Link Report for Games of Monday, August 7th

[Mass Haas]

Nashville Site Game Summary:

Link for Dana Eveland photo, text follows --

 

www.nashvillesounds.com/n...ewsId=2098

 

Sounds Lose Heartbreaker In Bottom Of 9th

 

WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. ? The Nashville Sounds suffered a heart-breaking 5-4 loss to the Sacramento River Cats on Monday evening at Raley Field, allowing five runs with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning.

 

Sacramento right fielder Hiram Bocachica belted the first pitch he saw from Sounds closer Alec Zumwalt over the left field wall for a game-ending three-run homer, his 16th of the year.

 

The River Cats had been down to their final out against Sounds reliever Allan Simpson before Mike Rouse broke up Nashville?s shutout bid with a two-out, two-run homer to right-center. Nate Espy, who had walked, scored on the blast, Rouse?s sixth of the year.

 

The rally continued as Sacramento put the potential tying run on base against Simpson as Doug Clark singled and Keith Ginter was hit by a pitch before Sounds manager Frank Kremblas lifted the right-hander in favor of Zumwalt, who threw only one pitch.

 

The loss, which snapped the Sounds' four-game winning streak, marked the first time in 23 tries this season that Nashville (63-54) failed to protect a ninth-inning lead on the road. The Sounds? lead in the PCL American Conference Northern Division fell to 2 ½ games over Iowa, which has won three in a row.

 

For the second straight outing, Nashville starter Dana Eveland had a victory taken away due to a blown save. The left-hander was in a groove all night, allowing only two hits, one of which was an infield single, and striking out seven batters over seven scoreless innings. The outing was his sixth quality start of the campaign.

 

The Sounds were one out away from their league-leading 11th shutout of the year before the late Sacramento rally.

 

The recently red-hot Nashville offense banged out a double-digit hit total (11) for the fourth straight contest but finished the evening only 3-for-13 with runners in scoring position, leaving 11 men on base including eight of those on second or third.

 

Four Sounds finished with two hits on the night. Laynce Nix went 2-for-4, his seventh multiple-hit effort in nine games for Nashville. The outfielder has now produced at least one hit in 17 of his last 18 contests.

 

Sacramento sent a pair of rehabbing Oakland A?s hurlers to the hill to begin the contest and both performed flawlessly. Left-hander Joe Kennedy worked two innings and allowed only one baserunner on a Graham Koonce walk. Former Sound Scott Sauerbeck followed with two scoreless frames of his own, fanning a pair of batters but didn?t put up the second of his two zeroes without a bit of drama.

 

Nashville loaded the bases with none out in the fourth against the veteran southpaw on singles by Chris Barnwell and Nix followed by Koonce?s second walk of the evening. After Brent Abernathy lined out to second, Sauerbeck induced a comebacker 1-2-3 double play grounder from Vinny Rottino to escape the jam unscathed and keep the contest scoreless.

 

Barnwell?s fourth-inning single extended the shortstop?s hitting streak to six games.

 

Left-hander Adam Pettyjohn, the projected River Cats starter, took over in the fifth and the Sounds broke the scoreless deadlock against the southpaw an inning later.

 

Zach Sorensen led off the Nashville sixth with a single, moved to second on a Barnwell sacrifice, and scored the game?s first run when Nix followed with an RBI single to right. With two outs in the frame, Abernathy plated Nix with a single to left and Andrew Beattie wrapped up the inning?s scoring two batters later with an RBI single to left to bring in Abernathy for a 3-0 Sounds lead.

 

AUDIO: Laynce Nix RBI Single --

 

www.nashvillesounds.com/a...%208-7.mp3

 

The Sounds tacked on a run in the seventh against Pettyjohn on Koonce?s bases-loaded sacrifice fly to left that brought home Dave Krynzel for a 4-0 advantage.

 

Nashville left the bases loaded for the second time in the contest in the eighth. With one out, Beattie singled before Pettyjohn offered only two strikes in a 10-pitch stretch to Chad Moeller and Krynzel to fill the bags. River Cats skipper Tony DeFrancesco summoned reliever Shawn Kohn from the bullpen and the right-hander responded by striking out Sorensen and inducing an inning-ending grounder from Barnwell to escape the jam.

