Link Report for Sunday 4/12 - Kodi is More Than Okey-Dokey

[Mass Haas]

Final: Nashville 16, Colorado Springs 11

 

So much for the friendly "revenge" against the Sounds thus far...

 

Sounds Top Sky Sox 16-11 In Slugfest

Teams Combine for 10 Home Runs in Series Finale

By Ed Pearsall / Colorado Springs Sky Sox

 

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Shane Peterson hits his first home run of 2015. (Photo by Paat Kelly)

 

COLORADO SPRINGS, CO - 3,865 fans at Security Service Field were treated to a home run barrage at Security Service Field on a balmy Sunday afternoon in the Sky Sox 16-11 loss to the Nashville Sounds.

 

Nashville got off to a fast start for the second straight game with the help of speedster Billy Burns. The leadoff man drilled starting pitcher Drew Gagnon's first pitch to the right center field gap and motored into third with a triple to start the action. Perhaps a bit shaken by the rude welcome to his first Triple-A appearance, Gagnon grazed two-hole hitter Andy Parrino with his very next pitch putting runners on the corners with no outs. A deep fly ball to left field off the bat of first baseman Max Muncy led to the game's first run as the sacrifice fly easily scored Burns. Gagnon escaped further trouble inducing a line out to right field by cleanup hitter Jason Pridie and high fly ball to Luis Sardinas in shallow left by catcher Bryan Anderson.

 

The Sounds would strike again in the third with their first, but certainly not last, home run of the game courtesy of a two-run shot to right center by Anderson.

 

The Sky Sox answered quickly, getting on the board in their half of the third thanks to a few hot-hitting infielders. With one out, Sardinas singled to extend his hitting streak to four straight games. After a fielder's choice ground out by Pete Orr gave the Sox two outs, designated Elian Herrera continued his offensive tear, taking Leon's 1-2 offering deep over the right center field fence. The two-run shot represented Herrera's fourth extra base hit and fifth hit overall in the young 2015 season.

 

After giving a run back in the top half of the fourth to make the score 4-3, outfielder Bryan Petersen swatted his first round-tripper of the season on a two out, two-run, 456 foot blast off of Sounds starter Arnold Leon. The homer knotted the game at four and gave new life to the ballgame.

 

Leon gave up a 5th inning leadoff single to Orr who then stole second base and advanced to third on a throwing error by Anderson. Followed by a Herrera strikeout, Pat Venditte (1-0, 0.00) came on in relief of Leon to face opening night home run hero Matt Clark. Clark lifted a soft liner into right field scoring Orr from third, giving the Sox their first and, ultimately, only lead of the ballgame. Struggling with his command early, Venditte walked Jason Rogers then followed with a wild pitch to Shane Peterson, allowing the runners to advance to second and third respectively with just one out. The switch-pitching Venditte worked out of the fifth inning jam getting Peterson on an infield fly to short and a swinging strike out of Ben Guez on a 73 mph curveball. The failure to capitalize on this scoring opportunity further would come back to haunt the team as the Colorado Springs bullpen would give the lead right back.

 

Left-hander Jed Bradley (0-1, 27.00) came on in relief of Gagnon after the starter put in five innings of work, allowing four earned runs on four hits while striking out three in his Triple-A debut. The newly earned lead would not last long for the Sky Sox as Bradley struggled mightily in his 0.2 of an inning. The Nashville offense strung together four consecutive hits with the last of those hits being a bases-clearing double by left fielder Anthony Aliotti. The double gave Aliotti three of his five RBIs on the ballgame as he collected at least one in three consecutive at bats. Bradley would be chased with two outs in the inning with right-hander Rob Wooten taking over on the mound in hopes of limiting the damage. Unfortunately the runs kept coming as Joey Wendle (the inning's leadoff hitter) would hit the first of back-to-back home runs off of Wooten before getting Aliotti on a shallow fly ball to cap the inning's scoring at nine.

 

The 13-5 score after six innings would not hold up as both teams' bullpen's would allow nine more combined runs on the strength of five additional home runs, giving the game a grand total of ten.

