Link Report for Thurs. 8/25 -- Thornburg overwhelming, DSL loses playoff series

[Mass Haas]

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[Mass Haas]

Thursday's Daily Menu:

Nashville: RHP Josh Butler at home vs. Memphis (Cardinals), 6:50 PM pre-game, 7:05 gametime
Live Audio Link -- Select the Nashville feed from the MiLB main audio page
MiLB.TV -- for subscribers

Huntsville: RHP Jesus Sanchez at home vs. Birmingham (White Sox), 6:43 PM gametime
Live Audio Link
iPad/iPhone: Listen
Traditional broadcast -- Birmingham feed

Brevard County: RHP Tyler Thornburg at Clearwater (Phillies), 6:00 PM gametime
Sorry, no audio available for this series...

Wisconsin: RHP Matt Miller at home vs. Kane County (Royals), 6:45 PM pre-game, 7:05 gametime
Live Audio Link
MiLB.TV -- for subscribers

Helena: LHP Mike Strong at Ogden (Dodgers), 7:50 PM pre-game, 8:05 gametime
Live Audio Link -- Select the Helena feed from the MiLB main audio page

Arizona Rookie (Maryvale): Idle

[Mass Haas]

Bad news for the DSL Brewers, they lost 1-0 in the first game today despite another amazing outing from still 17-year-old RHP Gian Rizzo, and as I type this, trail 10-3 late in the deciding series game.

 

Eric will fill us in on the details later this evening.

[Mass Haas]

By the way, sweet revenge for former DSL and Maryvale Brewer and now DSL Oriole Jhonatan Javier, released by Milwaukee this spring -- he knocked in the game's only run in the 1-0 Cerveceritos game today.

[Mass Haas]

Follow Thursday's action as it happens:

 

Nashville (Gameday also available)

Huntsville (Gameday also available)

 

Brevard County

Wisconsin

Helena

[Mass Haas]

Pacific Coast League American Northern
	Club	W	L	PCT	GB	*ELIM #	Home	Away	L 10	Streak
	Omaha	74	57	.565	-	-	38-30	36-27	8-2	W2
	Memphis	70	61	.534	4.0	9	40-23	30-38	8-2	W4
	Nashville	66	66	.500	8.5	5	38-30	28-36	4-6	L2
	Iowa	62	70	.470	12.5	1	36-28	26-42	7-3	W3

SOU North
	Club	W	L	PCT	GB	*ELIM #	Home	Away	L 10	Streak
	Chattanooga	35	23	.603	-	-	17-13	18-10	6-4	L1
*	Tennessee	34	25	.576	1.5	11	18-11	16-14	7-3	W1
	Carolina	27	32	.458	8.5	3	15-15	12-17	4-6	L1
	Jackson	25	34	.424	10.5	2	12-18	13-16	2-8	W1
	Huntsville	24	34	.414	11.0	1	10-18	14-16	4-6	W2

FSL North
	Club	W	L	PCT	GB	*ELIM #	Home	Away	L 10	Streak
	Dunedin	33	24	.579	-	-	14-11	19-13	8-2	W4
	Tampa	32	25	.561	1.0	13	15-14	17-11	7-3	W6
	Clearwater	29	28	.509	4.0	9	18-12	11-16	4-6	L1
	Brevard County	26	30	.464	6.5	6	10-16	16-14	3-7	W1
*	Daytona	25	31	.446	7.5	5	13-14	12-17	3-7	L5
	Lakeland	23	31	.426	8.5	5	11-17	12-14	4-6	L2

MID Western
	Club	W	L	PCT	GB	*ELIM #	Home	Away	L 10	Streak
	Quad Cities	34	24	.586	-	-	18-10	16-14	5-5	W4
	Clinton	33	25	.569	1.0	-	17-14	16-11	8-2	W4
	Kane County	33	25	.569	1.0	-	13-15	20-10	5-5	W1
	Beloit	26	32	.448	8.0	6	12-15	14-17	3-7	L4
	Cedar Rapids	25	33	.431	9.0	5	15-15	10-18	5-5	L1
*	Burlington	24	34	.414	10.0	4	14-15	10-19	7-3	W1
	Wisconsin	24	34	.414	10.0	4	11-18	13-16	5-5	L1
	Peoria	22	36	.379	12.0	2	12-18	10-18	2-8	L5

