Link Report for Friday 4/6 -- Fiers, Thornburg, Nelson and Gagnon all with fine starting efforts

[Mass Haas]

Timber Rattlers' pre-game media notes

[Mass Haas]

Kernels score late to edge Rattlers

By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers

 

April 6, 2012 GRAND CHUTE, WI - The Cedar Rapids Kernels scratched out three runs - including one in the ninth inning - to defeat the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers 3-2 Friday night at Time Warner Cable Field. A sacrifice fly by Kevin Mosequit in the top of the ninth inning broke a 2-2 tie and gave the Kernels their second straight win in the series against the Rattlers.

 

However, it was Wisconsin (0-2) who struck first. Jason Rogers blasted a home run to left field with two outs in the bottom of the first inning to give the Rattlers a 1-0 lead.

 

Wisconsin starting pitcher Drew Gagnon struck out the side in order in the top of the second. Gagnon struck out the first three Kernels hitters in the third inning, but Mosequit, the third batter of the frame, reached when strike three got by catcher Parker Berberet. Then, Gagnon walked Ryan Jones on a 3-2 pitch after Mosequit stole second to bring Kaleb Cowart to the plate.

 

Cowart soft line drive was fielded on one hop by Rattlers second baseman Carlos George in short center with a backhanded stop after a long run to get to the ball. But, Cowart beat the throw to first for an infield single. Mosequit, who was off on contact, never broke stride as he raced for the plate and scored the tying with a slide around the tag to tie the game.

 

Gagnon worked four innings and struck out six with one walk and a couple of wild pitches in his first Midwest League start.

 

The game remained tied until the top of the sixth inning. Gary Mitchell doubled to start the frame against Rattlers reliever Mark Williams. A grounder to the right side moved Mitchell to third. An RBI grounder by Abel Baker drove in Mitchell for a 2-1 Cedar Rapids lead.

 

Kernels starting pitcher Mike Clevinger worked a 1-2-3 sixth inning and turned the game over to the Kernels bullpen in the seventh. Clevinger allowed a run on four hits with three strikeouts, but was not involved in the decision because Brandon Macias and Adrian Williams rallied the Rattlers to a tie against the Cedar Rapids relievers.

 

Macias drew a leadoff walk and stole second against Jacob Negrete. Williams blooped a double inside the right field line to score Macias and make the score 2-2 in the bottom of the seventh. But, Wisconsin could not get Williams home to take the lead and the scored stayed 2-2 through the eighth.

 

Abel Baker started the Kernels ninth inning with a walk. A sacrifice bunt moved him to second base. Pinch runner Andy Workman took over for Baker, but would not attempt to score on a sharp single to left by Wendelll Soto.

 

Mosequit worked the count to 3-2 against Williams and lined a pitch deep enough to left to score Workman from third base.

 

The Rattlers went down in order in the bottom of the ninth inning.

 

Wisconsin concludes its season opening homestand on Saturday afternoon against the Kernels. Brandon Williamson is scheduled as the starting pitcher for the Rattlers. Cedar Rapids has Ryan Crowley as their scheduled starter. Game time is 1:05 PM.

 

If you can't make it out to Time Warner Cable Field on Saturday afternoon, tune in for the broadcast on AM1280, WNAM at 12:45 PM. The game is also available on MiLB.tv.

[Mass Haas]

Sessile linked to this Post-Crescent article earlier in this thread, and it now includes a post-game video interview with Drew Gagnon (nice touch, Post-Crescent!)

[Mass Haas]

Catching up from Thursday's Opening Day in Appleton, Brad Krause shares his very worthwhile observations and as always, numerous and wonderfully catalogued photo images.

 

Thursday MiLB.TV video highlight:

 

Wisconsin's Brandon Macias belts an RBI double in the Timber Rattlers' 7-2 loss to the Cedar Rapids Kernels

[Mass Haas]

Post-Crescent blog: Odds and ends from Fox Cities Stadium

[Mass Haas]

My sincere thanks to TheCrew07 and Tedaldtada for their awesome help Friday evening. Regardless of who jumps in all season long (just wait until doubleheaders in July have us with eight or nine-game Link Reports!), thank you. I can't stress enough how much your community effort will mean to these threads this year.

 

Just a note -- while not a necessity, if our game posters note that the team site has posted their formal game summary online when you do your own write-up, please link to that as well, thanks again.

[TooLiveBrew]

Just a note -- while not a necessity, if our game posters note that the team site has posted their formal game summary online when you do your own write-up, please link to that as well, thanks again.

I'd recommend people go back to any 2011 LR post & just blatantly copy that formatting. MH has perfected this art form, and it's really, really easy to remember which links to post when all you're doing is copying his format

[homer]

God I love the Link Report.

[WV Brew]

In case you didn't notice--Nelson 8 ground outs, 0 fly outs.

[TooLiveBrew]

In case you didn't notice--Nelson 8 ground outs, 0 fly outs.

Alright, I've officially hopped on the bandwagon. "Downhill Thunder" it is.

[battlekow]

Alright, I've officially hopped on the bandwagon. "Downhill Thunder" it is.

He likes it, too.

[TheCrew07]

Just a note -- while not a necessity, if our game posters note that the team site has posted their formal game summary online when you do your own write-up, please link to that as well, thanks again.

I'd recommend people go back to any 2011 LR post & just blatantly copy that formatting. MH has perfected this art form, and it's really, really easy to remember which links to post when all you're doing is copying his format

 

I understand what the format was, I contributed for years, I just misunderstood MH when he said he'd just be posting links and not text anymore the following morning. I thought we were pulling the text out of everything and he was going to link the game stories.

 

I'm on it.

[Mass Haas]

A link-only to the game story is sufficient, thanks so much.

 

(There may be occasions when you're right on top of a game and the game summary isn't even out yet. No worries, will get it later.)