Link Report for Sat. 4/7 -- Rattlers win a wild matinee; Jed Bradley debuts sweet for 'Tees

[TheCrew07]

Stars Down Suns 3-1

 

JACKSONVILLE, Fla.- After winning the first game of the season, the Jacksonville Suns have dropped two straight after a 3-1 loss to Huntsville on Saturday night.

 

The Stars struck early when Suns starting pitcher Matt Montgomery walked Kentrail Davis on four pitches to begin the game. After stealing second base and then moving to third base on a ground out, Davis scored the first run of the night when Scooter Gennett grounded to short and the Stars led 1-0.

 

Davis reached base again in the third inning, stole second, and scored on Gennett's single to left to make it 2-0 Huntsville. The Suns scored their only run of the night in the third inning. Donnie Webb bunted for a base hit, and later scored on a sacrifice fly by Kyle Jensen to cut the Stars lead in half at 2-1.

 

That would be as close as the Suns would get. Huntsville added a run in the sixth inning on an RBI double by pinch hitter Lee Haydel to make the score 3-1. It marks the second straight game that a Stars pinch hitter has driven in a run.

 

The Suns were 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position, while the Stars were 5-for-13. Through three games Jacksonville is 5-for-26 with runners in scoring position.

 

Jake Smolinski had a big night at the plate, going 3-for-4 with three doubles. He fell just short of tying the Southern League record for most doubles in a game by a single player. The record is four, last accomplished by Jacksonville's Jimmy Rohan during the 2006 season.

 

Huntsville catcher Jason Jaramillo collected three hits. Angel Gonzalez and Jeff Bianchi combined for four of the Stars 12 total hits.

 

Second baseman Paul Gran had a pair of singles and finished 2-for-4. Jaime Ortiz, Shawn Bowman, and Donnie Webb each had a hit in the game. Gennett drove in two of the three Huntsville runs, Lee Haydel drove in the other. Kyle Jensen had the only run driven in for the Suns.

 

Jacksonville starter Matt Montgomery suffers the loss. He pitched five and two thirds innings, allowing eight hits and three runs. Kyle Kaminska and Josh Schmidt combined to pitch three and a third shutout innings. Huntsville starting pitcher Evan Anundsen went three innings and allowed five hits and a run. Bradley Blanks, Jesus Sanchez, and Robert Wooten each pitched two innings for the Stars. Blanks picks up his first win, while Wooten earns the save.

 

Right-hander Kyle Heckathorn takes the mound for Huntsville in game four of the series on Sunday afternoon. The Suns will give the ball to lefty Graham Taylor.

[Tedaldtada]

Brevard County 1 Daytona (Cubs) 0

Manatees blank Cubs to take series

04/07/2012 10:37 PM ET

By Frank Longobardo / Brevard County Manatees

 

VIERA, Fla. - Two days after one Milwaukee 2011 first round pick made his debut in the form of Taylor Jungmann, it was the other first round pick's turn to toe the rubber and southpaw Jed Bradley didn't disappoint. He fanned seven as the Brevard County Manatees shutout the Daytona Cubs 1-0 on Saturday night at Space Coast Stadium.

 

Bradley's seven strikeouts came in 6 1/3 innings of work. He allowed just three hits and a walk, en route to earning a win in his first minor league start.

 

A solo homer by Cody Hawn in the fourth inning off of Daytona's Hayden Simpson, a first round pick of the Cubs in 2010, was all the offense that Bradley and the rest of the 'Tees pitching staff needed.

 

Hiram Burgos relieved Bradley and threw 1 2/3 perfect innings. Casey Medlen then came in and shut the door in the ninth with two strikeouts to earn his first save of the season.

 

Brevard County's pitching staff held Daytona to just six base runners as the Cubs didn't have a runner get past first base.

 

The Manatees and the rest of the Florida State League will be off for Easter Sunday, but the 'Tees will be back in action on Monday night at 6:30 p.m. on the road against the Lakeland Flying Tigers. Austin Ross will get his first start of the season for the Manatees.

