Link Report for Mon. 5/23 -- Braddock misses outing due to cracked fingernail; Morris clubs first AA homer; a Rolando Pascual sighting

[battlekow]

If you're looking for something to do, Clearwater and Jupiter are now in the 22nd inning tied 1-1. Listen or check out the box score.

[brewmann04]

Going to be an interesting Battle to see who will be Nashville CF down the road Komastu or Schaffer.

[TooLiveBrew]

I think if Komatsu can keep hitting like this, he should attract enough prospect-watcher attention for us to get some more comprehensive reviews of his defense. If he can handle CF progressing higher up the chain, then it's absolutely going to be a competition between him & Schafer.

[And That]

Clearwater and Jupiter are now in the 22nd inning tied 1-1. Listen or check out the box score.

The 'ol 1-10 will really lower your batting average. On to the 23rd!

[battlekow]

Final: @Tacoma 5, Nashville 3

Sounds Lose Series Opener In Tacoma, 5-3

Nashville Sounds

TACOMA, Wash. - The Tacoma Rainiers belted three home runs en route to a 5-3 victory over the Nashville Sounds on Monday evening at Cheney Stadium in the opener of a four-game series.

The Sounds (17-26) jumped out to an early lead, plating a pair of unearned runs against Tacoma starter Fabio Castro in the top of the first inning following a fielding error by shortstop Sean Kazmar. Catcher George Kottaras continued his recent hot hitting by delivering a two-out, two-run single in the frame [audio].

With the run-ahead knock, Kottaras extended his longest hitting streak of the year to six games and has hit safely in 10 of his last 12 games at a .349 clip (15-for-43).

Tacoma halved the Nashville lead in the second. Luis Jimenez led off the inning by drawing a walk from Sounds starter Josh Butler and later scored on Matt Tuiasosopo's two-out double to right.

The Rainiers knotted the score at 2-2 in the fourth when right fielder Johan Limonta belted a two-out solo homer to right-center off Butler, his second longball of the year.

Brendan Katin put the Sounds back in front, 3-2, in the sixth when he belted a mammoth leadoff homer over the left field foul pole. The blast, off Castro, was his team-leading 11th of the season.

Tacoma responded immediately, taking its first lead of the night in the bottom of the frame with a pair of solo homers off Butler. Mike Carp led off with a line-drive solo shot to right that barely cleared the 325-foot fence, the outfielder's 11th roundtripper of the year. Two batters later, Rainiers third baseman Alex Liddi swatted a go-ahead blast to left, his ninth of the year, giving the home team a 4-3 lead.

The Rainiers extended their lead to 5-3 in the seventh when Ryan Langerhans laced a two-out RBI single to right off Sounds reliever Zack Segovia.

Tacoma reliever Scott Patterson (1-0) picked up his first win of the year with 1 1/3 hitless innings behind Castro.

Hard-throwing right-hander Dan Cortes closed out the contest with two scoreless frames, striking out five batters, to earn his first save of the year for the Rainiers.

Nashville threatened in the ninth, putting two runners into scoring position with two outs in the frame, before Cortes caught Caleb Gindl looking at a game-ending third strike to ice the victory.

Butler (2-3) took the loss after allowing four runs on six hits over six innings. The right-hander, who had allowed only three home runs all season entering the contest, gave up three taters on the night.

Sounds shortstop Eric Farris went 2-for-4 on the night to extend his longest hit streak of the year to eight games.

The teams continue the series with a 1:35 p.m. matinee on Tuesday afternoon. Left-hander Chase Wright (1-3, 3.12 will toe the rubber for the Sounds to face Tacoma southpaw Luke French (0-5, 5.98).

Nashville box score

Katin is slugging .691. Gindl stuck out four times. Mat Gamel was 0-3 with a walk.

Nashville play-by-play

[DHonks]

Katin should get the knee taken care of this offseason, then we should go into 2012 with Morgan and Gomez sharing CF with Katin as the backup corner outfielder/1st baseman.

[Mass Haas]

Manatees fall to Cardinals, suffer sixth straight loss

by Mark DeCotis, Florida Today

 

Something had to give in Monday night's matchup of two of the Florida State League's last place teams.

 

And unfortunately for the home folks, it was the Brevard County Manatees who dropped their sixth straight game and their 30th in their first 45, falling 4-1 to the Palm Beach Cardinals.

 

A Space Coast Stadium gathering of 707 fans saw the Cardinals, tied for last in the South Division, improve to 17-28. The cellar-dwelling Manatees outhit the Cardinals, seven to six, but sloppy pitching -- seven walks and two hit batters -- a two-run first inning and their inability to get the right hit at the right time were the difference.

