Link Report for Thurs. 7/5 -- Big-League Day Game; Evening Audio Choices Here; Patriotic Manatees Auction

[Tedaldtada]

Billings (Reds) 7 Helena 2

 

Box Score

 

Eric Semmelhack fell to 0-3 on the year with his most uneven performance of the early season. Robert Maddux, who hit 3 homers yesterday, slammed another against Semmelhack. Final line: 5 IP 6 H 3 R 3 ER 2 BB 1 IBB 5 K 4:5 GO:FO. Manny Ruiz recorded 0 outs while being charged with 3 runs. Ryan Gibbard was the best Brewers pitcher (2 IP 0 H 0 R 1 BB 3 K).

 

With the bat, Michael Garza (2-4 2B) continues to shine. Garza is 20-43 over his last 10 games with a 3:5 BB:K. Chris McFarland, Raul Mondesi Jr. and Yonki Hernandez all went 1-3 with a BB. McFarland's hit was a double.

 

Game Log

 

Quick hook for Ruiz or something worse?

 

Billings Bottom of the 6th

 

Pitcher Change: Manuel Ruiz replaces Eric Semmelhack.

Jeff Gelalich walks.

With Seth Mejias-Brean batting, throwing error by Manuel Ruiz on the pickoff attempt, Jeff Gelalich to 2nd.

Seth Mejias-Brean walks.

Robert Ramirez walks. Jeff Gelalich to 3rd. Seth Mejias-Brean to 2nd.

Pitcher Change: Michael Francisco replaces Manuel Ruiz.

Wagner Gomez walks. Jeff Gelalich scores. Seth Mejias-Brean to 3rd. Robert Ramirez to 2nd.

Beau Amaral grounds into a force out, first baseman Adam Giacalone to catcher Paul Eshleman. Seth Mejias-Brean out at home. Robert Ramirez to 3rd. Wagner Gomez to 2nd. Beau Amaral to 1st.

Jesse Winker doubles (5) on a line drive to left fielder Yonki Hernandez. Robert Ramirez scores. Wagner Gomez scores. Beau Amaral scores.

Carlos Sanchez grounds out, second baseman Christopher McFarland to first baseman Adam Giacalone. Jesse Winker to 3rd.

Robert Maddox grounds out, third baseman Mike Garza to first baseman Adam Giacalone.

 

Nice for Gibb, besides the 2-out BB.

 

Billings Bottom of the 8th

 

Robert Ramirez strikes out swinging.

Wagner Gomez called out on strikes.

Beau Amaral walks.

Jesse Winker strikes out swinging.

[DHonks]

I don't know much about Gagnon. But I know that Sheets became truly dominant when he scrapped the Brewers' preferred 2-seamer and went to the 4-seamer

[TheCrew07]

Redbirds Even Series With 6-1 Win Over Sounds

Patterson Homers For Third Straight Game For Lone Nashville Run

 

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - The Memphis Redbirds evened their series against the Sounds at one piece with a 6-1 victory over Nashville on Thursday evening at AutoZone Park.

 

Left-hander John Gast (6-2) kept the Sounds in check, striking out seven while holding Nashville to one run on four hits over six innings of work in his quality-start victory.

 

Red-hot outfielder Corey Patterson homered for the third straight game to account for the lone Sounds run of the night.

 

Nashville managed only six hits against four Memphis hurlers on the evening. Shortstop Edwin Maysonet (2-for-4) and third baseman Andy Gonzalez (2-for-3) accounted for two-thirds of those knocks.

 

Memphis grabbed a 1-0 first inning lead against Nashville right-hander Seth McClung. Adron Chambers opened the frame with a walk, advanced to third when McClung misfired toward first on a pickoff attempt, and scored on a Cedric Hunter sac fly.

 

Patterson evened the contest in the second when he led off with a solo homer to right off Gast. The veteran has homered in three straight games and is batting .400 (26-for-65) over his last 21 contests. With the homer, Patterson extended his longest hit streak of the year to seven.

 

· AUDIO: Corey Patterson Homers Again

 

The Redbirds jumped back into the lead in the home half of the second, plating three runs off McClung to pull in front by a 4-1 count. Ryan Jackson led off with a double and scored the go-ahead run on catcher Bryan Anderson's subsequent RBI single. Chambers and Eulogio Velez added run-scoring knocks later in the frame.

 

Memphis third baseman Zach Cox (3-for-4) added to the 'Birds lead in the third when he clubbed a leadoff solo homer to right off McClung, his sixth roundtripper of the season.

 

McClung (2-10) suffered his PCL co-leading tenth loss of the year after surrendering five runs on five hits in only three innings of work, his shortest start of the season.

 

Anderson contributed his second run-scoring knock for Memphis in the fifth when his two-out single off Sounds reliever Victor Garate plated Cox to make it a 6-1 contest.

 

Following Gast's departure, a trio of Memphis reliever combined to keep Nashville off the board the rest of the way. The Sounds put a pair of baserunners on in the ninth before Sam Freeman popped up pinch-hitter Jay Gibbons to end the contest.