 

 

Box Score

 

Space Coast Stadium is a pretty sweet name for a ballpark. Back in the 90's I saw an actual space shuttle launch at Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral. Cape Canaveral is just a few miles from the stadium.

 

First, let me give Cody Hawn some pub for the game winning (in the 4th inning) home run.

 

Now, on to Jedidiah Custer Bradley. I have him at 57 pitches total, 35 for strikes, using Battlekow's math. He was also pulled mid-inning after he gave up an one-out single. Seems somewhat strange although there was nothing in the recap or game log indicating an injury. Anyways, he dominated for 6 1/3 innings. Negatives first; he did hit a batter and he committed a fielding error. Positives; 7:3 GO:FO, a pick-off in the 4th, and 7:1 K:BB. Hiram Burgos has moved to a relief role and he did well going an 1 2/3 innings. Casey Medlen saved the 2 hour and 10 minute game with 2 K in his inning. Casey had a 11.4 K/9 and a 4.0 K:BB in 2011 across two levels.

 

Game Log

 

I was just going to post Jed's innings, but kudos to all three arms tonight for the shutout. There are some dominant innings mixed in here (see the top of the 1st and 5th).

 

Daytona Top of the 1st

 

Matthew Szczur grounds out, third baseman Michael Walker to first baseman Cody Hawn.

Ronald Torreyes called out on strikes.

Rubi Silva strikes out swinging.

 

Daytona Top of the 2nd

 

Greg Rohan grounds out, shortstop Nick Shaw to first baseman Cody Hawn.

John Andreoli walks.

Elieser Bonne strikes out swinging.

Arismendy Alcantara grounds into a force out, shortstop Nick Shaw to second baseman Shea Vucinich. John Andreoli out at 2nd.

 

Daytona Top of the 3rd

 

Sergio Burruel singles on a line drive to left fielder T. J. Mittelstaedt.

Dustin Harrington flies out to center fielder Reggie Keen.

Matthew Szczur strikes out swinging.

Ronald Torreyes pops out to shortstop Nick Shaw.

 

Daytona Top of the 4th

 

Rubi Silva reaches on fielding error by pitcher Jed Bradley.

Greg Rohan grounds into double play, third baseman Michael Walker to second baseman Shea Vucinich to first baseman Cody Hawn. Rubi Silva out at 2nd.

John Andreoli singles on a bunt ground ball to third baseman Michael Walker.

With Elieser Bonne batting, John Andreoli picked off and caught stealing 2nd base, pitcher Jed Bradley to first baseman Cody Hawn to shortstop Nick Shaw.

 

Daytona Top of the 5th

 

Elieser Bonne strikes out swinging.

Arismendy Alcantara grounds out, third baseman Michael Walker to first baseman Cody Hawn.

Sergio Burruel strikes out swinging, catcher Adam Weisenburger to first baseman Cody Hawn.

 

Daytona Top of the 6th

 

Dustin Harrington flies out to center fielder Reggie Keen.

Matthew Szczur grounds out, shortstop Nick Shaw to first baseman Cody Hawn.

Ronald Torreyes hit by pitch.

Rubi Silva called out on strikes.

 

Daytona Top of the 7th

 

Greg Rohan flies out to right fielder Franklin Romero Jr.

John Andreoli singles on a fly ball to right fielder Franklin Romero Jr.

Pitcher Change: Hiram Burgos replaces Jed Bradley.

Elieser Bonne grounds into a force out, fielded by shortstop Nick Shaw. John Andreoli out at 2nd. Elieser Bonne to 1st.

Arismendy Alcantara pops out to second baseman Shea Vucinich.

 

Daytona Top of the 8th

 

Dropped foul pop error by third baseman Michael Walker.

Sergio Burruel strikes out swinging.

Offensive Substitution: Pinch hitter Richard Jones replaces Dustin Harrington.

Richard Jones flies out to left fielder T. Mittelstaedt.

Matthew Szczur pops out to shortstop Nick Shaw.

