Link Report for Thurs. 5/15 - Stars and Timber Rattlers Enjoy Their Evenings

[Mass Haas]

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[Mass Haas]

Thursday's Daily Menu:

 

All times are Central

 

Nashville: RHP Ariel Pena at home vs. 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 home vs. Birmingham (White Sox), 6:15 PM pre-game, 6:30 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).

 

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Brevard County: RHP Jorge Lopez at home vs. Fort Myers (Twins), 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 Peoria (Cardinals), 6:10 PM pre-game, 6:30 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 Timber Rattlers local TV game is Monday, May 19th on MyNew32 TV, 6:00 PM pre-game, home against Kane County (Cubs).

[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:

 

Nashville, TN

 

Huntsville, AL

 

Viera, FL (Melbourne)

 

Peoria, IL

[TheCrew07]

T-Rats still under rain delay, Chris is going to check back in at 19:50, I was thinking it seems like I haven't listened to the Rattlers in forever. Then I remembered the last time they weren't on TV was last Saturday... so it has been a while.

[Mass Haas]

Brevard press release -

 

"The scheduled game on Thursday, May 15 between the Brevard County Manatees and the Fort Myers Miracle at Space Coast Stadium has been cancelled due to rain.

 

Since the Manatees and the Miracle do not play each other again in the first half of the season, the game will not be made up."

[SoupTown]

That Huntsville catching duo is scary good. Wiesenburger has been said to be the best defensive catcher in the entire organisation. And suddenly he is a batting machine. Last year he did this early then cooled a lot. I wonder how long he will keep going. And the Z dude is more amazing.

 

I assume they will both be in AAA next year. They are a bit old (I think 25). But maybe one can be a good backup in Milwaukee in a couple of years. I almost think Maldanado is becoming too good to be a backup. Maybe he will be traded for his own good at some stage - making way for a new backup in two years.

[TheCrew07]

Sounds Open Homestand With 4-2 Loss

Nashville Sounds

 

http://www.milb.com/assets/images/6/0/2/75633602/cuts/VelezThrowbackHiFive_ikk97iwz_9qmx625h.jpg

(Mike Strasinger / Nashville Sounds)

 

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The Nashville Sounds were limited to a season-low two hits by three Oklahoma City hurlers in a 4-2 loss to the RedHawks on Thursday evening at Greer Stadium in the opener of a four-game series.

 

Oklahoma City starter Nick Tropeano (2-3) allowed only one hit over his six innings of work, a two-run Eugenio Velez homer, to pick up the win for the visitors.

 

Rhiner Cruz followed with two hitless frames before Kevin Chapman gave up a Caleb Gindl single in the ninth but successfully worked out of a first-and-third, two-out jam to pick up his second save of the year.

 

RedHawks designated hitter Erik Castro broke a scoreless deadlock between Tropeano and Sounds starter Ariel Pena with he slugged his first home run of the season, a two-out solo shot to right in the top of the fifth inning.

 

A pair of walks came back to haunt Pena in the sixth as Oklahoma City stretched its lead to 3-0. Domingo Santana and Jon Singleton drew consecutive free passes before both later scored on catcher Max Stassi's two-run double to the left-center wall. Sounds center fielder Kevin Mattison nearly corralled the ball for a spectacular inning-ending catch, but the ball was jarred loose from his glove as he jumped into the wall.

 

The RedHawks attempted to add a third run in the frame but Gindl cut down Stassi at the plate from left field as he attempted to score on Kike Hernandez's single.

 

Pena (2-3) took the loss for the Sounds after allowing three runs on five hits in his 5 2/3 frames. He walked four batters and struck out seven during his 105-pitch effort.

 

Tropeano kept the Sounds out of the hit column for the first five-plus innings before Velez spoiled his no-hit and shutout bids with one swing of the bat in the home half of the sixth.

 

After Mattison reached on a wild pitch following a strikeout, Velez swatted a two-run homer to right to make it a 3-2 contest. It was the veteran's fifth big fly of the year.

 

Santana added an insurance run for Oklahoma City in the top of the eighth when he belted a one-out solo homer to left off Brent Leach, which snapped the southpaw's stretch of 12 1/3 scoreless innings over 10 appearances.

