Brewers Minor League Link Report (6/2): Biloxi Blasts Way to Victory, but Nashville and Wisconsin Fall

Thursday night featured strong performances from some of the usual suspects (homers from Jackson Chourio, Mark Mathias and Tristen Lutz; Brandon Knarr 1-run over 6 innings of work), encouraging signs from Stiven Cruz and Jeferson Quero, a rare off night by the usually-stout Josh Lindblom and then surprising contributions from Terence Doston, Yeison Coca, Noah Campbell and Garrett Whitley.

Hopefully, the Mudcats can finish off their rain-delayed contest on Friday (they lead 5-2), thus enabling the Brewers' MILB squads to call this a 2-2 night. And Wisconsin had better rediscover its offense, as they're now riding a 23-inning scoreless streak.

Game Balls for this Thursday night go to Doston, Knarr, Quero, Lutz and Christian Tripp. 

Transactions:

• OF Arbert Cipion assigned to High-A Wisconsin from Low-A Carolina
• INF Jose Acosta (recently acquired from Texas Rangers for cash considerations) assigned to High-A Wisconsin from Low-A Carolina
• C Alex Hall’s contracted selected by MLB Brewers from High-A Wisconsin, replacing C Omar Narvaez who went on the Covid-19 injured list

Game Action:

Carolina Pre-Game Media Notes
Postponed, to Conclude Tomorrow: Carolina 5, Lynchburg 2 (top of 8th inning)
Box Score / Game Log

The work in this Battle for First Place will need to continue on Friday, with the contest paused in the top of the 8th inning due to rain.

RHP Stiven Cruz had a decent bounce-back outing, keeping the Hillcats off the board through the first 5 innings, though Lynchburg did put at least one runner on base in each of those innings.

Carolina grabbed a 2nd inning lead, with an RBI single by Jheremy Vargas driving in Oswel Leones (who’d doubled). That advantage increased to 2-0 in the 6th inning on a Jesus Chirinos RBI single to bring home Jeferson Quero (who’d also doubled).

However, Lynchburg finally came through against Mr. Cruz in that same 6th inning, going triple-triple-double to knot the score 2-2 with 1 out. Never fear, as RHP Christian Tripp came in to strand that last runner at second base, getting a strike out and a ground out.

With the rains menacing in the 8th inning, the Mudcat offense came to life, with Jackson Chourio (now recognized as one of the top 50 prospects in all of baseball) leading off the inning with his 3rd homer of the season to give Carolina a 3-2 lead.

Chourio’s dinger was followed by Hendry Mendez’s first pitch double and then Quero’s second pitch, 2-run blast over the center field wall for a sudden 5-2 Mudcat advantage. Leones then walked and the balance of the game was postponed by rain, to conclude on Friday.

Let’s give extra credit to Carolina’s defense, in particular Mr. Quero for throwing out two attempted base stealers (vs. yielding zero steals) and Mr. Cruz for picking off a runner in the first inning.

Performances of Note:

• Jeferson Quero – 2-4, HR, double, 2 RBIs
• Oswel Leones – 2-3, 2 doubles, walk
• Jackson Chourio – 1-4, HR, RBI
• Eduardo Garcia – 1-4, double
• Hendry Mendez – 1-4, double
• Jesus Chirinos – 1-2, walk, RBI
• Jheremy Vargas – 1-3, RBI
• Stiven Cruz – 5 1/3 IP, 2 R, 7 H, 1 BB, 1 HBP, 5 Ks
• Christian Tripp (pitcher of record) – 1 2/3 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 1 BB, 2 Ks

Friday’s outlook: After Carolina tries to polish off the remainder of Thursday night’s game, RHP Israel Puello (6.55 ERA, 1.45 WHIP, 12.3 K/9 in 33 innings) is scheduled to make his 10th appearance of the season, as the Mudcats aim to win both and even the series at 2-2.