 

Rottino went 1-for-3 for Nashville to extend the team?s longest active hitting streak to seven games, one short of his best effort this year. Jermaine Clark made a pinch-running appearance in the ninth and swiped his team-leading 27th stolen base of the year, three shy of the PCL lead.

 

Steve Bray returned from a week-long stint on the disabled list to work the eighth for Nashville and struck out two of the three batters he faced.

 

River Cats reliever Matt Roney (4-2) was the beneficiary of the late River Cats heroics, earning the win after tossing one scoreless inning.

 

Zumwalt (0-1) took the loss after surrendering the game-deciding homer on the only pitch he threw.

 

The teams continue their series with a 1:35 p.m. CT matinee on Tuesday afternoon. Right-hander Justin Lehr (3-5, 3.42) takes the hill for the Sounds to face his former club for the first time in his career. Lehr appeared in 86 games for Sacramento over parts of three seasons from 2000-04.

 

Nashville Box Score and Game Log Link:

 

www.minorleaguebaseball.c...a_srcaaa_1

[Mass Haas]

Link while active, text follows:

 

www.al.com/baybears/mobil...amp;coll=3

 

Dillard, Huntsville clip Mobile

By TOMMY HICKS

Mobile Press-Register Sports Reporter

 

Although it was billed as Awful Night at Hank Aaron Stadium -- awful fireworks, awful music blasted over the loudspeaker, awful giveaways -- Huntsville Stars pitcher Tim Dillard refused to go along with the idea in Monday night's game against the Mobile BayBears.

 

Instead, the right-hander put together seven innings of solid work in relief -- giving up six hits and striking out three without a walk -- to lead the Stars to a 3-2 win on a hot, muggy night.

 

Mobile fell to 22-22 in the Southern League's South Division second-half race, one game behind second-place Montgomery in a battle for a playoff berth. Huntsville is 21-22.

 

Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Jose Capellan, making a rehab appearance, was held to a 25-pitch count after starting. After one inning, Dillard took over and remained on the mound until the final batter. He allowed solo home runs to Luis Cruz and Vincent Sinisi, but otherwise pitched well against a Mobile team that has put together a solid offensive performance in the series.

 

"I felt good," Dillard said. "Obviously, I made two big mistakes (the home runs) -- both of those were sliders -- but they're a good-hitting ballclub. We've seen that all week. I just tried to execute pitches and tried to get them to hit ground balls because if they get it in the air, they're trouble."

 

In the ninth, Dillard struck out Sinisi to lead off the BayBears' share of the inning and Stephen Smitherman followed with a double to right-center.

 

"He smoked that," Dillard said of the hit. "I thought it was going to go through the fence."

 

Cruz followed by hitting a line drive to right field right at Ron Acuna for the second out. That's when the Stars went to reliever Travis Phelps, who struck out pinch-hitter Colt Morton on a 3-2 check swing to end it.

 

"We had a chance there in the ninth but we didn't get the run," BayBears manager Gary Jones said. "That's the second or third time (Dillard) has gone deep into a game against us. He pitched a good game."

 

Cruz, who has picked up his offensive performance this month, echoed the thoughts of his manager.

 

"He's a really good pitcher," Cruz said. "He made some good pitches all night. We were fighting on every at-bat but he did a good job against us. ... I thought I had a chance (for a hit in the ninth) but (the ball) stayed down. I'm feeling comfortable right now."

 

Cruz put Mobile in front in the second inning with a one-out, solo home run over the left-field fence. It marked his fifth homer of the year and his second straight game with a homer; his three-run blast in the eighth inning Sunday tied a game the BayBears eventually won 4-3 in 11 innings.

 

The Mobile lead held until the Stars' share of the fourth. With one out, Calix Crabbe and Drew Anderson drew walks, and Ryan Braun singled to load the bases. Brad Nelson then delivered a two-run single off BayBears starter Jose Oyervidez, Acuna singled to load the bases again, and Lou Palmisano's fielder's choice brought in another run for a 3-1 lead.

 

Mobile trimmed it to 3-2 in the bottom half of the inning when Sinisi led off with a solo homer.