 

The teams continue the series with another 7:05 p.m. meeting on Friday night. Right-hander Mike Fiers (6-1, 1.59) will man the bump for Nashville and face Oklahoma City right-hander David Martinez (4-2, 3.94).

 

Nashville Boxscore

Not much to be excited about in this one. Ariel Pena flashes brilliance like in his May 4th start, but has far too many of these high walk and pitch count outings, which ultimately set him back as a pitcher. Of his 7 outings so far this season; 3 were fantastic, 2 were high walk but decent earned run outings, and 2 were awful. If you combine all of that you get a below average 4.67 ERA with a stat line of 34.2 IP, 31 H, 20 R, 18 ER, 4 HR, 18 BB, and 39 SO.

 

Nashville Recap

 

Nashville Gameday

[TheCrew07]

Ratterree pops Peoria

Rattler right fielder homers, doubles, and drives in two

By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers

 

PEORIA, IL - The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers kept rolling with a 4-3 win over the Peoria Chiefs on Thursday night at Dozer Park. Michael Ratterree had a hand in three of Wisconsin's four runs. Tristan Archer, Zach Quintana, and Chris Razo made those four runs stand for Wisconsin's third straight win.

 

The game didn't start on time due to rain, but after a rain delay of 98 minutes, the Rattlers gout out to the early lead.

 

Ratterree started the Wisconsin second inning rally with a one out double. Omar Garcia was hit by a pitch to put another runner on base. Paul Eshleman's grounder up the middle hit second base and bounded into center. Ratterree scored and Garcia wound up on third base. Steve Halcomb's grounder to third was bobbled and instead of a potential inning ending double play, the throw was to first to get Halcomb as Garcia scored the second run of the inning.

 

Wisconsin (19-20) loaded the bases in the top of the third inning. Ratterree knocked Chris McFarland home from third base with a sacrifice fly to center to give the Rattlers a 3-0 advantage.

 

Ratterree had a hand in the fourth Wisconsin run of the night, when he lined a solo homer with one out in the sixth inning to left field. Ratterree's sixth home run of the season gave the Rattlers a 4-0 lead.

 

Peoria (23-16) cut that lead in half with one swing of the bat in the bottom of the sixth. Mason Katz hit a 3-1 pitch from Archer over the wall for a two-out, two-run homer.

 

Archer got the final out of the sixth inning to conclude his night. The right-hander allowed two runs on five hits with three walks and three strikeouts. He turned the 4-2 lead over to the bullpen.

 

Quintana worked a scoreless seventh, but allowed a two-out bloop single to Jake Stone that let a run score and slice the Rattlers lead to a single run.

 

Razo took over in the bottom of the ninth and retired the first two batters. An error kept the Chiefs alive and brought Ronald Castillo to the plate. Castillo, who had three hits in his first four at bats of the game, sent an easy grounder to first on the first pitch he saw from Razo and the game ended as Eshleman fielded the ball and stepped on first for the final out.

 

The Timber Rattlers ended Peoria five-game winning streak with the win and also ended a streak of their own with the victory. In their five previous road series of 2014, Wisconsin had dropped the first game in each of those series. That streak stopped with the win over the Midwest League affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals on Thursday night.

 

Game two of the series starts Friday morning at 11:00am. Anthony Banda (1-4, 4.35) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. Peoria has Bob Kaminsky (0-1, 2.16) set to start for them. Tune in for the action on AM1280, WNAM or IHeartRadio starting with the Miller Lite Pregame Show at 10:40am.

 

HOME RUNS:

WIS:

Michael Ratterree (6th, 0 on in 6th inning off Blake McKnight, 1 out)

 

PEO:

Mason Katz (5th, 1 on in 6th inning off Tristan Archer, 2 out)

 

WP: Tristan Archer (2-1)

LP: Blake McKnight (1-3)

SAVE: Chris Razo (2)

 

TIME: 2:23

ATTN: 1,561 (1:38 delay)

 

Wisconsin Boxscore

Beat the Cards!

