Link Report for Thurs. 4/24

[Mass Haas]

http://www.brewerfan.net/images/store/dailylinkreport.jpg

[Mass Haas]

Thursday's Daily Menu:

 

All times are Central

 

Nashville: RHP Ariel Pena at Oklahoma City (Astros), 6:45 PM pre-game, 7:05 gametime

 

Free Live Audio Link

 

Jeff Hem is the play-by-play voice of the Sounds; follow him on Twitter @jeffhempbp; we'll link to his blog updates at On the Air…and Off

 

MiLB.TV -- for subscribers; all Nashville games, home and away, will be available to watch via MiLB.TV's $49.99 season-long package ($12.99 to pay for a single month). The audio feed is from the home team. All MiLB.TV details available at the link.

 

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Huntsville: RHP Tyler Cravy at Tennessee (Cubs), 6:00 PM pre-game, 6:15 gametime

 

Free Live Audio Link

 

Steve Jarnicki is the new play-by-play voice of the Stars - welcome aboard! Follow Steve on Twitter @SteveJarnicki. All games, home and away, are scheduled to be broadcast.

 

MiLB.TV - It appears seven of the ten Southern League teams telecast their home games (not the Stars). Tennessee does host MiLB.TV broadcasts - be among those hoping Steve's audio link synchs up nicely with your MiLB.TV investment.

 

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Brevard County: LHP Hobbs Johnson at home vs. Daytona (Cubs), 5:05 PM pre-game, 5:35 gametime

 

Free Live Audio Link -- Select the proper link based on listed schedule

 

Dave Walkovic returns as the play-by-play voice of the 'Tees; follow the Brevard broadcast booth staff on Twitter @BCManateesRadio. All home games and many road games are scheduled to be broadcast. When road games are only available via the opponents' audio feed (or not at all), we'll let you know that.

 

No Florida State League games are available via MiLB.TV.

 

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Wisconsin: RHP Tristan Archer at Burlington (Angels), 11:10 AM pre-game, 11:30 gametime

 

Free Live Audio Link - 1280 AM WNAM

 

Chris Mehring is back to do his customary fantastic work as the Voice of the Rattlers. Follow him on Twitter @CMehring; we'll link to Chris' infamous blog often -- Rattler Radio.

 

For the $49.95 season-long package, fans in Brewer Nation can watch all Sounds games, Stars' road games from seven Southern League locales, and all Timber Rattlers home games and some road games.

 

NOTE: Thirty-nine (!) of the Rattlers' 70 home games will be broadcast on TV this season. Time Warner Cable SportsChannel (9) and WACY-TV My NEW32 (30) will split duties. We'll let you know when and who, and remember to refer to the Rattlers' full TV schedule so you can coordinate your DVR activity.

 

DVR Alert: Next local TV game is Mon. 4/28 on MyNEW32.

[Mass Haas]

Follow Thursday's action as it happens with box score / game log links:

 

Nashville

 

Huntsville

 

Brevard County

 

Wisconsin

 

MiLB.com feature -- organizational scoreboard, Brewers

[Mass Haas]

To see tweets as to when the Link Report has been technically "completed" with available links, as well as to know when the new day's Report has been posted, please follow @Mass_Haas on Twitter.

[Mass Haas]

Look for these just prior to the respective game times --

 

Nashville Media Notes - it's a unique link each day, but look for it under the "Roster" banner on the Sounds' site.

 

Brevard County Media Notes - again, it's a unique link each day, but look for it under the "Multimedia" banner on the Manatees' site.