 

"Obviously, we got shut down by their pitchers," Manatees Manager Jeff Isom said. "We should be able to get a little more offense than that. A little frustrating now at the plate.

 

"The last two nights, they've shut us down. We've got to do a better job of getting the team to play together, hitting on all cylinders if you will. Right now it seems like we'll get good pitching and our offense will be shut down and vice versa.

 

"We're close to where we need to be. We've just got to get everything working together."

 

Isom wasn't pleased with the walks and hit batters.

 

"We obviously have got to work on cutting down our walks," he said. "That's one thing (pitching coach) Fred (Dabney) has been working on a lot with them, commanding the fastball and being able to throw it for strikes at any time."

 

The teams play the third game in their four-game series at 7:05 PM today (6:05 Central).

[Mass Haas]

Walker coming through for Timber Rattlers

by Tim Froberg, Appleton Post-Crescent

 

GRAND CHUTE — Mike Walker learned plenty about patience in his first year as a professional ballplayer.

He opened the 2010 season in a nightmarish slump at Helena, managing just one hit in his first 36 at-bats.

Walker's 2011 start has gone so much smoother.

The slugging first baseman is hitting .293 and leads Wisconsin in home runs (eight) and RBI (33).

He has also proven to be a clutch hitter and his timely power was the difference for the Timber Rattlers on Monday afternoon in a 4-3 win over the Burlington Bees.

Walker slammed a two-run homer in the bottom of the sixth inning to erase a 3-2 deficit and give the Rattlers a lead they would never surrender.

The left-handed-hitting Walker is known as a fastball hitter, but got hold of a hanging changeup from Burlington starter Tyler Vail and hammered the 1-2 delivery over the wall in left-center field. The ball cleared the 385-foot mark and traveled an estimated 391 feet.

"I haven't seen a ton of fastballs lately and didn't see many today, so it kind of forces you to sit on the off-speed stuff," Walker said. "I put a good swing on it and the wind carried it out. I'll take it."

The 22-year-old Walker appreciates his fast start at the plate considering his miserable month of June in 2010.

"I'm a lot happier this year than I was last year at this point," Walker said. "But you can never get too content. Baseball has its ups and downs."

The Maryville, Calif., native rebounded from his horrendous start to hit a respectable .277 last year at Helena (Rookie League) with eight homers and 41 RBI.

"It (his 2010 start) was rough," said Walker. "But you have to stay positive or you're going to keep going downhill. I was able to work through it. You learn very quickly in this game that you're not going to make or break a season in a day or two. When you're not doing so hot, you have to ride it out and keep grinding every day, no matter what."

The 6-foot-4, 206-pound Walker played college ball at the University of Pacific and was a 14th-round pick by the Milwaukee Brewers in the 2010 Major League Baseball draft. He can also play third base.

 

"Ever since day one, he's been one of our solid guys," said Wisconsin manager Matt Erickson. "He's a big kid and has got good extension throughout the zone. He has good power to all fields and seems to have a knack for getting big hits."

It was Walker's second home run in the last three games.

"He has some gap-to-gap thunder," said Erickson.

Walker's round-tripper made a winner out of reliever Eric Marzec, who worked 1 1/3 scoreless innings in relief of starter Austin Ross.

Milwaukee Brewers left-hander Zach Braddock was scheduled to make his third rehab start for the Timber Rattlers, but was scratched when he developed a cut on his fingernail on his pitching hand before the game.

"He was scheduled to throw 35 pitches, but had a cut on his fingernail — part of the fingernail was just hanging there," said Erickson. "Pax (athletic trainer Jeff Paxson) tried to fix him up with Superglue, but they just weren't comfortable with it and thought it would be better if we didn't throw him.

"You see that often with pitchers. They have problems with cracks and fingernail issues. It's usually not something that puts you on the backburner for a while, but you have to take care of it. With him being close to the big leagues, we didn't want to do anything to set him back."

Erickson wasn't sure if Braddock would make another appearance for the Rattlers.

[YoungGeezy]

Man Komatsu is looking REALLY good right now. I find it very hard to see Shafer skip over him right now. He has it all going for him right now. Hitting .350, on Base .440, OPS of .925, 20 BB to 13 K's.

[battlekow]

More reason for optimism regarding Evan Anundsen: Brandon Revels reports he was throwing 88 last night, which is about as hard as he's ever thrown (at least as a pro).