 

"Usually, I pitch better in warmer weather," Dillard said when asked about pitching almost eight innings in Monday night's heat and humidity, "but my hat's off to their pitchers who have to pitch in this kind of weather all the time. I changed shirts about halfway through. ... I just tried to make some pitches. The rest of the (Stars) played defense and scored the runs. I just tried to keep us in the ballgame."

 

Mobile's Oyervidez allowed five hits and three runs in six innings while striking out five and walking five. Geoff Jones and Paul Abraham finished the game in relief.

 

Dustin Delucchi and Smitherman had two hits each for Mobile, while Acuna and Crabbe each had a pair of hits for the Stars.

 

The teams finish their five-game series tonight with a 7:05 game.

[Mass Haas]

Link while active, text follows:

 

www.dailymail.com/news/Sp...006080813/

 

Power's Inman dominates Rome

Christopher Wade

For the Charleston Daily Mail

 

For a short while, weather conditions provided the Rome Braves a heavy dose of dark clouds, a brief heavy rainstorm, thunder, and lightning.

 

All eventually cleared up Monday night, and left the Atlanta Braves' Class A affiliate with a heavy dose of West Virginia Power ace pitcher Will Inman.

 

The Braves would have much rather preferred the former.

 

Inman, a 19-year old right-hander, baffled Rome hitters to lead the Power to a 4-0 South Atlantic League baseball victory over the Braves at Appalachian Power Park.

 

Inman consistently mixed a 70-mph curveball with fastballs in the upper 80s and sometimes lower 90s and an effective changeup. He left Rome hitters off-balance all night.

 

Inman (9-1) pitched eight shutout innings, allowing only two hits while striking out nine Rome batters.

 

"I can't say much more about the outing," said Inman, who had nine strikeouts and a walk. "All my pitches felt good out there. I was able to keep them off-balance with an effective curveball and changeup, mixed in with my fastball."

 

Power Manager Mike Guerrero was impressed with Inman, who has 90 strikeouts and 19 walks in 79 innings this season.

 

"You can't really ask for anything more," guerrero said. "He had a great performance and threw a gem. To do what he did tonight, throwing eight scoreless innings, he was unhittable."

 

Dane Renkert came on in the ninth for the Power to slam the door on the Braves.

 

"I kind of wanted to go back out in the ninth and we had a talk about it, but this isn't the Major Leagues," Inman said. "You have to look to the future and my pitch count was pretty high."

 

Inman threw 96 pitches, including 70 strikes, and still was able to throw 89 mph in the eighth inning.

 

After the first two Rome batters reached in the top of the first inning, Inman retired 11 straight. After a fifth inning single by the Braves, Inman once again retired 11 straight batters before leaving the game.

 

Inman, a third-round draft pick (No. 85 overall) by the Milwaukee Brewers in 2005, has won five consecutive games. The performance lowered his earned run average to 1.48.

 

"I'm not out there thinking about trying to be dominant," Inman said. "It's just about being confident in trying to be able to get the job done at any level. I just try to give my team the chance to win every game."

 

It looked as if Inman's great performance on the mound might get cut early after a short rain storm in the third inning and subsequent large claps of thunder and several strikes of lightning in the fourth inning.

 

At the time, the Power led 1-0 after a first inning RBI double by Tony Festa. After the weather conditions cleared, designated hitter Kenny Holmberg hit a solo homer to give the Power a 2-0 lead in the fourth inning.

 

It was the third home run in the last four games for Holmberg, who hit two homers and drove in five runs in a Power victory on Friday night.

 

Power second baseman Mike Bell added an insurance run with a towering home run just inside the left field foul pole in the sixth inning and in the eighth inning, two Rome errors gave the Power a fourth and final run.

 

With the win, the Power is now 60-52 on the season and 21-22 in the second half. With the 60 wins, the Power has already won as many games as it did in 2005.

 

The Power will continue the four-game series against Rome at Appalachian Power Park tonight at 7:05 PM (6:05 Central).

 

Right-hander Jairo Cuevas (6-8) will make the start for Rome and the Power will counter with right-hander Shawn Ferguson (1-1).

[Mass Haas]

Link while active, text follows:

 

www.wvgazette.com/section...2006080731

 

Inman?s the man again

Power ace hurls eight shutout innings to improve to 9-1

By Jim Workman

For The Charleston Gazette

 

When Will Inman takes the mound for the West Virginia Power, the team?s confidence level grows dramatically.