 

Wisconsin Media Notes - Linked on the Rattler Radio blog

[Mass Haas]

STANDINGS:

 

AAA - Pacific Coast League American Southern Division

 

AA - Southern League North Division

 

High-A - Florida State League North Division

 

A - Midwest League Western Division

[Mass Haas]

Sortable individual stat pages:

 

Nashville

 

Huntsville

 

Brevard County

 

Wisconsin

[Mass Haas]

Weather.com:

 

Oklahoma City, OK

 

Kodak, TN

 

Viera, FL (Melbourne)

 

Burlington, IA

[TheCrew07]

Bees take series with 4-1 win over Rattlers

Coulter goes 3-for-3, knocks in only Wisconsin run

By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers

 

BURLINGTON, IA - A pair of Burlington Bees pitchers struck out eleven Wisconsin Timber Rattlers hitters and Ranyelmy Mendoza hit a two-run home run to lead Burlington to a 4-1 victory Thursday afternoon at Community Field. Rattlers catcher Clint Coulter went 3-for-3 with a pair of doubles, but Wisconsin couldn't get anything going after the first inning.

 

Johnny Davis started the game with an infield single for the Rattlers (10-9). He sent a grounder to first and beat Burlington starting pitcher Mike Clevinger to the bag. Clevinger balked to get Davis to second. One out later, Coulter drove in Davis with a single to left and the Rattlers were up 1-0.

 

Rattlers starting pitcher Tristan Archer left the bases loaded in the bottom of the first, but could not escape the second or third innings unscathed. Stephen McGee started the Burlington second with a single and was still at first with two outs. Kody Eaves doubled to left-center to drive in McGee with the tying run.

 

In the third, Ryan Dalton reached on a one out single. Archer got the second out. Then, Mendoza hit a home run to left. The two-run shot by Mendoza put the Bees up 3-1.

 

Clevinger tossed five innings and struck out seven Rattlers before turning the game over to the Bees bullpen. He walked one and gave up just three hits.

 

Coulter doubled with one out against Bees reliever Victor Alcantara in the top of the sixth. Chris McFarland drew a walk with two outs. But, Alcantara got out of the inning with a force play at second. Then, he worked a 1-2-3 seventh.

 

After the stretch, Burlington (12-7) tacked on a run. Eaves doubled against reliever Tyler Linehan. Michael Fish's single to left put runners on the corners. Mark Shannon's sacrifice fly to right was deep enough to knock in Eaves for a 4-1 score.

 

Davis drew a leadoff walk in the eighth. The Rattlers centerfielder reached four times on Thursday with a pair of infield singles, a rushed throw forcing an error, and the walk accounting for his times on base. The nascent rally was snuffed out when Alcantara induced a 4-6-3 double play. That made Coulter's second double of the game almost moot. He was left stranded when Alcantara finished off the Rattlers eighth with a grounder.

 

The Rattlers went down in order in the top of the ninth and Alcantara earned his first save of the season.

 

Wisconsin dropped three of four games to the Bees at Community Field, a place where they are 3-10 in the last two seasons, in this series.

 

The Timber Rattlers continue their road trip with the first game of a three-game series at Kane County on Friday night. Zach Quintana (0-0, 3.21) is the scheduled starting pitcher for Wisconsin. The Cougars will counter with Juan Paniagua (0-1, 5.54). Game time is 6:30pm. Tune in for the broadcast on AM1280, WNAM or IHeartRadio starting with the pregame show at 6:10pm.

 

HOME RUN:

BUR:

Ranyelmy Mendoza (3rd, 1 on in 3rd inning off Tristan Archer, 2 out)

 

WP: Mike Clevinger (2-0)

LP: Tristan Archer (0-1)

SAVE: Victor Alcantara (1)

 

TIME: 2:30

ATTN: 1,525

 

Wisconsin Boxscore

The Rattlers collected just 5 hits with Johnny Davis and Clint Coulter accounting for all of them. Davis (2-3,BB) pushed his AVE to .327 and Coulter's perfect (3-3,2 2B,BB) day pushed his to .316. Unfortunately Davis only has 1 XBH so far this season, a triple, and he's only walked twice so his OPS isn't anything to write home about. Coulter on the other hand is OPS'n an incredible 1.065 through 17 games. Clint has 5 doubles and 4 home runs, exactly half of his hits have gone for extra bases. Just as importantly he's walked 12 times against only 8 strike outs, you have to look pretty hard to find something not to like... 2 CS in 4 SB attempts.

