Link Report for Sun. 7/7

[Eye Black]

Gian Rizzo Pitching Alert for those Sunday night insomniacs on BF.net. He entered in the 6th and gave up 1 run on 2 hits and recorded 2 K's in his first inning of work.

[Mass Haas]

NY Daily News: Chad Pierce nearly beaned A-Rod Sunday, who showed off thigh bruise from Cody Scarpetta's Saturday curve ball.

[Mass Haas]

Brewers clip Voyagers in 10

Loss drops Great Falls one game back of Helena entering Southern swing

by Lee Vernoy, Great Falls Tribune Sports Writer

 

Six days ago, the Great Falls Voyagers began a six-game series with the Helena Brewers in an early battle for the Pioneer League Northern Division lead with the Brewers up by one game.

 

Six days later, nothing has changed. Helena downed the Voyagers 9-6 in ten innings Sunday afternoon at Centene Stadium to snap the Voyagers’ two-game winning streak and earn a split of the six-game home-and-home series.

 

More important, not that this was, in the words of Voyagers manager Pete Rose, Jr., “a make or break series,” the Voyagers remain just a game behind the Brewers in the early battle for the Northern Division race going into the first of two swings through the Southern Division this season.

 

The Brewers got the win with three in the tenth. Michael Ratterree doubled to left with one out off reliever Nick Blount, and Jose Pena walked. Then Taylor Brennan ripped a double over the head of left fielder Michael Carballo, scoring Ratterree. After Dustin Houle struck out, Jalen Harris smashed a bad-hop single barely past the outstretched glove of Justin Jirschele to score Pena and Brennan.

 

This came after the Voyagers scored two in the bottom of the ninth to send it into extras. Pinch hitter Dillon Haupt and Carballo walked, and Andy Hillis came in from the pen to work to Jairo Kelly, who stroked a 360-foot drive to right field that hit the base of the wall. However, Haupt tagged second and the runners had to hold up, turning what should have been an RBI double into a 368-foot single that loaded the bases.

 

Danny Hayes then hit what many thought to be a game-ending double play ball to second, but Hayes beat the throw from shortstop Angel Ortega. Rose, in the third base coaching box, sent Engel home with the tying run after Carballo had scored.

 

“It was either going to be game over with the double play, or a tie game,” Rose said. “I knew Hayes was going to hustle up the line, and he beat the throw and got two RBI.

 

“But we just can’t afford to wait for runs to come to us.”

 

The Voyagers didn’t wait early, scoring two in the first when Zach Voight spanked a two-run double that scored Adam Engel and Hayes. Engel helped make it 3-0 in the second when his two-out double plated Dane Opel, who walked to lead off the frame.

 

Helena tied things in the third. Ratterree stroked a two-run double, moved to third on the throw, and scored with Brennan grounded to first.

 

Helena took the lead in the fourth when two walks, a sacrifice bunt and Charlie Markson’s grounder to second pushed Ortega across, but the Voyagers came back to re-tie when Voight unloaded on a Tristan Archer fastball for his second homer of the season.

 

The Brewers took a 6-4 lead in the seventh with two unearned runs that came when Voight misplayed Ratterree’s grounder to third.

 

Blount lost his second decision of the season, with the win going to Hillis following his blown save. Ryan Fasano came on after Hillis walked the first two batters of the tenth and retired the side for his first save.

 

Rose is not concerned about the Southern swings, the first of which takes his charges to Orem for four beginning Tuesday after today’s off-day, then to Grand Junction for three befor ecoming home.

 

“Everyone has to do it,” Rose said. “We just need to go out there like we do here and play hard. We’re not worried about it whatsoever.”

 

GREAT FALLS TRIBUNE PHOTOS BY TIM GOESSMAN

 

Charlie Markson, left, of the Helena Brewers, rises after colliding with Trey Wimmer, right, of the Great Falls Voyagers Sunday in Centene Stadium.

