Link Report for Thurs. 5/1 - Mills Adds to AAA Rotation Depth; Stars and Rattlers Each Split

[Mass Haas]

STARS SPLIT DOUBLEHEADER WITH MONTGOMERY

 

Montgomery, AL - The Huntsville Stars split their doubleheader Thursday evening with the Montgomery Biscuits, the Double-A Affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays. The Stars won game one, 5-2 with the Biscuits claiming game two, 7-3 at Riverwalk Stadium. The Stars and Biscuits are both 17-11 now after their doubleheader split.

 

In game one, Montgomery jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the first inning on a two-out solo home run by Cameron Seitzer off Stars starter Drew Gagnon.

 

The Stars took the lead in the top of the second. The Stars recorded five singles against Dylan Floro (2-2). Kentrail Davis singled into left field bringing home Shawn Zarraga to tie the game at 1-1. Greg Hopkins grounded into a double play scoring Jason Rogers giving the Stars a 2-1 lead. The Stars made it 3-1 when Josh Prince reached on a fielding error by third baseman Richie Shaeffer.

 

Gagnon allowed his second homer of the night in the second inning when Alejandro Segovia took him deep over the left field wall. It was Segovia’s second homer of the year and it brought the Biscuits within a run at 3-2.

 

The Stars extended their lead in the seventh on a Hopkins RBI double scoring Davis. Hopkins also scored in the inning on a balk by Braulio Lara.

 

Gagnon took a no decision after allowing two runs on four walks in four innings.

 

David Goforth (1-1) earned the win out of the Stars bullpen. He pitched two innings and left the tying and go ahead base runners on base in the sixth.

 

Arecenio Leon nailed down his third save of the year in the seventh when he got a 1-2-3 inning.

 

In game two, the Stars jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the first inning against Montgomery starter Jared Mortensen. Nick Ramirez tripled down the right field line scoring Nick Shaw. Zarraga then brought Ramirez home on an RBI single.

 

The Biscuits tied it in the second inning against Huntsville starter Jacob Barnes. Jeff Malm singled into left-center scoring Segovia and Jake Hager to tie the game at 2-2.

 

The Stars retook the lead in the fifth. Ramirez tripled for the second time in the game. Zarraga scored Ramirez on a sacrifice fly giving the Stars a 3-2 lead.

 

In the bottom of the fifth, the Biscuits took the lead for good against Stars reliever Eric Marzec (0-2). With one out, Luke Bailey doubled and Riccio Torrez singled putting runners on the corners. Ryan Brett then hit a towering three-run homer over the wall in left giving Montgomery a 5-3 lead.

 

Marzec suffered the loss for the Stars. The Biscuits added two more runs in the seventh against Tommy Toledo.

 

Ramirez finished game two 2-4 with an RBI. Zarraga went 1-2 with 2 RBI.

 

The Stars and Biscuits play game four of their series Friday night. RHP Taylor Jungmann (1-3, 4.23) will start for Huntsville while RHP Michael Colla (1-3, 5.55) goes for the Biscuits. The game can be heard starting at 6:50 PM CT with Steve Jarnicki on 92.9 FM, 1450 AM, and wtkiradio.com.

[Mass Haas]

Final, Game One: Huntsville 5, @Montgomery 2

 

Huntsville Game One Box Score

 

RHP Drew Gagnon walked four and hit a batter in four innings, partially explaining the relatively short (four-inning) start. Looks as though RHP David Goforth, the former starter, then closer, is now more of a setup man working multiple innings, with RHP Arcenio Leon apparently the one-inning closer for now.

 

You'll notice in the box score that every Star reached base at least once except for LF Josh Prince, batting in the nine-hole in this seven-inning affair.

 

Huntsville Game One Game Log

 

Nice job bailing out Drew Gagnon here by Jason Rogers and the boys --

 

Montgomery Bottom of the 2nd

 

Alejandro Segovia homers (1) on a fly ball to left field.

Willie Argo strikes out swinging.

Luke Maile hit by pitch.

Jake Hager walks. Luke Maile to 2nd.

Joey Rickard walks. Luke Maile to 3rd. Jake Hager to 2nd.

Ryan Brett grounds into a double play, third baseman Jason Rogers to catcher Shawn Zarraga to first baseman Nick Ramirez. Luke Maile out at home.

[Mass Haas]

Final, Game Two: @Montgomery 7, Huntsville 3

 

Huntsville Game Two Box Score

 

Crazy - just one night earlier, Nick Ramirez needed a triple to complete the cycle. He would pop out in his final at-bat. So what would Ramirez, the owner of only three career triples (all with Brevard County in 2013), do here? Triple twice, of course!

 

Nice to see Shawn Zarraga play both ends of the twinbill (catcher, designated hitter) -- 2-for-6, sacrifice fly.

 

D'Vontrey Richardson is just 2-for-21 (one walk) over his last five games. Just prior, he had been 5-for-12 with a walk in his first three games coming off the DL.

 

Huntsville Game Two Game Log

 

Rough outings for bullpen mates Eric Marzec and Tommy Toldeo...