PIO North
	Club	W	L	PCT	GB	*ELIM #	Home	Away	L 10	Streak
	Great Falls	15	9	.625	-	-	7-3	8-6	7-3	W4
	Billings	14	10	.583	1.0	14	6-4	8-6	6-4	W2
*	Missoula	13	11	.542	2.0	13	9-5	4-6	5-5	L1
	Helena	7	17	.292	8.0	7	4-10	3-7	3-7	L3

AZL Central
	Club	W	L	PCT	GB	*ELIM #	Home	Away	L 10	Streak
	AZL Dodgers	31	21	.596	-	-	16-10	15-11	6-4	L2
	AZL Reds	30	22	.577	1.0	4	16-10	14-12	7-3	W3
	AZL Indians	27	25	.519	4.0	1	14-11	13-14	6-4	L1
	AZL Brewers	16	36	.308	15.0	E	8-18	8-18	7-3	W1

DSL S.D. North
	Club	W	L	PCT	GB	*ELIM #	Home	Away	L 10	Streak
#	DSL Mariners	45	24	.652	-	-	22-13	23-11	4-6	W3
&	DSL Brewers	44	27	.620	2.0	E	21-15	23-12	6-4	L1
	DSL Cardinals	27	44	.380	19.0	E	16-19	11-25	6-4	W1
	DSL Athletics	24	46	.343	21.5	E	14-20	10-26	3-6	L4

[Mass Haas]

Nashville Media Notes
Look for the Wisconsin media notes here as game time approaches.

If Huntsville posts theirs (they did so Wednesday), it will be found by placing your cursor over the "roster" banner at the Stars' home page.

[jjfanec]

Even though he lost it was a great start for Thornburg! 7 IP, 2H, 1 ER, 1 BB, and 10 K

[brewmann04]

IT LOOKS LIKE the people who wer nervous about Thornburg was overmatched should have relaxed in his last two starts.

[battlekow]

Final (game one): DSL Orioles 1, @DSL Brewers 0

Final (game two): @DSL Orioles 10, DSL Brewers 3

DSL Brewers box score (game one)

DSL Brewers box score (game two)

Well, that's it. MH was right, Gian Rizzo was awesome in game one (8 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, 8/4 GO/FO), but awesome wasn't good enough today. Joel Dicent and Jorge Ortega were hammered in game two, with the Cerveceritos down 10-3 after four innings. In what were hopefully his last games in the DSL, Orlando Arcia went out with a whimper, 0-6 with a walk. Yonki Hernandez was 3-8, but the rest of the team combined for four hits over two games, which obviously isn't going to win you very many. Oh well--it was a great season and a lot of fun to follow.

DSL Brewers play-by-play (game one)

DSL Brewers play-by-play (game two)

[battlekow]

Final: @Clearwater 2, Brevard County 0

Rodriguez's solid outing wins Brevard series

By Caitlynn Timberlake / Clearwater Threshers

CLEARWATER, Fla. - Julio Rodriguez defended his title of FSL player of the week with a strong outing on Thursday night at Bright House Field. The Clearwater Threshers (69-58) clenched the win as well as the series against the Brevard County Manatees (53-74) with a final score of 2-0.

The Manatees bats fell silent against Clearwater as Rodriguez did not give up a single run during the game.

The Threshers scored their first run in the third when a single to left off the bat of Jiwan James plated Cesar Hernandez.

Clearwater's second run would come in the eighth when an out dealt to Troy Hanzawa would give Hernandez his second run of the night.

Despite the loss for Brevard, starter Tyler Thornburg had a strong night striking out ten at bats. This would be his fifth loss of the season and now has an ERA of 3.57.

Rodriguez was credited with his team-high 16th win on the season and struck out seven batters during seven innings of work. His ERA now sits at 2.84.

Jordan Whatcott was able to hold the Manatees in one inning of work and was credited with the save.