 

Home runs by Rogers in the seventh and Herrera and Peterson in the ninth gave Colorado Springs five on the day. With his second home run of the game, Herrera picked up his fifth extra base hit and seventh hit overall of the young season.

 

The lone bright spot in the Sky Sox bullpen was none other than offseason trade prize Corey Knebel. The right-hander pitched a scoreless top of the ninth, setting the side down in order with two strikeouts.

 

After falling to 1-3 on the season, the Sox will look to rebound Monday night against the visiting Round Rock Express (1-3) with right-hander Tyler Cravy (NR) making his first start of 2015 against righty Ross Wolf (0-0, 9.00). First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 PM (7:35 Central) at Security Service Field.

 

Colorado Springs Box Score

 

We now officially know that any statistical analysis of this team taken only on raw numbers is useless. But enjoy the crooked offensive numbers and for the most part, shudder at the mound figures.

 

Colorado Springs Game Log

 

Ugh...

 

Nashville Top of the 6th

 

Pitching Change: Jed Bradley replaces Drew Gagnon.

Joey Wendle singles on a line drive to right fielder Shane Peterson.

Kent Matthes singles on a ground ball to left fielder Bryan Petersen. Joey Wendle to 2nd.

Alden Carrithers singles on a soft fly ball to left fielder Bryan Petersen. Joey Wendle to 3rd. Kent Matthes to 2nd.

Anthony Aliotti doubles (3) on a line drive to left fielder Bryan Petersen. Joey Wendle scores. Kent Matthes scores. Alden Carrithers scores.

Billy Burns flies out to center fielder Ben Guez.

Andy Parrino doubles (1) on a line drive to left fielder Bryan Petersen. Anthony Aliotti scores.

Max Muncy strikes out swinging.

With Jason Pridie batting, wild pitch by Jed Bradley, Andy Parrino to 3rd.

Jason Pridie singles on a fly ball to center fielder Ben Guez. Andy Parrino scores.

Pitching Change: Rob Wooten replaces Jed Bradley.

Bryan Anderson singles on a line drive to right fielder Shane Peterson. Jason Pridie to 3rd.

Joey Wendle homers (1) on a fly ball to right center field. Jason Pridie scores. Bryan Anderson scores.

Kent Matthes homers (1) on a fly ball to left center field.

Alden Carrithers singles on a soft fly ball to left fielder Bryan Petersen.

Anthony Aliotti pops out to shortstop Luis Sardinas.

[Mass Haas]

Photo Gallery - Colorado Springs Gazette

 

***

 

Just posted this Gazette Matt Clark feature within our Sky Sox thread

[Mass Haas]

Final: Pensacola 4, Biloxi 0, six innings, rain

 

Shuckers Suffer First Loss, 4-0 on Sunday in six innings

Orlando Arcia was 1-for-3 and has hit in all four games

Biloxi Shuckers

 

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Mike Strong worked three scoreless innings of relief before rain shortened Sunday's game in Pensacola (Photo by Cristina Coca)

 

PENSACOLA, FLA. - For the second time in three days, rain shortened a game at Pensacola Bayfront Stadium. The perfect run to start the season ended Sunday as the Shuckers were shutout by the Pensacola Blue Wahoos, 4-0, in the six inning affair. Biloxi out-hit the Blue Wahoos 4-2, but could not muster up enough offense to break the scoreboard where it counts most, using only the first and sixth innings to put multiple runners on base.

 

Biloxi (3-1) stranded six base runners and went 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position. Sunday's game was officially called after a 49-minute delay at the conclusion of the bottom of the sixth inning.

 

Orlando Arcia (1x3, SO) continued his season-long hitting streak with a one-out single in the first, but was thrown out trying to stretch the play into a double. The young shortstop is off to an impressive 8-for-15 (.533) start in the 2015 campaign.

 

Starting pitcher Jorge Lopez (0-1) struggled with command, walking six while striking out three in just three innings of work. The righty needed 63 pitches - 28 for strikes - to make it through the outing.