 

Wisconsin Recap

[igor67]

Coulter offensive start is definitely huge, but we'd all love a new assessment of his defense. If it's still shaky the bat is saying it's time to find a new spot.

[homer]

There's a guy playing for Daytona named Rock Shoulders.

[TheCrew07]

Sounds Lose Series Opener In Oklahoma, 6-1

Falu Extends Hit Streak To Six Games In Defeat

Nashville Sounds

 

http://www.milb.com/assets/images/3/4/0/71876340/cuts/_MPS3012_si3awu5s_0lwyjv4r.jpg

(Mike Strasinger / Nashville Sounds)

 

OKLAHOMA CITY - The Nashville Sounds dropped a 6-1 decision to the Oklahoma City RedHawks on Thursday evening at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark in the opener of a four-game series.

 

Oklahoma City grabbed a 2-0 lead against Ariel Pena with a two-run second frame. Jon Singleton worked a leadoff walk and scored on Domingo Santana's RBI triple to right. Santana scored the inning's second run when he raced home on an Enrique Hernandez groundout.

 

The Sounds got a run back in the third. Hector Gomez led off with a double against RedHawks hurler Mike Foltynewicz, moved to third on a balk, and scored on an Eugenio Velez groundout.

 

Foltynewicz (2-1) picked up the victory after he allowed one run on four hits over five innings of work, while Pena (0-1) took the loss by giving up a pair of runs on four hits in his five frames, walking three batters and striking out three.

 

The RedHawks pulled away in the seventh by plating four runs against a trio of Sounds relievers. Kyle Heckathorn gave up a run, Brent Leach surrendered a pair, and Michael Blazek was touched for a run plus allowed all three of his inherited baserunners to score in the frame. Second baseman Ronald Torreyes highlighted the Oklahoma City offensive outburst with a two-run double.

 

Oklahoma City pitchers retired 14 of the final 16 Sounds batters.

 

Sounds second baseman Irving Falu singled in the eighth inning to extend his hit streak to six games, matching the longest effort by a Sound this season.

 

The teams continue the series with another 7:05 p.m. matchup on Friday. Right-hander Mike Fiers (3-0, 0.87) will man the bump for the Sounds and face Oklahoma City right-hander Jose Cisnero (0-0, 2.45).

 

Nashville Boxscore

No pitcher fared particularly well, Ariel Pena wasn't bad but he wasn't great either, at least not by the lofty K totals he posted to start the season.

 

Nashville Recap

 

Nashville Gameday

[bkrause2]

Final: Daytona 7, Brevard County 3

 

Brevard's rally falls short against Cubs

Manatees drop series opener to rival Daytona, 7-3

By Andrew Luftglass / Brevard County Manatees

 

VIERA, Fla. - The Brevard County Manatees brought the tying run to the plate in the bottom of the ninth inning, but could not complete the comeback as they fell 7-3 to the Daytona Cubs on Thursday night at Space Coast Stadium.

 

Brandon Macias and Tyrone Taylor gave the 'Tees (11-9) hope when they hit back-to-back singles off of Arodys Vizcaino to begin the ninth. Orlando Arcia walked to load the bases, but that is when Vizcaino bore down.

 

The Cubs (6-14) reliever struck out Michael Reed looking and Victor Roache swinging. Then, Alfredo Rodriguez hit a pitch on the screws, but the line drive was right at shortstop Marco Hernandez who squeezed it to end the game.

 

Daytona took advantage of an error in the top of the third to take the lead and they did not look back. After Tim Saunders was hit by a pitch with one out, Pin-Chieh Chen hit a soft line drive to left. Roache tried to make a sliding catch, but the ball hit off of his glove and rolled past him.

 

Saunders moved up to third on the play and Chen advanced to second. Albert Almora made the 'Tees pay for the defensive lapse as he hit a two-run single to tie the game. Later in the inning, Wilson Contreras gave Daytona the 4-3 lead with a sacrifice fly that scored Almora.