 

Daytona Top of the 9th

 

Pitcher Change: Casey Medlen replaces Hiram Burgos.

Ronald Torreyes called out on strikes.

Rubi Silva grounds out, second baseman Shea Vucinich to first baseman Cody Hawn.

Greg Rohan singles on a fly ball to center fielder Reggie Keen.

John Andreoli called out on strikes.

[Tedaldtada]

Sounds Lose Again To Zephyrs, 4-2

04/07/2012 9:46 PM ET

Nashville Sounds

 

METAIRIE, La. - The Nashville Sounds suffered their third straight loss on Saturday evening at Zephyr Field, falling 4-2 to New Orleans in the third game of a four-game series.

 

Nashville has out-hit New Orleans in each of the three games this series but has failed to record a victory. The Sounds registered five hits to the Zephyrs' four in Saturday's contest.

 

Third baseman Taylor Green (2-for-3) gave Nashville its first lead of the 2012 season in the top of the fourth inning when he belted a two-run homer to right off Zephyrs starter Wade LeBlanc. Sean Halton, who preceded Green with a line drive double to left that caromed off the third-base bag, also scored on the blast.

 

The Sounds' advantage was short-lived, however, as New Orleans jumped in front with a big fly of its own in the home half of the frame.

 

An erratic Josh Butler, who tallied six walks over his 3 1/3 innings of work in the contest, issued free passes to Bryan Petersen and Luke Montz sandwiched around a strikeout of Ben Lasater to put two runners on base with one out. Matt Dominguez followed by hammering a 1-2 offering over the left field wall for a go-ahead, three-run blast, the Zephyrs' first hit of the evening. The third baseman's first longball of the year chased Butler from the contest and gave New Orleans a 3-2 lead.

 

The Sounds had runners on base in each of the next four innings but were unable to push across the tying score against New Orleans pitching.

 

New Orleans tacked on an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth against Vinnie Chulk. Scott Cousins led off and hit a liner to left-center that a diving Logan Schafer was unable to catch and the ball rolled to the wall, allowing the Z's right fielder to reach third on a triple. Petersen followed with a sac fly to center to extend the lead to 4-2.

 

LeBlanc (1-0) picked up the win with a quality start effort for the Z's. The southpaw allowed two runs on five hits while fanning four in his seven frames.

 

Beau Jones worked a scoreless eighth before Zephyrs closer Sandy Rosario wrapped up the victory with a 1-2-3 ninth for his first save of the year.

 

Butler (0-1) took the loss for the Sounds. He allowed only one hit, the three-run homer, but walked six batters while striking out three in his 3 1/3 innings of action.

 

The Sounds will attempt to avoid a season-opening sweep when the teams wrap up the four-game set with a 2:00 p.m. Easter matinee on Sunday afternoon. Right-hander Brian Baker will toe the rubber to make his Sounds debut in the contest. New Orleans will counter with right-hander Tom Koehler.

 

Box Score

 

Josh Butler had a very interesting line. 3 1/3 IP 1 H 3 R 3 ER 6 BB 3 K 1 HR. At this point, he is a fringe big league pitcher.

 

Taylor Green's HR Audio Taylor did commit an error in the field. Gindl and Halton (also had a BB) were the only other Sounds starters with hits. 8 K and 2 BB for the Sounds batters on the day.

 

Sorry, not much else here grabbing my attention.

 

Game Log

[wsuprise24]

MH FYI... Wisconsin also has Gameday available per Chris on Thursday's broadcast. I haven't used it yet, but there has indeed been a link for every game this season.

This is correct. I'm actually the guy that types the codes into the Gameday program while I watch the games from the press box at Fox Cities Stadium. Every pitch is recorded, so the pitch counts for Rattler games are accurate (home games at least). Brevard County doesn't seem to have anyone doing the Gameday for their games, so I wouldn't be surprised if some of the other Midwest League teams don't either.

[Tedaldtada]

MH FYI... Wisconsin also has Gameday available per Chris on Thursday's broadcast. I haven't used it yet, but there has indeed been a link for every game this season.