[Mass Haas]

Always one of the better interview listens --

 

AUDIO via Jeff Hem's blog:

 

"Today’s interview is with Brewers assistant GM Gord Ash, who is in town for a few days to watch the Sounds in person. Among the topics, Ash discusses the Brewers’ 20-8 start (best record in MLB); the Sounds’ 14-12 start that includes currently sharing first place with Round Rock; Mike Fiers’ start to the season (5-0, 0.80 ERA, most strikeouts in MiLB); and Johnny Hellweg’s “Tommy John” elbow surgery."

[Mass Haas]

Earlier we linked to Kyle Lobner's pre-game work from Appleton, here's his follow-up post via BrewCrewBall.

[Mass Haas]

Link includes post-game interview VIDEO with Manager Matt Erickson, audio had been placed in Chris Mehring's post-game post, which had been linked earlier in this thread.

 

Reaching a milestone: Erickson gets win No. 216

by Tim Froberg, Post-Crescent Media

 

GRAND CHUTE — Taylor Brennan had played close to 31 innings of baseball in just under 25 hours, so his bat could have felt like an oak tree when he swung it for the final time Thursday.

 

Instead, Brennan handled it like a magician’s wand to end a marathon and start a celebration.

 

The Wisconsin third baseman delivered a game-winning, walk-off single for the second straight day to culminate a 3-2 Timber Rattlers comeback victory over Burlington in the second game of a doubleheader and give manager Matt Erickson a landmark win.

 

By gaining a split with the Bees and picking up his 216th win with the Timber Rattlers, Erickson passed Gary Thurman and became the winningest manager in franchise history before a Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium crowd of 1,556.

 

A lot of people wanted to pat Erickson on the back after the game, but the Appleton native downplayed his achievement.

 

“I had to lose a lot of games to win 216,” said Erickson with a laugh. “I just feel fortunate to be in the situation I’m in. To get to do this in my hometown and for the Brewers, a team I grew up watching and got to play for, it’s just a neat experience. Very humbling.”

 

Erickson, a man held in high regard by the Milwaukee organization, is in his fourth year managing the Timber Rattlers. He started out as the team’s batting coach and led the Timber Rattlers to a Midwest League title in 2012.

 

“I’m happy for Matt,” said Wisconsin second baseman Chris McFarland. “He’s a great coach, one of my favorites. It was a great win.”

 

The 22-year-old Brennan had a major role in putting Erickson’s name in the Wisconsin record books. With runners on first and third and one out in the bottom of the seventh of the second game, the right-handed hitting Brennan went opposite field and smoked an Eswarlin Jimenez pitch to deep right to knock in Michael Ratterree with the game-winning run.

 

“I didn’t want to go for a low pitch and hit a ground ball,” said Brennan. “I was looking for a pitch that was elevated, so I could get it to the outfield. I got one and put a good swing on it. It’s a great feeling. The team put me in a great situation and I got the job done.”

 

Brennan has been swinging a hot bat. He had a game-winning walk-off single in the opener of Wednesday’s doubleheader against the Bees and went six-for-15 in the back-to-back twinbills, with four extra-base hits.

 

“I feel good right now, I don’t feel tired,” said Brennan, who played every inning of the consecutive doubleheaders. “In junior college, we had back-to-back doubleheaders every weekend, so I’m kind of used to it.”

 

Brennan, a 37th-round draft pick by the Brewers in the 2012 first-year player draft, is hitting .250 and has shown pop, with four home runs and 12 RBI.

 

“We need him to play well to be successful,” said Erickson. “He’s been playing with confidence, not only with his bat, but it seems to have carried over to his defense. He made some great plays at third base yesterday. He’s helped us out in the middle of the order, too, and we’re going to need his bat if we’re going to be a contending club.”

 

Catcher Clint Coulter started Wisconsin’s comeback with a long solo home run in the bottom of the sixth. A Brennan triple followed by a McFarland sacrifice fly tied the game at 2-2.

 

It was the fifth home run of the season for the much-improved Coulter, a No. 1 pick by Milwaukee in 2012. He is hitting .313 and leads the team in homers and RBI (18).

 

Reliever Harvey Martin pitched two scoreless innings with three strikeouts in relief of starter Preston Gainey to get the win. Gainey was effective in his five innings, scattering five hits and allowing two earned runs.

 

In the opener, the Timber Rattlers collected 10 hits, but committed three errors and struggled on the mound in a 6-4 loss.

 

Center fielder Johnny Davis had a pair of RBI singles for the Timber Rattlers and continued his stellar play in the outfield with a fine running catch.

 

Catcher Rafael Neda and McFarland slammed RBI doubles and had two hits apiece.

 

Wisconsin starter Zach Quintana allowed four runs (three earned) on five hits in his four innings of work and the Timber Rattlers played catch-up ball the entire game.

 

Post-Crescent Photo Gallery

[Mass Haas]

If you listened to the Matt Erickson audio in Chris' post, then you know that Wisconsin 1B David Denson was sick, and that's why he exited Game One.

 

No injury, good to hear, get well, David.