 

Dan Vogelbach had the biggest day at the plate for Daytona. The first baseman went 4-for-4 with three singles and a solo home run. In addition to the home run, Vogelbach came around to score a run in the sixth inning on a two-run double by Marco Hernandez.

 

Brevard County got on the board first against Daytona starter Yao-Lin Wang as a one-out triple by Arcia in the first inning, turned into a run, thanks to a sacrifice fly off the bat of Reed.

 

After Daytona tied the game at 1-1 in the top of the second, the Manatees answered right back with two more runs. Macias plated Rodriguez on a single and then Taylor brought Yadiel Rivera home on a sacrifice fly.

 

Ben Wells earned the win in relief as he pitched three scoreless innings. Wells allowed two hits, walked two and struck out one.

 

Hobbs Johnson (1-3, 3.00) took the loss as the left-hander allowed four runs - one earned - through five innings. He surrendered five hits and struck out four in the outing.

 

The Manatees and Cubs face each other again on Friday night at Space Coast Stadium, with first pitch scheduled for 6:35 p.m. The probable starting pitchers are right-hander Tyler Wagner (3-0, 1.17) for the 'Tees and right-hander Felix Pena (1-3, 1.38) for Daytona.

 

Brevard County Box Score

 

The Manatees managed eight hits and eight walks but only put up three runs. Third baseman Brandon Macias had the only multi-hit game, going 2-for-4. Orlando Arcia reached safely three times with a triple and two walks. Alfredo Rodriguez singled and had two walks and Yadiel Rivera drew a pair of walks as well. Michael Reed singled, walked and stole a base. Victor Roache had an error in left field but also had an outfield assist. Only one of the four runs that Hobbs Johnson allowed in his five innings of work was earned.

 

Brevard County Play-By-Play

 

Brevard pushed across two runs in the second inning

 

Brevard County Bottom of the 2nd

 

Alfredo Rodriguez singles on a ground ball to shortstop Marco Hernandez.

With Garrett Cooper batting, passed ball by Willson Contreras, Alfredo Rodriguez to 2nd.

Garrett Cooper flies out to center fielder Albert Almora.

Yadiel Rivera walks.

Parker Berberet walks. Alfredo Rodriguez to 3rd. Yadiel Rivera to 2nd.

Brandon Macias singles on a ground ball to shortstop Marco Hernandez. Alfredo Rodriguez scores. Yadiel Rivera to 3rd. Parker Berberet to 2nd.

Tyrone Taylor out on a sacrifice fly to center fielder Albert Almora. Yadiel Rivera scores.

Orlando Arcia flies out to right fielder Pin-Chieh Chen.

[Mass Haas]

Final: Huntsville 3, @Tennessee 1

 

CRAVY LEADS STARTS TO WIN

 

Kodak, TN - The Huntsville Stars received a terrific starting pitching performance for the second straight day, this time from RHP Tyler Cravy as he threw five shutout innings leading the Stars past the Tennessee Smokies 3-1 Thursday night at Smokies Park.

 

Cravy who improved to 3-1 on the season, allowed just two hits while striking out four. He received some early run support from the offense.

 

D’Vontrey Richardson launched his first home run of the season in the first inning. He took a 3-2 pitch and hammered it over the left field wall against Smokies starter Ivan Pineyro (0-2) giving the Stars a 1-0 lead.

 

The Stars added to their lead in the fifth inning. Richardson tripled and was later brought home when Nick Ramirez lined an RBI double down the left-field line. The Stars made it 3-0 in the sixth after Adam Weisenburger’s RBI double scoring Mitch Haniger. Weisenburger had a two-hit night.

 

Tennessee scored their lone run of the night off Stars’ reliever David Goforth in the bottom of the seventh. Rafael Lopez produced an RBI double scoring Stephen Bruno.

 

Arcenio Leon pitched the ninth and recorded a 1-2-3 inning, earning his second save of the season.

