronk.

Morris was informed Friday he'd be promoted from Class A Brevard, where he was batting .317 with a league-leading 16 doubles, to replace Sean Halton, who has gone on the disabled list. It's not known now if this will be a brief stay for Morris or if he'll stick here as he climbs the ladder in the Milwaukee system.

His first at-bat was an opposite-field fly on which Fronk made the sensational catch, then he drove the ball deep on left-center on his next trip. In a five-run seventh, he legged out a chopper to shortstop. In the ninth, he scorched a triple down the right field line.

The Stars' struggles continue. They have lost 14 of their last 19 games.

http://media.al.com/sports_impact/photo/9602352-large.jpg

(Bob Gathany/Huntsville Times)

[battlekow]

Final: Nashville 9, @Salt Lake 4

Sounds Win Fourth Straight, 9-4 Over Bees

Nashville Sounds

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah - The Nashville Sounds continued their winning ways on Saturday evening at Spring Mobile Ballpark, hanging a 9-4 defeat on the host Salt Lake Bees.

The red-hot Sounds (17-24) extended their longest winning streak of the season to four games and have been victorious in eight of their past 10 contests.

The Nashville offense exploded for a season-high 15 hits, including eight for extra bases. The Sounds' seven doubles on the night were one shy of the single-game franchise record.

Catcher George Kottaras paced the attack with a 3-for-3, four-RBI night that included his first home run of the year and a pair of doubles. Mat Gamel continued his hot hitting with a 4-for-5, two-double evening and Brendan Katin plated two runs in the contest.

Every Sound recorded a hit in the contest except Caleb Gindl (0-for-4), but the outfielder drew a walk to extend his on-base streak to 23 games.

The Bees jumped out to a 2-0 first-inning lead, taking advantage of a pair of Nashville errors. With one out, Andrew Romine singled then moved to third when Sounds starter Sam Narron misfired to first on a pickoff attempt. Jeff Baisley followed with a grounder to short which was mishandled by Edwin Maysonet, allowing Romine to race home with the game's first run. Two batters later, Baisley scored on Chris Petit's two-out triple to right.

Nashville halved the lead to 2-1 in the second on back-to-back two-out doubles off the bats of Maysonet and Kottaras.

The Sounds jumped in front, 4-2, with a three-run fourth against Salt Lake starter Brian Lawrence, sending nine batters to the plate during the frame. Katin opened the scoring with an RBI double, then Taylor Green and Eric Farris added run-scoring singles later in the inning. Farris went 2-for-5 on the night to extend his longest hitting streak of the year to six games.

Salt Lake pulled back within a run at 4-3 in the bottom of the fifth when Cole Armstrong took Narron deep for his first home run of the season, a one-out solo shot to center.

The teams traded runs in the sixth. Kottaras led off the frame with his first roundtripper of the season for Nashville, then Salt Lake responded in the home half with a two-out run courtesy of a Baisley single.

The visitors finally got some breathing room in the seventh, plating three insurance runs against Bees reliever Amalio Diaz to extend the lead to 8-4. Jordan Brown drew an inning-opening walk and later scored on a Katin RBI single. Later in the frame, Kottaras continued his solid night with a two-run double to center.

Gamel wrapped up the night's scoring with an RBI double in the ninth off Bobby Cassevah that brought home Brett Carroll.

Narron (2-1) earned a win for the second straight outing by hurling his second quality start of the year. The lanky lefty allowed four runs (two earned) on seven hits over seven innings. He struck out four batters and walked none during his 102-pitch effort.

Sean Green followed Narron with a pair of scoreless frames for Nashville.

Lawrence (2-3) was saddled with the loss after permitting five runs on 10 hits over his six frames of work.

The Sounds will try for a four-game sweep when the teams wrap up the series with a 3:05 p.m. CT meeting on Sunday afternoon. Right-hander Frankie De La Cruz (0-2, 3.43) will take the hill for the Sounds to face Salt Lake right-hander Bear Bay (1-2, 4.62).

Nashville box score

Actually that about covers it.

Nashville play-by-play

[battlekow]

Final (game two): Burlington 10, @Wisconsin 4

Bees bounce Rattlers with big fourth inning

Chris Mehring/Wisconsin Timber Rattler

GRAND CHUTE, WI – The Burlington Bees sent 13 men to the plate in the top of the fourth inning and scored seven runs on the way to a 10-4 win in the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader at Time Warner Cable Field. Ryan Pineda homered and drove in four runs in the game for the Bees.