This is correct. I'm actually the guy that types the codes into the Gameday program while I watch the games from the press box at Fox Cities Stadium. Every pitch is recorded, so the pitch counts for Rattler games are accurate (home games at least). Brevard County doesn't seem to have anyone doing the Gameday for their games, so I wouldn't be surprised if some of the other Midwest League teams don't either.

 

Cool! Any word if velocities will be available? Let me know if you take another job so I can apply for yours.

[battlekow]

Lucas Luetge made his Major League debut tonight, striking out Josh Reddick on three pitches. Pretty cool.

[wsuprise24]

MH FYI... Wisconsin also has Gameday available per Chris on Thursday's broadcast. I haven't used it yet, but there has indeed been a link for every game this season.

This is correct. I'm actually the guy that types the codes into the Gameday program while I watch the games from the press box at Fox Cities Stadium. Every pitch is recorded, so the pitch counts for Rattler games are accurate (home games at least). Brevard County doesn't seem to have anyone doing the Gameday for their games, so I wouldn't be surprised if some of the other Midwest League teams don't either.

 

Cool! Any word if velocities will be available? Let me know if you take another job so I can apply for yours.

We don't have the PitchFX technology at the stadium. The pitch locations are manually entered by me, so I honestly wouldn't pay too much attention to those. They'll be pretty accurate horizontally (inside/outside), but I'm looking down from straight behind the batter so I have a bad angle for judging the height of pitches.

 

There is a gun at the stadium, so I can see the speed of every pitch, but Gameday is programmed to get its velocities from the PitchFX cameras, which we don't have. I'll be able to let you guys know after the game what sort of velocities certain pitchers were sitting at. Today was my first game so I couldn't pay attention to that as much, but I remember that Hawley was consistently hitting 93 and the other team's 6'11" reliever was hitting 90.

 

I'll just be working a few games when I can until I'm done with finals, but starting in mid-May I'll be watching every pitch of every home game, so I should be able to answer just about any question that you guys might have about the T-Rats

[Mass Haas]

When MiLB.com asks for an interview story after a game, that's a good thing. Tonight they got multiple quotes from Jed Bradley, who was quick to credit his defense (seeing a lot of that courtesy from all Brewer farmhands this year, nice) in a nice feature -- check it out.

[Mass Haas]

Evan Anundsen psyched

 

Also, from Jacksonville.com:

 

Manager Andy Barkett was upset the Suns didn’t jump on Huntsville starter Evan Anundsen early when they had seven base runners in the first three innings.

 

“You could see it coming. ... We got their starter on the ropes early, and we need that big blow to get some momentum on our side, but we didn’t get it,” Barkett said. “People say there’s not momentum in baseball, but there is.”

[Mass Haas]

Huntsville's Alex Cohen points out that SS Jeff Bianchi has multi-hit efforts in all three games thus far.

[Mass Haas]

Nola.com game story on Sounds / Zephyrs:

 

The Zephyrs’ pitchers combined to throw 15 consecutive innings without allowing an earned run until Taylor Green made a splash by sending a home run into the swimming pool in right field in the fourth inning Saturday. The two-run shot followed a double by Sean Halton, who was responsible for Nashville’s previous earned run, a ninth inning solo home run Thursday.

 

“I thought it was a decent pitch,” Zephyrs starter Wade LeBlanc (1-0) said about the two-run home run. “He put a swing on it. There was nothing I could do about it except move on.”

[Mass Haas]

Post-Crescent spoke with three Timber Rattlers for their game story, and include a nice photo galley here.

[HiAndTight]

Bradley with 40 pitches in 6 and a 1/3 innings. That is efficient. Wow.

 

 

That seems incredibly unlikely with 7 K's as well. So he had 19 pitches to get the other 4 innings? I'm guessing it was a mistake and he threw 75 pitches and they just didn't report the ball to strike ratio correctly.

 

 

Edit-I see the mistake has been cleared up.

[homer]

Yeah I figured that pitch count was too good to be true.