Wisconsin Pre-Game Media Notes
Final: Peoria 4, Wisconsin 0
Box Score / Game Log

Via the Timber Rattlers’ website, game details: Rattlers Miss Their Chances in 4-0 Loss

Enjoy the video highlights which are always exceptional when the Rattlers play at home:

Things are again tightening up atop the Midwest League’s West Division, just as Wisconsin’s offense has unfortunately gone cold. With this loss, the Timber Rattlers are one game behind first place Cedar Rapids and one game ahead of third place South Bend.

LHP Brandon Knarr was the tough luck loser-of-record in this game, despite once again dominating the opposition, this time only giving up 1 run on 3 hits over 6 innings. That run came around in the 6th inning via some old school baseball: leadoff double, sacrifice bunt, sacrifice fly.

Meanwhile, Wisconsin’s best offensive chance came and went in the 2nd and 4th innings, when nothing was garnered from a 1st and 2nd, 1-out situation and a 1st and 2nd nobody out opportunity.

For the game, the Timber Rattlers went 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position, but to be fair Peoria weren’t much better in this particular department (3-for-17). Coupled with Wednesday’s shutout and a few innings on Tuesday, Wisconsin’s scoreless streak has now reached 23 innings. Gulp.

Although we were counting on Wisconsin’s normally-stellar bullpen to keep them in the contest, it wasn’t meant to be on this night, as RHPs James Meeker and Kent Hasler gave up 3 runs over 2 1/3 innings in the 8th and 9th innings. RHP Brady Schanuel did come in to retire the two batters he faced, thereby stranding one inherited runner to keep the game within reach at 4-0. However, that’s how it would conclude.

We would be remiss not to recognize the terrific pitching effort by Peoria’s squad, including Dionys Rodriguez’s 5 shutout innings and the bullpen combination of Levi Prater and Andre Granillo striking out 7 Wisconsin batters over their combined 4 shutout innings.

Three Wisconsin errors (two by Ashton McGee, one by Zavier Warren) certainly didn’t help their cause in this one, although they did not result in any unearned runs.

Performances of Note:

• Zavier Warren – 2-4, SB
• Tyler Black – 1-3, double, walk
• Brandon Knarr (Loss) – 6 IP, 1 R, 3 H, 1 BB, 5 Ks

Friday’s outlook: Wisconsin is down 2-1 in their series and turns to LHP Antoine Kelly (3.27 ERA, 1.07 WHIP, 12.3 K/9 in 44 innings) to make things right in Game 4, while hoping the offense wakes up after consecutive shutout losses.

Biloxi Pre-Game Media Notes
Final: Biloxi 10, Pensacola 7
Box Score / Game Log

Via the Shuckers’ website, game details: Campbell, Coca and Doston Drive Shuckers Offense in 10-7 Victor

Looking at a box score of 17 runs and 26 hits, one might not believe that this was a 3-2 contest through 5 innings, before both teams started making the most of their opportunities.

Did anyone predict the Shuckers’ 7-8-9 hitters (Noah Campbell, Yeison Coca, Terence Doston) to produce 7 hits, 5 RBIs and 5 runs scored? Heck, they even drew 3 walks and only struck out once. Well done young men!

Pensacola grabbed the early 1-0 lead via a Troy Johnston 1st inning homer, while each team stranded one runner in the inning. Biloxi responded to that initial shot with Cam Devanney smacking a dinger of his own in the 2nd inning.

The traffic against starters the Shuckers’ TJ Shook and the Blue Wahoos’ Zach McCambley continued throughout the next several innings, though the runs were more scarce. Biloxi did manage to grab a 2-1 lead in the 4th inning on a Doston RBI single to drive in Campbell (who’d reached via a ground rule double).

Unfortunately, nemesis Griffin Conine answered with a 2-run homer off of Mr. Shook in the bottom of the 5th inning to give Pensacola its second lead of the game at 3-2. TJ managed to escape the inning without further damage, though it took a fly out and sharp line out to strand a runner at second base.

The Shuckers hit brigade finally opened things up in the 7th inning, with RBI singles by Coca, Doston and then a 2-out, 2-run double by Felix Valerio to give Biloxi a 6-3 lead.