However, Pineda made a mistake on a grounder in the bottom of the first inning to let the Rattlers (23-19) take a 1-0 lead. Nick Shaw was at second with two outs, when Pineda let a grounder off the bat of Chris Dennis go through his legs.

Pineda made up for the fielding miscue in the first by hitting a two-out solo homer in the top of the second to tie the game 1-1. The blast off Timber Rattlers starter Damon Krestalude was the first of the season for Pineda and landed in the Bees bullpen beyond the wall in left-center.

Wisconsin went back in front in the bottom of the third inning as the Bees starting pitcher contracted a bout of wildness at the same time the Burlington defense kicked the ball around the infield. Reggie Keen reached second with one out after another grounder eluded Pineda. Then, a wild pickoff throw by Nate Long sent Keen to third. Long walked the next three batters to force in a run. Dennis drew the final walk of the sequence to force in Keen for a 2-1 Rattlers lead.

Mike Walker was next and his slow grounder towards second baseman Nino Leyja was fielded cleanly, but Leyja was caught between tagging Dennis and flipping to shortstop Wade Kirkland for the force play. However, Dennis had stopped in the basepath late and Leyja tried a fancy flip to second that Kirkland wasn’t ready for and dropped. All hands were safe and another run scored for a 3-1 lead.

But, the next two Rattlers batters were retired and Wisconsin could not come up with the big hit to blow the game open.

Burlington (30-12) did not make that mistake when their turn came in the fourth. Krestalude, who was making his first start of the season and his first appearance since May 9, gave up a single and a double to the first two batters he faced in the fourth. Tom Keeling came on in relief to face Pineda.

Tyreace House drew a walk to load the bases. Then, Pineda’s sacrifice fly drove in the first run of the inning. Catcher Daniel Pettiti tripled to right-center to drive in two more and the Bees were up 4-3.

Keeling hit the next batter and walked the batter after that to reload the bases. Doug Landaeta singled in a run, before Keeling struck out Kirkland for the second out. AJ Kirby-Jones, the batter who started the inning for the Bees with a single, drew a walk to force in a run and knock Keeling out of the game.

Brian Garman came on and walked Jose Rivero on four pitches to force in another run. House would single to knock in one more run and the Bees were up 8-3.

Walker cut into the lead with a long home run to right-center in the bottom of the fifth inning. Then, Pineda struck with a two-run single against Garman in the top of the sixth.

The Rattlers bullpen, which has been depleted with three doubleheaders over the last four days, turned to position player TJ Mittelstaedt to get the final outs of the game. Mittelstaedt almost exclusively went with the knuckleball in the seventh and allowed one hit, but got a double play and a flyout to center.

The series between the Rattlers and the Bees continues on Sunday afternoon at Time Warner Cable Field. Neither team had announced their scheduled starting pitcher for Sunday’s game. The game is scheduled to start at 1:05pm.

Sunday is a Brewers Sunday presented by 107.5, The Fan with Timber Rattlers players wearing jerseys and caps based on those of the 1975 Milwaukee Brewers. There is an Austin Ross Poster Giveaway to the first 1,000 fans to attend the game, pregame catch on the field presented by momslikeme.com, and a post-game autograph session. Also, Time Warner Cable subscribers may bring in their bill and receive up to four half priced reserve seat tickets on Sunday.

If you can’t make it out to the ballpark, tune in to the broadcast on AM1280, WNAM or timberrattlers.com starting with the Miller Lite Pregame Show at 12:45pm.

Wisconsin box score (game two)

Not so good, especially for Keeling, who gave up five runs and got only two outs. Kinda funny that Mittelstaedt was the only Rattlers pitcher not to give up a run. Garman had such a rough start to the year that giving up two runs in 2.1 innings actually lowered his ERA.

Wisconsin play-by-play (game two)

[Mass Haas]

Stu Paul's audio call of George Kottaras' home run is available here.

[Mass Haas]

Two sets of audio / video highlights, three sets of thoughts -- Rattler Blog from Chris

[battlekow]

Two sets of audio / video highlights, three sets of thoughts -- Rattler Blog from Chris

From Chris:

Hall was sitting at 88-89 and his change-up was particularly effective tonight.

Obviously we'd like to see the fastball sit a little higher, but the good changeup and control are encouraging. We'll see if the velocity comes up as he gets stretched out.

[battlekow]

This FSL baseball fan says Kyle Heckathorn's fastball was also only in the high 80s last night.