Brevard County box score

Kind of a grim first three games of the day, offensively. Obviously Thornburg was phenomenal and now has a 27/4 K/BB in his last three games, covering 20 innings. It's also a great sign that, having struggled with pitch economy at times this year, Thornburg has gone seven innings in consecutive starts. Other than that, not much to say. Scooter Gennett, Hunter Morris, and Juan Sanchez each picked up one of the Sea Cows' three hits; a walk drawn by D'Vontrey Richardson was their only other baserunner.

Brevard County play-by-play

The only run Thornburg allowed;

Clearwater Bottom of the 3rd

• Cesar Hernandez singles on a ground ball to center fielder D' Vontrey Richardson.
• With D'Arby Myers batting, Cesar Hernandez steals (21) 2nd base.
• D'Arby Myers grounds out, second baseman Scooter Gennett to first baseman Hunter Morris. Cesar Hernandez to 3rd.
• Troy Hanzawa called out on strikes.
• Jiwan James singles on a fly ball to left fielder Juan Sanchez. Cesar Hernandez scores.
• Jeremy Barnes pops out to catcher Shawn Zarraga in foul territory.

Three of the 'Tees' four runners reached in the same inning, but they still couldn't score, thanks to more baserunning merriment from D'Vo.

Brevard County Top of the 4th

• Scooter Gennett singles on a ground ball to center fielder Jiwan James.
• Shea Vucinich pops out to third baseman Jeremy Barnes.
• D' Vontrey Richardson walks. Scooter Gennett to 2nd.
• Hunter Morris singles on a line drive to right fielder Cyle Hankerd. Scooter Gennett to 3rd. D' Vontrey Richardson out at 3rd on the throw, right fielder Cyle Hankerd to first baseman Darin Ruf to shortstop Troy Hanzawa.
• Kentrail Davis strikes out swinging.

[battlekow]

Final: Birmingham 4, @Huntsville 2

Huntsville box score

Jesus Sanchez allowed four runs in six innings and the Stars lost, but Robert Hinton and Rob Wooten combined to toss three scoreless frames, so there's that. Sean Halton, determined to make me talk about him more, was 3-5 with two doubles. Khris Davis did not play for the second straight game.

Huntsville play-by-play

[battlekow]

Final: @Wisconsin 5, Kane County 2

Wisconsin box score

Pretty good work from Matt Miller: 7 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 6 K, 9/4 GO/FO--and yes, 1 HBP. I think the Brewers should present Miller with an honorary apron at the end of the year, due to his evident fondness for getting in guys' kitchens. Casey Medlen struck out three and walked none in two innings of relief, giving him a 24/4 K/BB in 22 Wisconsin innings; weirdly, he had a 9/6 K/BB in 7.2 innings in Arizona. Hey, Nick Ramirez drew a walk! He's actually walking at a much better rate since being promoted, but of course, given that he's not doing anything else, it could just be passivity. Ramirez also had a hit, and Jason Rogers had two.

Wisconsin play-by-play

Chris's recap should be posted shortly.

[Mass Haas]

Lots of runs as Nashville falls 9-6 and Helena loses (again) 12-11 in ten innings. Details later this AM...

[Mass Haas]

Team effort from Timber Rattlers tops Kane County

By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers

 

GRAND CHUTE, WI - The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers got a nice start from Matt Miller and key RBI hits from Jason Rogers, Reggie Keen, and Rafael Neda to beat the Kane County Cougars 5-2 on Thursday night at Time Warner Cable Field.

 

T.J. Mittelstaedt started the Rattlers half of the fourth inning with a walk. He stole second and took third on a Cody Hawn grounder to the right side of the infield. Rogers broke the scoreless tie with an RBI single to get Mittelstaedt home.

 

Miller kept the Cougars (61-67 overall, 33-26 second half) off the board until the top of the fifth. Geulin Beltre singled in a run with one out. Then, Beltre stole second and went to third on a throwing error. Miller stranded the go ahead run at third base by striking out the next two batters.

 

Wisconsin (63-66, 25-34) retook the lead in the bottom of the fifth. Neda reached on an error and Brandon Macias doubled to the corner in left that put runners on second and third. One out later, Keen singled to get Neda home against Kane County pitcher Leondy Perez.