 

?When you have a pitcher like that, you?re going to have an opportunity to win,? said Power manager Mike Guerrero. ?He?s a bulldog out there.?

 

The Power rode Inman?s arm to a 4-0 win over the Rome Braves before a crowd of 1,737 in a rain-delayed South Atlantic League contest Monday night at Appalachian Power Park.

 

Inman pitched a masterful eight innings in the shutout, striking out nine and allowing just two hits to improve to 9-1 on the season. He has claimed a victory in each of his last six starts.

 

?He threw a gem,? said Guerrero of Inman, who lowered his ERA to 1.48. ?It was a great performance. He was almost unhittable. You can?t ask for anything else from a pitcher. He goes after hitters.?

 

If the Power had to win one game?

 

?I?d feel comfortable with [inman] on the mound,? Guerrero said. ?He?ll give you everything he has, day in and day out.?

 

The Power (22-22, fifth place in the second half of the Sally League Northern Division) didn?t waste much time scoring following a 15-minute rain delay before the first pitch. In the first inning, Tony Festa swatted a double down the right-field line, scoring Michael Brantley to put the Power up 1-0.

 

Kenny Holmberg stretched the Power lead to 2-0 in the fourth, driving a home run over the left-field wall.

 

The Power played longball again in the sixth, getting a solo homer off the bat of Mike Bell to increase the lead to 3-0.

 

Ryan Barba dribbled a slow grounder with bases loaded in the eighth, but Jaime Trejo committed an error that allowed the fourth Power run to cross the dish.

 

Bell and Brad Wilcutt each went 2-for-4 for the Power.

 

?We?ve been scoring some runs,? said Guerrero. ?Everybody has been contributing to the cause. We just have to make sure to play defense to maintain the lead. And we did that [tonight]. If we can get some run support, we?ll win some games.?

 

Adam Stanley (1-6) was tagged with the loss for Rome.

 

Power reliever Dane Renkert finished things off for Inman, retiring the side in the ninth.

 

The Power will play host to Rome again tonight at 7:05 PM (6:05 Central) in the third game of a four-game series with the Atlanta Braves affiliate.

 

POWER POINTS: The shutout was the sixth of the year for West Virginia. ... Inman?s eight-inning performance marks the longest outing of the season for any Power pitcher. ...West Virginia has won sixty games, matching its total from the 2005 season.

 

Charleston Gazette Photographer: Chip Ellis

West Virginia Power?s Brad Willcut (23) is tagged out by Rome shortstop Elvis Andrus on a stolen base attempt in the second inning of Monday night?s game at Appalachian Power Park.

 

http://www.wvgazettemail.com/images/stories/Power.jpg

[Mass Haas]

Link while active, text follows:

 

www.missoulian.com/articl...orts03.txt

 

O's Cruz past Brewers

By NICK LOCKRIDGE of the Missoulian

 

Where there is smoke there is usually fire. And right now, Ricardo Cruz's bat is on fire.

 

The Osprey infielder smacked a solo home run - his second of the game - to lift Missoula to a 7-6 Pioneer League victory over Helena in extra innings on an overcast, smoke-filled Monday evening at Ogren-Allegiance Park.

 

Cruz, who leads the team with seven homers, sent the second pitch he saw from reliever Steve Palazzolo over the fence in left field to lead off the bottom of the 10th. It was the first walk-off home run of Cruz's career and it helped keep the Osprey in first place in the Northern Division.

 

?That felt really good,? said Cruz, who led Missoula with 10 home runs last season. ?I was just looking to get on and do something to help out the team and I saw a good pitch, a slider, that he left hanging.?

 

Helena's left fielder didn't give much chase to the ball as it soared almost as high as it did far. Cruz was mobbed at home plate by his teammates. The Osprey will carry a three-game win streak into a four-game series at Helena starting Tuesday.

 

?Helena's a tough team,? Cruz said. ?We have to keep the momentum going and take it to their field now. But they're a tough club. We just have to keep at it.?

 

Cruz also hit a two-run homer to left field in the fourth, giving the O's a 4-2 lead at the time. It marked the second straight game in which Cruz has gone deep for Missoula, which improved to 5-2 in extra-inning games.

