Link Report for Games of Saturday, July 16th

[Mass Haas]

Link while active, text follows:

 

www.al.com/stars/huntsvil...amp;coll=1

 

Mudcats hold off Huntsville

SL North race stays tight after Carolina claims 7-5 victory

By JOHN FERRY

Times Sports Staff jferry@htimes.com

 

Huntsville catcher Jeff Winchester knows why the Stars and Carolina Mudcats are battling for first place in the Southern League North Division during the second half of the season.

 

"Both teams have great lineups and great pitching," Winchester said. "We put up a good fight tonight. We got the tying run to the plate in the ninth inning but couldn't finish the deal."

 

While the Stars rallied for a victory in the series opener on Friday, Carolina held for a 7-5 win Saturday night to even the series at Joe Davis Stadium.

 

The victory moved Carolina to 11-9 in the standings while Huntsville is 12-10.

 

Nine pitchers were used in Saturday's game. Carolina starter Ray Aguilar, shaky at times, got the win, allowing 10 hits in five innings.

 

Huntsville starter Ty Taubenheim, in his second start after moving up from Single-A, went two innings and got the loss. Andy Pratt, who has pitched in the major leagues for the Cubs and Braves, followed along with Khalid Ballouli, Brett Evert and Keith Stamler.

 

Ballouli got the first two outs in the eighth inning, then appeared to grab at his shoulder after making a pitch to Carolina's Jeremy Hermida.

 

"He appeared to have an upper back sprain," Winchester said after Ballouli was taken out.

 

Carolina led 3-0 in the first when Frank Moore and Drew Niles singled, and Jason Hill belted a homer over left field.

 

Tony Gwynn Jr. led off the bottom of the first inning with a single and scored on a throwing error when the Mudcats failed to complete a double play.

 

In the Carolina second, Michael Tucker singled and scored on a double by Moore. Hermida then scored Moore with a single for a 5-1 lead.

 

A homer by Dennis Anderson upped Carolina's lead to 6-1 in the third.

 

Huntsville got three runs back in its third. Brad Nelson singled home one, and Ben Van Iderstine knocked in two runs with another single.

 

James Shanks' single in the sixth drove in Moore for a 7-4 Carolina lead.

 

In the Huntsville ninth, Gwynn doubled and came home on Nelson's single. Guilder Rodriguez grounded out to end the game.

[Mass Haas]

Link while active, text follows:

 

tennessean.com/apps/pbcs....328/SPORTS

 

Stetter struggles in his Greer debut

Wathan hits 3-run HR to give Isotopes victory

By MAURICE PATTON

Tennessean Staff Writer

 

Mitch Stetter's home-field introduction to Class AAA baseball was a little rough last night.

 

Summoned from the Nashville Sounds bullpen in the eighth inning to face switch-hitting Derek Wathan, the left-handed Stetter's second pitch landed beyond the left-field fence for a three-run home run to key a 6-2 Albuquerque victory at Greer Stadium.

 

"We were hoping for a ground ball and he hung a breaking ball," Nashville Manager Frank Kremblas said following his team's second consecutive loss. "Usually, hanging breaking balls don't turn into ground balls. Wathan deposited it like he's supposed to."

 

Stetter, who had allowed only two hits over 2+ scoreless innings in his last two appearances, had a handful of family and friends from his native Huntingburg, Ind., on hand for his six-pitch relief outing.

 

"I'll have plenty here, being three hours from home," said Stetter, who was 2-3 with a 2.61 ERA and eight saves for Huntsville before being promoted July 7.

 

"I threw a first-pitch slider for a strike, then I went back with one and tried to get it down and in. I didn't put it where I wanted to. It was a perfect pitch to hit, really."

 

Nashville starter Justin Lehr allowed just two runs ? on nine hits ? over six innings. It was his seventh consecutive quality start (six innings or more with three earned runs or less). Over that stretch, Lehr is 2-2 with three no-decisions.

 

Offensively, the Sounds were unable to take advantage. They managed a season-low two hits ? a first-inning solo home run and a double, both by Warren Morris ? against Albuquerque starter Donovan Osborne and relievers John Riedling and Jim Crowell. The other run came on an Albuquerque error, a stolen base and an infield groundout in the seventh.

 

"It's unfortunate," Morris said. "Justin threw well, but you can't win many games with two hits. (Osborne) is one of those guys who's probably tougher on right-handers than left-handers. He was tough all night; I just got in a good count against him.

 

"They got a lot of hits (15). We were able to shut them down early; they got some opportunities and didn't capitalize. But they were able to push some runs across late."

 

With the score 2-2, reliever Mike Adams allowed back-to-back one-out base hits before Stetter came in for the Wathan homer.

 

Nashville still managed to maintain its four-game lead in the PCL American Conference Northern Division race, as second-place Memphis lost to New Orleans.

 

Smooth operator: Lehr successfully executed the fake-to-third, throw-to-first pickoff play in the first inning last night, victimizing ex-Nashville infielder Jason Wood with the move.

 

Cruz docked: Nelson Cruz's 11-game hitting streak came to an end last night. The outfielder went 0-for-2 with a walk and a hit-by-pitch. It was his first hitless game since joining the Sounds on June 29 from Huntsville.