 

Then, with Nick Shaw at the plate, Perez turned and threw to first base for an attempted pick off on Keen. However, first baseman Juan Graterol did not cleanly catch the ball. Macias broke for the plate as the ball trickled away from Graterol. Macias scored the run that put the Rattlers up 3-1.

 

In the sixth, Neda snapped an 0-for-15 streak since joining the Timber Rattlers on August 20 with a two-run single to scored Hawn and Rogers for a 5-1 lead.

 

Miller departed after scattering seven runs over seven innings. The Rattlers righty struck out six and picked up his sixth win of the season.

 

Casey Medlen pitched the final two innings in relief of Miller. He allowed a run on a two out single in the top of the ninth inning, but recorded the last out of the game with his third strikeout.

 

The final game of the three game series is Friday night at Time Warner Cable Field. Wisconsin has Brooks Hall (7-4, 3.43) as their scheduled starting pitcher. Kane County has announced Santiago Garrido (2-5, 6.20) is the scheduled starter for the Cougars. Game time is 7:05 PM.

 

The final Friday home game of the season means that children 12 and under eat free on a North Shore Bank Family Night. After the game, enjoy a fireworks display! After the fireworks, Fazoli's invites children 14 and under to participate in Kids Run the Bases.

 

If you can't make it out to the game, you can tune in to the broadcast on AM1280, WNAM or timberrattlers.com starting with the Miller Lite Pregame Show at 6:45 PM. Friday's game is also available on MiLB.TV.

[Mass Haas]

Rattler Radio Post-Game Thoughts

[Mass Haas]

Final: Memphis 9, @Nashville 6

Sounds Drop Second Straight To Redbirds, 9-6

Nashville Sounds

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The Nashville Sounds lost their second straight game to the cross-state rival Memphis Redbirds on Thursday evening, falling 9-6 at Greer Stadium.

With the win, Memphis pulled within three games of division-leading Omaha, which lost in New Orleans. The Sounds (66-67), who fell below .500 for the first time since August 8th, remain 8 ½ games back of the Storm Chasers with 11 contests remaining in the season.

 

Redbirds right fielder Nick Stavinoha paced the visitors' 13-hit attack with a 4-for-6 evening.

 

The teams traded the lead back and forth in the early going before Memphis pulled away by scoring in five consecutive innings from the third through the seventh.

 

Catcher Martin Maldonado gave the Sounds a 2-0 lead in the second inning when he belted a two-out homer to left off Memphis starter Maikel Cleto, his sixth roundtripper of the year (that audio is available via the lead link in this post). Mat Gamel, who preceded the Nashville backstop with a single, also scored on the one-out blast.

 

Memphis responded immediately, taking a 3-2 lead in the top of the third with three runs off Sounds starter Josh Butler.

 

The Redbirds opened the frame by loading the bases on a Tyler Greene walk sandwiched by singles off the bats of Shane Robinson and Stavinoha, the visitors scored their first run on Mark Hamilton's RBI single to right and knotted the score when Greene raced home on a Matt Carpenter sacrifice fly. Later in the frame, catcher Tony Cruz staked the Redbirds to a 3-2 lead with a two-out RBI single to center to score Stavinoha.

 

The back-and-forth affair continued in the home half of the third as the Sounds plated two runs off Cleto to reclaim a 4-3 advantage.

 

Eric Farris tied the contest when he drove in Logan Schafer (walk) with a sacrifice fly to right. Taylor Green (2-for-4) followed with a go-ahead double into the right field corner that plated Caleb Gindl (2-for-4), who had singled earlier in the frame. It was Green's team-leading 35th two-bagger of the year.

 

Memphis responded in their next turn at the plate, tying the contest at 4-4 as a run scored for the fourth consecutive half-inning. Robinson drew a leadoff walk from Butler and later came home on Carpenter's RBI single to right, which chased the Nashville starter from the contest.

 

Butler took a no-decision after allowing four runs on seven hits in 3 2/3 innings.

 

The Redbirds pulled back in front with two runs in the fifth off Sounds reliever Mike McClendon. Pete Kozma's RBI double in the frame pushed the visitors back in front.

 

Memphis tacked on a single run in the sixth and added two more in the seventh to extend its lead to 9-4.