 

Nashville outfielder Caleb Gindl went 0-for-4 on the night to snap his longest hitting streak of the season at eight games.

 

Reliever Jesus Sanchez made his Sounds debut with a scoreless eighth inning.

 

The teams continue the series with another 7:05 p.m. meeting on Friday night. Right-hander Claudio Vargas (2-1, 5.63) will man the bump for the Sounds and face Memphis southpaw Tyler Lyons (0-3, 7.40).

 

Nashville Box Score

Umm, it's late, and I did go back and check all the game stories twice just to make sure I'm not overtired, but we got swept as an organization today so even though Jesus Sanchez got his much deserved debut in AAA I'm glad I stayed away from the audio to do other things. Remember that article about Nashville prior to the season saying how much better their pitching would be? Well maybe it will be now with Thornburg up and Peralata seeming to find his groove, but it certainly hasn't been good outside of a couple of relievers.

 

Out of the remaining 3 games in this series I'm primarily interested in 3 individual performances, and they are all pitchers. Shelby Miller for the Cards and then both Peralta and Thornburg have starts remaining. I have mixed mixed feelings about our divisional rival prospects, I really don't like rooting for them to fail, somehow it's akin to rooting for them to get hurt which is something that I don't do. I just want ours to be better, but do I have some morbid fascination with Miller's rough season thus far considering coming into the season he was a lock to be in the Cards rotation by this time. Of course as I've noted many times there are literally half a dozen or more top pitching prospects with unexpected horrible season lines in AAA, just a strange season from that perspective.

 

Nashville Play By Play

6-1 was bad, but the Sounds turned 4 double plays or it would have been worse.

[bkrause2]

Rattler Radio Nine after 9

[Mass Haas]

LOOKOUTS EVEN UP SERIES WITH STARS

 

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – Following a 50-minute rain delay, the Huntsville Stars fell to the Chattanooga Lookouts by a final score of 5-3 on Thursday night at Joe Davis Stadium.

 

For the first time in five games, the Stars got the scoring started first. In the first inning, second baseman Scooter Gennett drew a walk to get on base. He advanced on a single by Hunter Morris and eventually scored on an error by Chattanooga’s Luis Nunez.

 

Unfortunately for Huntsville, their offense was shut down from that point on by Lookouts’ starting pitcher Matt Magill. Magill retired the last 16 batters he faced, improving to 6-4 on the year after giving up just one run and one hit through six innings of work.

 

For Magill, Chattanooga gave him solid run support in the form of five runs. In the third inning, the Lookouts tied up the game on a RBI triple by center fielder Nick Buss off of Stars starter Brian Baker. An RBI single by second baseman Rafael Ynoa made the score 2-1, giving the Lookouts the lead for good. After Baker was replaced by reliever Philippe Valiquette, Chattanooga tacked on three runs in the seventh inning. A pinch-hit, two-run double by J.T Wise and an RBI groundout gave the Lookouts a 5-1 lead.

 

On offense, the Stars made the game interesting in the eighth inning against Lookouts’ reliever Chris Withrow. Back-to-back singles by pinch-hitter Domnit Bolivar and center fielder Josh Prince finally gave the Stars a runner in scoring position. Gennett hit an RBI groundout and Morris knocked an RBI single to pull the Stars within two.

 

Unfortunately, once closer Stephen Ames replaced Withrow with two outs in the eighth inning, he retired the last four batters he faced for his ninth save of the season.

 

Pitching wise, Baker took the loss in his first outing on the season with the Stars, falling to 0-1 after giving up four runs (three earned) on six hits in six innings of work. Baker also struck out five.

 

The Stars and Lookouts will play the deciding game of their three-game series at Joe Davis Stadium on Friday. First pitch is at 6:43 PM.

[Mass Haas]

Huntsville Video

[Mass Haas]

There is Helena video (well, actually video from the Billings perspective, along with the game story).

 

With two hits Thursday, Helena 3B Michael Garza extended his hitting streak to 10 games.

[Mass Haas]

Story from Cedar Rapids with a gymnast Shawn Johnson twist -- and yes, the Kernels beat the Timber Rattlers...

[Mass Haas]

Nashville Sounds are better than record shows

by Greg Sullivan, The Tennessean

 

When the Nashville Sounds reach the All-Star break after Sunday’s game at Memphis, they can look back on improved play following a horrid April.

 

“It’s better. I think our team is starting to play at a better level,” said manager Mike Guerrero, whose club was in second place in the Pacific Coast League American North Division despite its 37-51 record after Thursday’s 6-1 loss to Memphis.

 

“We can’t worry about what happened in April, May or even June. Not at this point.”

 

The Sounds scored 68 runs in April, compared to 117 in May and 124 in June. Early on, failure in pretty much all areas of the team’s offensive play caused it to finish 6-17 in April.

 

Ever since, the Sounds have been trying to dig themselves out of a hole and have gone 31-34. They still trail first-place Omaha by 19 games.

 

The Sounds hit 13 home runs in April and stole nine bases. In June, they hit 31 homers and stole 25 bases.