 

What they said: "I looked up in the eighth inning, and they had 12 hits and we had two, and we were tied. It was just a matter of time before the laws of baseball took over." ? Nashville outfielder Ryan Knox.

 

Tonight's pitchers: Sounds ? RHP Gary Glover (2-0, 1.32 ERA). Isotopes ? RHP Jeff Fulchino (6-6, 6.25).

[Mass Haas]

Manatee Management -- it's a problem we've seen often this season: your site's game summary leads to a dead link...

[Mass Haas]

Charleston Gazette:

 

Power moves to .500 mark

 

The West Virginia Power reached the .500 mark for the season?s second half by beating the Hagerstown Suns 2-0 Saturday night in Hagerstown.

 

The Power (11-11) jumped on the Suns in the first inning, taking a 1-0 lead on Hasan Rasheed?s RBI single that scored Alcides Escobar from second base. It was Escobar?s 59th run of the season, tying him for fourth in the South Atlantic League.

 

The Power added an insurance run in the seventh as Josh Murray doubled home Carlos Corporan.

 

It was the Power?s fifth shutout of the season.

 

West Virginia starter Yovani Gallardo (4-3) pitched six innings of three-hit ball to pick up the victory. It was the second straight strong outing for Gallardo, who allowed just two hits in eight innings in a 2-1 home victory over the Suns in his last outing.

 

Suns starter Tim Worthington (3-2) went six innings, surrendering one earned run on three hits with six strikeouts.

 

Murray, the Power third baseman, was 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI. Power All-star Robert Hinton surrendered two hits in the ninth but held on to pick up his eighth save.

 

The Suns had their best chance in the 7th inning when Jesus Flores led off with a rocket to left field, but Josh Brady made a running catch at the wall to the dissapointment of over 2,000 fans that came to cheer on the Suns. Brady's catch was outdone only by centerfielder Hasan Rasheed's catch of a rainbow liner by Jim Burt in the next at-bat.

Rasheed sprinted to the gap in left center before going airborne and robbing Burt of a single. Ryan Coultas then flied out to end the inning.

 

The teams will play again at Municipal Stadium at 5:35 p.m. today (4:35 Central).

[Mass Haas]

Link while active, text follows:

 

www.helenair.com/articles...705_01.txt

 

Timely hits lead Brewers to victory

By KEVIN SHIVELY - IR Sports Writer

 

The Helena Brewers aren't showing any signs of slowing down.

 

The league leading Brewers (18-6) beat the Orem Owlz for the second night in a row Saturday, pushing their lead in the north to four and a half games.

 

The Brewers had nine innings of sharp pitching, and some very timely hitting as they beat the Owlz 5-3.

 

The Helena pitching staff allowed only eight hits in the game.

 

"The guys did a great job. They stayed after the strike zone all night," said Helena pitching coach Mark Littell. "Orem is a team that likes to swing the bat, and our guys really kept their composure."

 

Derek Miller started for the Brewers, and pitched six full innings of four hit ball with six strikeouts.

 

Miller allowed two runs in his stint on the mound, both in the third inning. One run on a RBI stand up triple from Hainley Statia, and the second on a RBI single from Mark Trumbo.

 

Will Inman started the seventh inning for the Brewers, picking up his second win of the season, but also collecting a blown save.

 

In the top of the ninth, trying to get out of the game with their two run lead, Inman struck out Trumbo, but then allowed two singles and had both runners advance on a passed ball.

 

Richard Breshears came in to clean up and started off by striking out Anderson Rosario. He got out of the inning by forcing a ground ball from Josh Cowles. It was Breshears third save this season.

 

"All three pitchers did a good job of keeping things in check," said Littell. "They had a nice day."

 

At the plate, it was a pair of identical home runs that gave the Brewers their edge.

 

In the third, centerfielder Charlie Fermaint, who hit a walk off single to win Friday's contest, hit a one-out two-run knock over the scoreboard to regain their two run lead.

 

In the eighth, with the game tied at three apiece, catcher Angel Salome hit his own one-out two-run shot over the scoreboard, giving Helena the 5-3 lead and win.

 

Darren Ford crossed the plate on Fermaint's homer, and Fermaint scored on Salome's.

 

Ford was 3-for-4 in the game with two runs scored, and Salome was 3-for-4 with three RBI.

 

Fermaint was 1-for-2 with two RBI and two runs scored.

[igor67]

I firmly believe Angel should stay in Rookie ball this year. 1) How many prospects have we seen struggle offensively while focusing on defensive improvement? He's young enough that you can focus on defense this year at a level where he's fine offensively. 2) How many Pioneer league mirages have we seen lately? There's no guarantee he will continue to hit if he moves up. And number 2 can start to influence number 1 and cause immediate prospect implosion.

[SoCalBrewfan]

The thing about most of the 'Pioneer League mirages' is that they were 21 or 22 year olds with three or four years' experience in big-time college ball...Katin comes from that demographic. If you browsed Salome's stats without knowing who he was, you'd assume he was a guy from Rice or Texas or Nebraska who signed after his senior year in college. Doing that just over a year past your high school graduation is something else entirely.

[pogokat]

I'm with you socal, but you gotta refesh your memory on lou palmisano as well...

 

i'm all for salome being the next mike piazza...but this seems familiar

 

i think salome will be much better than lou though...