 

The first place Stars improve to 13-8 with the win and the Smokies are now 10-11.

 

The Stars continue their five game series Friday night against the Smokies. RHP Brooks Hall (1-1, 3.43) will start for the Stars while Tennessee will start RHP Matt Loosen (1-1-1, 5.27). The game can be heard starting at 6:00 PM with Steve Jarnicki on 92.9 FM, 1450 AM, and wtkiradio.com.

 

Huntsville Box Score

 

RHP Tyler Cravy has been strong since his 2012 Wisconsin return, and was rewarded with an Arizona Fall League stint in 2013. After a scoreless seven-pitch RHP Casey Medlen inning, fellow righty David Goforth went a second inning for just the 2nd time this April. An extremely busy Venezuelan Winter League season for 27-year-old former 40-man roster RHP Arcenio Leon has translated to a fantastic first eight appearances for Huntsville this spring.

 

Hey D'Vo,

! Home run, triple, walk, two runs scored for Richardson. Also on base three times were Jason Rogers (singled twice and walked, plus a stolen base), and Adam Weisenburger (double, single, walk).

 

Huntsville Game Log

 

Each half-inning tells us a little story, from Richardson's game-opening blast and beyond. If you're not in the habit of skimming the game log links, this is a nice little 3-1 win to get your feet wet. Go ahead, you know you want to!

[Mass Haas]

Gee, Michael Blazek has fooled no one this year - eight walks in five fairly miserable spring training innings, and twenty (!) hits (though only four walks) in 10.1 innings in April thus far.

[Mass Haas]

Brevard County --

 

AUDIO: Infielder Alfredo Rodriguez joins Andrew Luftglass on the Manatees Pregame Show to discuss his family ties to baseball and the Brewers

 

AUDIO: Game highlights / lowlights - The Manatees fall to the Cubs, 7-3

[Mass Haas]

Brooklyn Cyclones Think Their ‘Star Wars’ Jersey Is Minors’ Best, but the Rattlers get the last laugh (link)

[Mass Haas]

Manatees' Wagner making strides as a starter

Michael Parsons, FLORIDA TODAY

 

Tyler Wagner's transformation has gone about as well as anyone could have hoped.

 

The starting pitcher for the Brevard County Manatees was drafted in the fourth round of the 2012 Major League Draft as a closer for the University of Utah. And a good one. As a sophomore, he recorded 17 saves for the Utes, which was a team record.

 

But the Milwaukee Brewers saw him more as a starter. So the transformation began.

 

"I think that is something I had to learn — to pace myself throughout the five plus innings I am throwing rather than blowing it out in one inning," Wagner said before Thursday night's game against Daytona.

 

And early on the transition was a rough one. Wagner finished his first professional season with a 1-4 record and an ERA of 7.77.

 

"I have definitely learned how to pitch," Wagner said. "I had to learn a new pitch in order to get through the lineup three or four times. I think it was just a matter of learning how to pitch and learning to make adjustments throughout the game."

 

He has definitely learned to pitch, using a fastball that hits 94, with a slider and an improved changeup to baffle Florida State League hitters, who are hitting just .222 against him.

 

"I am throwing the changeup pretty well for strikes," Wagner said of his start. "That's a pitch I have seen develop over the past two years of pro ball."

 

And he has used that pitch to help record a 3-0 record with an ERA of 1.17 heading into tonight's start against the Daytona Cubs.

 

But the Las Vegas native says he still has a lot of work to do and is focused on lowering his walk rate, something he has done in each of his pro seasons. So far, he has walked eight in 23 innings.

 

But in his last start, he tossed six innings of shutout ball, allowing just four hits without issuing a walk.

 

"That is where I would like to be," Wagner said of his last outing. "Throwing the ball over the plate and pitching to contact."

 

And that is the goal when he takes the mound Friday night against the Daytona Cubs.