 

After some early troubles, Cleto (5-2) settled down and retired 10 straight Sounds batters at one point en route to earning the victory. The right-hander allowed four runs on five hits while striking out six batters in his seven innings of action.

 

Nashville drew back within 9-6 with a pair of eighth-inning tallies against Memphis reliever Cory Rauschenberger. Gindl, Farris, and Green opened the frame with three straight singles, the last of which plated Gindl with the first run of the frame. Farris then scored the night's final run on a Gamel groundout.

 

Memphis closer Victor Marte worked around a pair of baserunners to toss a scoreless bottom of the ninth and nail down his PCL-leading 27th save of the year.

 

McClendon (5-4) took the loss after surrendering three runs (two earned) on three hits in 2 1/3 innings of work in relief of Butler.

 

The teams continue the series with a 7:05 p.m. meeting on Friday evening. Right-hander Mike Fiers (5-0, 1.44) will take the hill for the Sounds to face Memphis right-hander Brian Broderick (7-5, 5.13).

 

Nashville Box Score

Schafer, Green, Gindl and Gamel all reached at least twice, so we'll take that...

 

Nashville Play-by-Play

[Mass Haas]

Final: @Orem 12, Helena 11, ten innings

 

Owlz Win on Wild Pitch in Extras

By Brandon Marcus, Orem Owlz

Jerod Yakubik scored on a wild pitch with two outs in the bottom of the 10th inning to give the Owlz a wild 12-11 win that saw a huge comeback in the 8th inning.

Chris Giovinazzo watched a ball sail passed Brewers catch Tyler Roberts and immediately stepped out of the way, and started signaling for Yakubik to come home. Yakubik came home and gave the Owlz the victory. The 10th inning started with Yakubik being hit by a pitch by an 0-2 pitch from Jacob Barnes. He got to second a single by Ryan Jones. Kaleb Cowart struck out swinging, Trevor Hairgrove hit a ground ball to second to move the runners over, and then Yakubik came home on the wild pitch.

The win did not come easy as the Owlz had to fight back in the 8th inning. Orem (16-9) trailed 11-6 going to the bottom of the 8th, but came up with five runs against two of the best relievers for Helena (7-18).

Alex Jones pitched a scoreless 7th, and started the 8th by striking out Giovinazzo. Kyle Mahoney was hit by a pitch, Andrew Ray walked, and Taylor Lindsey then singled to load the bases. Gary Mitchell pinch-hit for Wes Hatton and hit an infield single to bring home Mahoney.

The bases were loaded, so the Brewers turned to their closer Sean Albury. Albury had not given up a single run this year before giving up two to Orem last week. The Owlz once again had no trouble with Albury. Jerod Yakubik hit a deep fly ball to right field off of Albury that was misread by Steve Felix in right. The ball sailed over his head and cleared the bases to make it an 11-10 game. Ryan Jones followed with a RBI double that scored Yakubik and tied the game at 11-11.

Mike Johnson made his first professional start, giving up just two runs in three innings. Baudilio Lopez gave up four runs, Suammy Baez gave up three and Aaron Meade allowed two runs. However, Garrett Baker and Nick Mutz (2-2) threw 3.1 combined scoreless innings to allow the Owlz to come back and win.

Ryan Jones finished 3-for-6 with a RBI, Andrew Ray hit his first home run since July 9th, and Taylor Lindsey went 2-for-5 with one run and 2 RBIs.

 

***

by Al Marks, Helena NBC Sports

The Helena Brewers saw their five-run lead disappear on Thursday night down in Utah as they fell to the Orem owlz 12-11 in 10 innings.

The Owlz scored the winning run on a wild pitch by Brewers reliever Jacob Barnes. Helena's Parker Berberet went 2-5 with a home run and three RBI's and Ben McMahan went 3-5 with three RBI's in the loss. Ryan Jones led Orem going 3-6. Nick Mutz got the win and Barnes took the loss. Helena is now 0-4 on their road trip to Utah. Helena is 7-18 in the second half and nine games out of first place.

 

Helena Box Score

LF Kenny Allison reached four times, OBP .353; LHP Mike Strong was a victim of his defense, four unearned runs, Tyler Roberts' error and a passed ball foiled Strong...

 

Helena Play-by-Play