 

Mike Strong, making his second appearance of the series relieved Lopez and tossed three scoreless frames, walking one and striking out two in the process. The 26-year-old from Afton, Minnesota, and member of Milwaukee's Major League 40-man roster hasn't surrendered a run in five innings of relief this season.

 

Pensacola (1-3) got on the board early when Kyle Waldrop hit a three-run homer off of Lopez in the first to put the Shuckers in a 3-0 deficit. Waldrop was Cincinnati's Minor League Player of the Year in 2014, blasting 14 a season ago with Class-A Bakersfield and Pensacola.

 

The Blue Wahoos added their final run in the third inning when a wild pitch by Lopez allowed Zach Vincej to score from third.

 

The two teams will wrap up the five-game series Monday night at Pensacola Bayfront Stadium, where RHP Jacob Barnes will take the mound for the Shuckers against RHP Marcus Walden. The two clubs will play a total of 20 games in 2015, with 15 coming at Pensacola Bayfront Stadium. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 PM, with coverage beginning at 6:15 on 1240-AM WGCM and the Biloxi Shuckers Radio Network. Fans can also listen to the game using the TuneIn Radio app or by going to www.biloxishuckers.com. The game can also be seen, live, on MiLB.TV.

 

Shuckers players, coaches and staff will hold a public meet-and-greet at Coast Restaurant at Beau Rivage in Biloxi from 7-9 PM on Tuesday. The event will feature player introductions, an autograph session, photo opportunities, giveaways and even a special "Shuckers Menu" for ordering. Coast will be showing Major League Baseball games on all their televisions and provide a festive atmosphere. Admission is free to the public. Fans are asked to limit autographed items to one per person and a Shuckers inaugural team photo will be provided.

 

Biloxi Box Score

 

At some point, we need to see better peripherals from Jorge Lopez; is the Biloxi batting order quite what we thought it might be -- not in terms of players but placement...

 

Biloxi Game Log

[Austin Tatious]

Great news about Kodi Medieros - wow! 18 years old at class A. Very interested to see how he flashes from here on out. I think the staff did a great job handling him yesterday.

 

I'm very optimistic on Monte Harrison. Watch out if he puts it together. Lorenzo Cain plus.

 

Glad to see Dustin DeMuth show some life with 3 hits. He should be a fairly advanced bat by now.

 

Jed Bradley. Yikes. 4 earned runs. Make or break year. I hadn't given up on him yet but c'mon now. Don't want to squander our number one picks while the Cardinals draft Shelby Miller, Michael Wacha, and Lance Lynn. Hitting on those first round pitchers can make all the difference.

[JohnBriggs12]

Colorado Springs is giving me flashbacks to High Desert. Any pitcher who survives there should be pretty good.

 

It's going to be tough evaluating the two guys worth following there, Rogers and Sardinas, both of whom are off to hot starts with the bat and who figure to put up good numbers. Rogers has a chance for inside track on 3B job in Milwaukee next year, but will monster numbers in that place equate? Hopefully, he'll be up by August and get a real look at the big league level.

[dacbrewers]

Great news about Kodi Medieros - wow! 18 years old at class A. Very interested to see how he flashes from here on out. I think the staff did a great job handling him yesterday.

 

I'm very optimistic on Monte Harrison. Watch out if he puts it together. Lorenzo Cain plus.

 

Glad to see Dustin DeMuth show some life with 3 hits. He should be a fairly advanced bat by now.

 

Jed Bradley. Yikes. 4 earned runs. Make or break year. I hadn't given up on him yet but c'mon now. Don't want to squander our number one picks while the Cardinals draft Shelby Miller, Michael Wacha, and Lance Lynn. Hitting on those first round pitchers can make all the difference.

 

I feel a bit for Jed Bradley going from starter to a reliever...then being put at AAA. There is an adjustment period and it takes time...That being said...Colorado Springs isn't the place to be learning your new role. I think Brent Suter would of been a better candidate having had a little more success at AA, but he's in the same situation having gone from starter to reliever.

[TheCrew07]

I don't know why this just popped in my head but in case I didn't mention it earlier, which I'm pretty sure I didn't, Gatewood grew an inch since the draft.