 

(Photo: Hawk-Eye photography)

 

http://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/942e06e341d35ac16dab065e922d4d5532631cda/c=213-0-3713-2631&r=x404&c=534x401/local/-/media/Brevard/2014/04/25/-tylerwagner2.jpg20140409.jpg

[Mass Haas]

Vogelbach tears up Manatees pitching

Michael Parsons, FLORIDA TODAY

 

Daytona Cubs first baseman Dan Vogelbach was hitting line drive after line drive during batting practice a couple of hours before Thursday night's game against Brevard County at Space Coast Stadium.

 

And then he went 4-for-4 in the Cubs' 7-3 victory in front of 1,271 fans on Bark at the Park night.

 

After hitting three singles, Vogelbach came up in the seventh inning and crushed a 2-1 pitch over the right field wall, hitting the roof of the building beyond the wall.

 

The night started off well for the Manatees, who scored once in the first and two more in the second.

 

"We had a good start to the ball game, jumping out and getting some runs," Manatees manager Joe Ayrault said. "It's just those middle innings, we have got to keep the gas pedal down. We need to keep that intensity in those middle innings that we had in the end of the ball game."

 

And that hurt the Manatees again on Thursday night as a 2-1 lead turned into a 7-3 deficit by the seventh inning.

 

The Cubs broke open a tight game in the third inning, taking advantage of an error to plate three runs before Manatees starter Hobbs Johnson settled back down.

 

Down 4-3, Johnson retired the next seven hitters before his pitch count forced a change.

 

"He mixed his pitches well, filled the zone and attacked the hitters," Ayrault said of his starter, who gave up four runs, but just one was earned, striking out four.

 

The Manatees threatened in the ninth, loading the bases, but Arodys Vizcaino shut the door, striking out Michael Reed and Victor Roache before Alfredo Rodriguez lined out to the shortstop to end the game.

 

"He has big-league stuff, Ayrault said. For our guys to jump out and load the bases, bringing the tying run to the plate, giving us a chance to win the ballgame, it was a great job."

 

The Manatees are 3-6 in the past nine games and have scored just 11 runs in that stretch. They will try to get on track tonight, hosting the Cubs again. Tyler Wagner takes the hill for the 6:35 p.m. start (5:35 Central).

[HiAndTight]

Coulter offensive start is definitely huge, but we'd all love a new assessment of his defense. If it's still shaky the bat is saying it's time to find a new spot.

 

 

I guess I don't understand why this is? He's 20 years old playing in LowA. His bat hasn't been good enough yet that his defense has been holding him back from getting promotions and catchers who can hit are such a valuable commodity I see no logic to moving him this early. Unless you're talking about moving him over to 3rd, a position he's never really played(in HS or any other point even prior to being drafted) then he's likely to end up at a corner OF spot or as a 1st basemen.

 

Why wouldn't we give him more time to develop? From what I've seen he's got a very strong arm, he's got great flexibility behind the plate and if he develops as most catchers do, he could ready just when Luc is nearing free agency.

 

He's a good athlete. If his bat does progress so much so that he's absolutely raking yet can't handle his defensive duties then how long does it take to transition someone like him to RF/LF or 1B?

[TheCrew07]

If he fails as a catcher why wouldn't you try his arm at 3B first? Why do we need more OFs?

 

I asked JJ Cooper during the hot sheet chat today about Coulter's defense but it didn't get answered.

[HiAndTight]

If he fails as a catcher why wouldn't you try his arm at 3B first? Why do we need more OFs?

 

I asked JJ Cooper during the hot sheet chat today about Coulter's defense but it didn't get answered.

 

Well I never said you wouldn't. That was literally the only position I said that it would make to move him to. I asked why you'd move Coulter from behind the plate at his age as his bat hasn't forced the issue enough(he's off to a good start, but it's 17 games).

 

I specifically said 3rd base would be the only position it'd make sense to move him to AND that it wouldn't make much sense to move him to the OF. But it's a lot to ask a guy to make the transition from catcher to 3rd base for a guy who's played exclusively at catcher his entire life when the logic behind it is that his bat is just too good to not advance.