 

http://cmsimg.greatfallstribune.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=G1&Date=20130707&Category=SPORTS&ArtNo=307070023&Ref=AR&MaxW=640&Border=0&Pioneer-Helena-Brewers-clip-Voyagers-10

 

Christian Stringer of the Great Falls Voyagers throws as Angel Ortega of the Helena Brewers slides into second base Sunday.

 

http://cmsimg.greatfallstribune.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=G1&Date=20130707&Category=SPORTS&ArtNo=307070023&Ref=V1&MaxW=600&Border=0

[Mass Haas]

Raw numbers - Organizational leaders entering Sunday noted by Brad

[Mass Haas]

NY Daily News: Scarpetta's granny glad he hit ‘hot shot’ A-Rod

[Mass Haas]

Final: AZL Diamondbacks 4, @AZL Brewers 2

 

AZL Brewers Box Score

 

Not the worst offensive club in the Arizona League, but you can see here that the Brewers are in the lower ranks in most categories.

 

11 K's, only one walk drawn by the A-Crew lineup here.

 

Wonderful job by the mounds crew in this one, posting a combined 10-0 K-to-BB ratio and a 15-to-2 GB-to-FB rate. Good work, Drew Ghelfi, Gian Rizzo, and Tyler Spurlin - two errors by his mates in the 5th hurt Ghelfi.

 

AZL Brewers Game Log

[Mass Haas]

The Brewers and their seven farm teams are now a cumulative 80 games under .500, and it's only July 7th.

 

1-5 organizational day (yay Helena!), so now 84 games under entering Monday.

[Mass Haas]

Brewers blow lead, then win in extras

by Amber Kuehn, Helena Independent Record

 

These Helena Brewers like to keep things interesting.

 

Up 6-4 heading to the bottom of the ninth, the Brewers found themselves just three outs away from a win Sunday afternoon at Centene Stadium. But things began to spiral with a couple of walks and a Jairo Kelly single, and Great Falls tied the game on a groundball hit by Danny Hayes that allowed Adam Engel to score from second.

 

No big deal. Helena went on a hit parade in the 10th, with doubles by Michael Ratterree and Taylor Brennan and a two-run single by Jalen Harris. That gave the visitors a three-run cushion, and this time they closed out the victory. Brewers reliever Ryan Fasano pitched a perfect 10th for the save, giving Helena a 9-6 extra-inning win to snap a two-game skid.

 

“In the ninth inning we made a couple mental mistakes that allowed them to get back in the game,” said Brewers manager Tony Diggs, whose team remains in first place in the Pioneer League North Division heading into a day off. “We had a runner we should have caught between second and third ... their base running was just very good.

 

“The good thing was, the boys kept going, and Fasano did a good job coming in and going right after hitters.”

 

After back-to-back losses which saw the Brewers combine for eight total errors, this one was relatively clean. Diggs was encouraged by the fact that Helena finished with just one miscue in Sunday’s contest.

 

“We’re always talking about taking care of the baseball,” Diggs said. “The last two nights previous to today, we did throw the ball away too much, which probably led directly to both losses.”

 

Ratterree led the Brewers at the plate with a 2-for-5 performance. He laced a pair of doubles, scored two runs and finished with two RBIs. The right fielder, who leads the league in doubles with eight, stroked a two-run double in the fourth frame to put his team on the board, then came home as the tying run that knotted things at 3-all. Following a 4-4 tie, the Brewers took their first lead in the seventh when Angel Ortega and Charlie Markson came home on a fielding error by Voyagers third baseman Zach Voight.

 

Helena reliever Andy Hillis was charged with the blown save before then earning the win, his second of the season.

 

Great Falls pitcher Nick Blount took the loss after giving up three earned runs on three hits.

 

Voight led the Voyagers’ offense, going 2 for 5 with a solo home run, a double and three RBIs.

 

“This was a good way to finish up a road trip before a day off,” Diggs said, noting that the guys need their rest after 18 straight games.

 

The Brewers return home to Kindrick Legion Field for a seven-game homestand against Idaho Falls and Ogden, beginning Tuesday at 7:05 PM (8:05 Central).