 

Tristan Archer was effective though not dominating through his 6 innings allowing 2 ER on 5 H, 3 BB, and 1 HR against 3 SO while throwing 53 of 92 pitches for strikes. Zach Quintana actually lowered his ERA allowing the 1 run in 2 IP and Chris Razo bounced back from a tough outing on May 8th to record what should have been a 1-2-3 9th inning for the save but an Angel Ortega error led to him facing an extra batter.

 

Clint Coulter caught for the 22nd time but had a tough night all the way around with an error and passed ball pushing his season totals to 5 and 4 respectively.

 

Michael Ratterree (2-3,2B,HR) is starting to heat up as he has a modest 4 game hitting streak but 3 of those 4 games were multi-hit efforts.

 

Rob Kaminsky was a pitcher I had some interest in but turned out to be the Cardinals first round selection last June. This will be his 3rd start after joining the team from extended spring training. Here's his post 2013 scouting report from BA:

A strong frame, big hands and a huge curveball belie Kaminsky's frame and made him the 28th overall pick in 2013. He turned down a commitment to North Carolina to sign for $1.785 million. He ended his senior season at St. Joseph Regional High with a 0.10 ERA, 126 strikeouts and the chip on his shoulder that comes with being called undersized his entire career. Kaminsky has a lively fastball that touches 94 mph and ranges from 88-92. He has the makings of an above-average changeup, but it's his sharp curve that ranked No. 1 among high schoolers entering the draft and also tops in the Cardinals system. It misses bats. He can get curveball-happy because of its deceptive, downward break, and he'll have to gain confidence in his fastball, said two evaluators. He throws from a consistent high-three-quarters slot that gives him better success against righties. Kaminsky pitched just 22 innings in his pro debut to save his arm. He'll come into 2014 with an innings limit, but the Cardinals will give him a chance to win a spot in the low Class A Peoria rotation.

I watched the 5/14 game while I waited on the rain delay and Barrett Astin located similarly to last the time I saw him pitch but the big difference was with 2 strikes he went to his off-speed and sat hitters down. He's not overpowering hitters but when he mixes in his slider (I'm guessing slider from the camera angle and swings) like he did on Wednesday night he can be very effective.

 

Wisconsin Recap

 

Wisconsin Gameday

[Mass Haas]

Final: @Huntsville 8, Birmingham 1

 

Stars Run Away From Barons Early

 

Huntsville, AL - Huntsville Stars RHP Tyler Cravy gave the Stars exactly what they needed after giving up a season high in runs Wednesday and that was a dominating start. Cravy won his sixth straight start guiding the Stars past the Birmingham Barons 8-1 Thursday night at Joe Davis Stadium.

 

Cravy got early run support from his offense. In the first inning, the Stars took advantage of control issues by Barons righty Nick McCully (2-3) and posted five runs. After two walks to start the inning and after Nick Shaw was caught stealing, Nick Ramirez hit a two-run homer over the right field wall giving the Stars a 2-0 lead. It was the eighth home run for Ramirez.

 

Shawn Zarraga and Adam Weisenburger both reached on RBI singles giving the Stars a 4-0 lead. The final run was scored when Mitch Haniger scampered home from third base on a wild pitch.

 

Cravy, who won his Southern League best seventh game of the season, made his only mistake in the second inning. Kevan Smith hit a solo home run to right field cutting the deficit to 5-1.

 

Cravy went six innings allowing four hits and struck out three.

 

The Stars offense scored twice in the third on a Josh Prince bunt single and on Shaw's sacrifice fly.

 

The Stars scored their final run in the seventh on Jaime Pedroza's fielding error at short allowing Haniger to score his third run of the game.

 

The Stars bullpen threw three scoreless innings following Cravy's second straight quality start.

 

Prince and Jason Rogers each finished with two hits for the Stars who improve to 27-14. Birmingham drops to 16-24.

 

The Stars lead the Barons 1-0 in the series and play game two of their series Friday night. The Stars will have RHP Drew Gagnon (3-1, 2.76) on the mound. Birmingham will feature RHP Chris Beck (2-5, 4.26). The game can be heard with Steve Jarnicki starting at 6:15 pm CDT on 92.9 FM, 1450 AM, and wtkiradio.com.