 

The Osprey (6-3) have played three extra-inning games in their last seven outings. All but one of their extra-innings games have ended in the 10th this season.

 

Missoula's Gerardo Parra led off the ninth with a pinch-hit homer to right field to tie the game 6-6 and send the game into an extra frame after the O's left the bases loaded in the eighth.

 

Helena's Chris Errecart, who was 3-for-4, gave his team a 6-5 lead with an RBI double in the top of the ninth.

 

Yet, as exciting as the ninth and 10th innings were, the real excitement was in the eighth, when it appeared that Missoula grabbed the lead for good on an two-out single by Tyler Jones.

 

The O's loaded the bases on back-to-back singles by John Hester and Derrick Walker and Jose Dijol's hit batter. Following a strikeout, Jones grounded a ball to center field. Hester scored easily and Walker beat the throw home, but home plate umpire Alex Ortiz never signaled safe on the play. Helena catcher Andy Bouchie then tagged Walker as he was walking back toward the dugout, ending the inning with the score tied 5-5.

 

?Stuff's going to happen, you know?? Cruz said. ?You have to do whatever you can to make the best of the situation and get a score.?

 

This was after the Brewers had taken a 5-4 lead in the top of the seventh on another RBI double by Errecart, which just got past a diving Andrew Fie at third base and then caromed off the foul pole to allow David Parker to score from first.

 

Missoula's Daniel Stange got the win for the Birds after pitching the final two innings. He's the only reliever on the staff with four wins, which matches Missoula starter Tony Barnette for the most on the team.

 

Barnette lost his bid for his first victory since July 17. Barnette, who took a no decision, allowed two runs to score in the sixth and tie the game at 4-4. One run scored on a fielding error by Ricardo Cruz and Barnette walked in the tying run.

 

Clay Zavada relieved Barnette and struck out Brad Miller with the bases still loaded to end the threat.

 

Former catcher Justin Brashear and Fie are the only other O's players to homer in back-to-back games.

 

Helena Box Score and Game Log Link:

 

www.minorleaguebaseball.c...k_misrok_1

[colbyjack]

I didn't see this posted elsewhere, so I'll add it here. Inman is on BA's homepage once again. We've seen this photo before, but it's so much fun to go to BA and see one of the Crew's prospects:

 

http://www.baseballamerica.com/images/winman06428309bta.jpg

 

BA's Daily Dish

 

The Brewers Will Inman is continuing to show why he was named the best pitching prospect in the South Atlantic League in our recent Best Tools survey. He is also proving to be one of the more mature 19-year-old pitchers around.

 

The righthander had his longest and arguably most dominant outing of his career on Monday in low Class A West Virginia's 4-0 victory against Rome. He allowed just two hits and a walk while striking out nine in eight shutout innings. While he was not given a chance to complete his masterpiece, Inman put it in proper perspective.

 

"I kind of wanted to go back out in the ninth and we had a talk about it, but this isn't the major leagues," Inman told the Charleston (W.V.) Daily Mail. "You have to look to the future and my pitch count was pretty high."

 

Through eight innings, Inman threw 96 pitches and 70 of them were strikes. After allowing a single to Rome leadoff hitter Quentin Davis to open the game, Inman did not allow another hit until the fifth inning and then retired the final 11 batters he faced.

 

"You can't really ask for anything more," West Viginia manager Mike Guerrero told the paper. "He had a great performance and threw a gem. To do what he did tonight, throwing eight scoreless innings, he was unhittable."

 

The victory improved Inman's record to 9-1, 1.48. In 79 innings he has 90 strikeouts and 19 walks and has not allowed a home run. He has held opponents to a .199 average and has a WHIP of 0.95. He missed a month earlier in the season with a sore shoulder and durability has proven to be the only obstacle thus far in the 6-foot Inman's career.

 

A third-round pick out of Tunstall High in Dry Fork, Va., in 2005, Inman works with a fastball that sits in the low 90s and has a slurvy curveball that is a plus pitch. Most important for him last night was that he had his changeup working as well.

 

"All my pitches felt good out there," Inman told the paper. "I was able to keep them off-balance with an effective curveball and changeup, mixed in with my fastball."