 

But Nashville is still last in the 16-team PCL in runs (334), hits (739), RBIs (299) and on-base percentage (.321), based on numbers prior to Thursday night.

 

“We see we’ve scored the fewest runs in the PCL,” said outfielder Logan Schafer, who has been among the Sounds’ best hitters with a .290 average. “That’s not something we’re excited about.

 

“We’re starting to score runs. Our bats are starting to warm up. We’re starting to play for each other.”

 

The Sounds’ pitching has been more consistent, ranking sixth in the PCL with a 4.67 ERA.

 

There has been plenty of turnover. Right-handed starter Mike Fiers was promoted to Milwaukee. Fellow righty Josh Butler made only four starts before going down with an elbow injury. Top prospect and Opening Day starter Wily Peralta (4-8, 5.44 ERA) has had a disappointing season.

 

“I think that, as a staff, we’ve come together,” said starter Mark Rogers (3-6, 5.66). “There was a time there where I thought we were scuffling, but we’ve picked each other up and helped each other out.”

 

In his Sounds debut, prized prospect Tyler Thornburg picked up a win in a 6-4 win against Memphis on Wednesday, giving up two runs in five innings.

 

The bullpen has been mostly solid, despite having key arms Vinnie Chulk, Juan Perez and Mike McClendon each see time in the majors this season.

 

“We’ve been a little streaky, I guess,” said reliever Jim Henderson (3-3, 1.76), the only Sound who will be playing in Wednesday’s Triple-A All-Star game. “But I feel like we’re settling in now pretty good.”

 

Similarly, the vibe in the clubhouse is mostly upbeat. While the record still isn’t good, there seems to be a feeling that the Sounds’ worst days this season are behind them.

 

Shortstop Jeff Bianchi led the Sounds in hitting with a .313 average prior to Thursday's game. / Photo by Larry McCormack, The Tennessean

 

http://cmsimg.tennessean.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=DN&Date=20120706&Category=SPORTS04&ArtNo=307060067&Ref=AR&MaxW=640&Border=0&Nashville-Sounds-better-than-record-shows

[Mass Haas]

Helena Independent Record write-up on the H-Crew's road game --

 

Mustangs top Brewers in Billings

 

The Billings Mustangs broke open a close game with a four-run sixth inning and never looked back, beating the Helena Brewers 7-2 Thursday at Dehler Park.

 

Unlike the previous night’s game, when Helena rallied late for the win, the Brewers’ comeback came up short Thursday. Helena led off the ninth with back-to-back singles by Raul Mondesi Jr. and Adam Giacalone, but three quick outs stymied the Brewers’ hopes of a repeat.

 

As has been the case numerous times this season, the Brewers put men aboard and failed to bring them home, batting just 2-for-14 with runners in scoring position and stranding eight base runners.

 

Robert Maddox continued his hot hitting for Billings. The Pioneer League’s home run king connected on a solo shot in the fourth inning off of Helena starter Eric Semmelhack (0-3) — Maddox’s sixth long ball this year. That gave the Mustangs a 2-0 lead, but the Brewers trimmed the deficit an inning later with Alfredo Rodriguez’s RBI double. The game got no closer than that, with Billings scoring five unanswered runs.

 

All but two players in the Mustangs’ lineup recorded a hit, but none had more than one. Brewers third baseman Michael Garza was the only player in the contest with two, extending his hitting streak to 10 games with a 2-for-4 performance.

 

Billings pitcher Carlos Ramos earned the win in relief, despite allowing the Brewers’ only runs. Ramos went 2 2/3 innings and allowed two earned runs in a one-hitter. He walked two and fanned four. Mustangs pitchers struck out a dozen on the night.

 

Semmelhack, who entered with the lowest ERA among those in Helena’s starting rotation, allowed three runs on six hits while walking three and fanning five.

 

Helena closes out the three-game set tonight in Billings, with first pitch slated for 7:00 PM (8:00 Central). The Brewers return home to Kindrick Legion Field on Saturday for a brief three-game homestand with Missoula before hitting the road for a seven-game trip.

[Mass Haas]

Hunter Morris' friends and family must number in the thousands...

[Mass Haas]

The Tennessean -- Nashville is latest stop for rising pitcher Tyler Thornburg

[battlekow]

Brandon Macias and Yadiel Rivera each went 2 for 4 for the Timber Rattlers and each had a home run.

Rivera almost had another homer, too--Mehring said it would have been out in any other ballpark in the league. Rivera doesn't make a lot of contact, but he sure has some thunder in his lumber when he does, especially given what you might expect from a reedy shortstop with a great glove.

[Mass Haas]

So he could be Alex Gonzalez -- he'd take that career in a second, along with the Brewers.

[TooLiveBrew]

He's Gonzalez if he puts on another 20-30 lbs. or so. I'm glad to see him making some progress this season; I thought the Brewers should've just left him at Wisconsin last season. His defense is definitelty legit. If he can develop more contact and BB rate, he'll be an outstanding prospect.