 

Huntsville Box Score

 

Gord Ash indicated RHP Tyler Cravy was strongly considered for a 40-man roster spot last fall. Click on Cravy's name there and glance at those peripherals, oh my. Thankfully after surviving Rule 5 in December, Cravy now looks to be a sure thing for 40-man addition in fall 2014. A glance at the box score ERA's of the three pitchers who followed Cravy lets you know the Stars' bullpen is rolling as well.

 

Huntsville Game Log

 

Catcher Adam Weisenburger reached base four times and his line is now .325/.475/.455 -- insane. Prepare that jersey with all those letters at the big league level, because the young man will be on that roster, perhaps as early as this September. OF's D'Vontrey Richardson and Mitch Haniger still have work to do, but each did reach base three times here, as Haniger scored thrice.

 

Huntsville Bottom of the 1st

 

Nick Shaw walks.

With D' Vontrey Richardson batting, Nick Shaw caught stealing 2nd base, catcher Kevan Smith to second baseman Daniel Wagner.

D' Vontrey Richardson walks.

Nick Ramirez homers (8) on a line drive to right field. D' Vontrey Richardson scores.

Jason Rogers doubles (11) on a line drive to left fielder Trayce Thompson.

With Shawn Zarraga batting, wild pitch by Nick McCully, Jason Rogers to 3rd.

Shawn Zarraga singles on a ground ball to center fielder Josh Richmond. Jason Rogers scores.

Mitch Haniger walks. Shawn Zarraga advances to 3rd, on a throwing error by catcher Kevan Smith.

Adam Weisenburger singles on a line drive to center fielder Josh Richmond. Shawn Zarraga scores. Mitch Haniger to 2nd.

Josh Prince singles on a ground ball to right fielder Christian Marrero. Mitch Haniger to 3rd. Adam Weisenburger to 2nd.

Pitching Change: David Cales replaces Nick McCully.

With Greg Hopkins batting, wild pitch by David Cales, Mitch Haniger scores. Adam Weisenburger to 3rd. Josh Prince to 2nd.

Greg Hopkins pops out to first baseman Rangel Ravelo in foul territory.

Nick Shaw walks.

D' Vontrey Richardson flies out to right fielder Christian Marrero.

[Mass Haas]

A pair of walks came back to haunt Pena in the sixth as Oklahoma City stretched its lead to 3-0. Domingo Santana and Jon Singleton drew consecutive free passes before both later scored on catcher Max Stassi's two-run double to the left-center wall. Sounds center fielder Kevin Mattison nearly corralled the ball for a spectacular inning-ending catch, but the ball was jarred loose from his glove as he jumped into the wall.

 

In this brief Nashville TV game report, you'll se that Mattison was upset with himself for not making the catch, some Ariel Pena video, also.

[Mass Haas]

Nick Tropeano kept the Sounds out of the hit column for the first five-plus innings before Eugenio Velez spoiled his no-hit and shutout bids with one swing of the bat in the home half of the sixth. After Kevin Mattison reached on a wild pitch following a strikeout, Velez swatted a two-run homer to right to make it a 3-2 contest. It was the veteran's fifth big fly of the year.

 

AUDIO: Eugenio Velez Two-Run HR

[Mass Haas]

Wisconsin Manager Matt Erickson comments on Omar Garcia's Wednesday catch, definitely worth another look.

[Mass Haas]

Game two of the series starts Friday morning at 11:00 AM. Anthony Banda (1-4, 4.35) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. Peoria has Bob Kaminsky (0-1, 2.16) set to start for them. Tune in for the action on AM1280, WNAM or IHeartRadio starting with the Miller Lite Pregame Show at 10:40 AM.

 

Really, a Friday matinee? Who plays those (besides the big league Cubs)? Looks like we'll have to hustle a mid-morning Friday Link Report preview for you.

[JohnBriggs12]

Any one notice that Halton has drawn 9 walks in his last 6 games raising his OBP to .383? I don't believe he's ever exhibited that type of patience in the past. Still hope for Sean?