That lead ultimately grew to 9-3 on a Campbell RBI triple and then back-to-back 8th inning home runs by Thomas Dillard and Tristen Lutz (who remains super-hot since returning from injury).

Not wanting to bore the Pensacola home fans, Biloxi’s bullpen made it interesting, with RHP Taylor Floyd (still not himself after missing time to start the season) conceding two runs in the 8th inning and then the normally-reliable RHP Harold Chirino giving up another two runs in the 9th innings to allow the Blue Wahoos to close the gap to 10-7 with nobody out and a runner on 2nd base.

Thankfully, Biloxi’s defense saved them in the end, with Chirino throwing out the lead runner at third base on an infield grounder and then a ground ball double play ending the affair.

Oh, about that 10th Shucker run? It came in the top of the 9th inning, courtesy of a Coca triple and Doston RBI double. Yes, the unexpected contributions continued all 9 innings in this one.

Super-prospect OF Joey Wiemer missed his 2nd straight game, after leaving Tuesday’s contest early. Let’s hope he’s back in action tonight.

Performances of Note:

• Terence Doston – 3-4, double, walk, 3 RBIs
• Tristen Lutz – 2-5, HR, RBI, SB
• Noah Campbell – 2-4, triple, double, walk, RBI
• Yeison Coca – 2-4, triple, walk, RBI
• Thomas Dillard – 1-5, HR, RBI
• Cam Devanney – 1-5, HR, RBI
• Felix Valerio – 1-5, double, 2 RBIs
• TJ Shook (Win) – 6 IP, 3 R, 9 H, 1 BB, 2 WPs, 4 Ks
• JT Hintzen – 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 1 BB, 0 K

Friday’s outlook: Solid RHP Victor Castaneda (2.84 ERA, 1.06 WHIP, 9.7 K/9 in 44 1/3 innings) will be on the mound tonight, looking to even up the series in Pensacola at 2 games apiece.

Nashville Pre-Game Media Notes
Final: Durham 9, Nashville 7
Box Score / Game Log

Via the Sounds’ website, game details: Bulls Slug Their Way Past Sounds Again 

As terrific as minor league heroes look on a nightly basis, we always need to remember that they’re also human.

I say this because we definitely need to give Nashville’s RHP Josh Lindblom a mulligan for his struggles this night, in which he was uncharacteristically tagged for 7 runs and 10 hits over 5 innings of work, including 4 home runs. I imagine it must be a tad bittersweet for Mr. Lindblom to see so many of his teammates getting call-ups to the Big Club recently, whilst he awaits his next turn. We appreciate you Josh!!! And that next turn will come.

It was great to see Mark Mathias settle back into his role as an offensive force, with his 5th homer of 2022 giving the Sounds a 2-0 lead in the first inning.

Unfortunately, that lead was erased by a 2nd inning 2-run blast from Jordan Qsar and then 3 homers in the 3rd inning (including a second by Mr. Qsar) to quickly put the game out of reach at 7-2.

DH/OF Garrett Whitley was welcomed back after a 5-week injury and made his presence known with a 5th inning solo shot, his first home run of 2022.

To Mr. Lindblom’s credit, he covered his final 2 1/3 innings in scoreless fashion.

Rehabbing Major League All-Star Willy Adames (well, at least I expect he’ll be in the ASG in 2022) had a ground out and line out before a 5th inning single was his last action of his planned short evening.

A Durham pitching change in the 6th inning threw Nashville a lifeline, with Chris Muller (not my relation; I mean, it’s not even spelled the same) walking 4 Sounds before Jonathan Davis was unable to drive anyone home with the bases loaded.

At least that tightened the contest at 7-4, with highly capable RHP Connor Sadzeck coming in to hopefully keep it that way. Um, no. Two batters, two Bulls’ home runs. 9-4 scoreline. Yes, Durham hit 6 moon balls on the night and all 9 Bulls’ runs scored via balls over the fence. Ugh.

Of course, being the best non-MLB squad on Planet Earth, Nashville mounted a comeback, with an 8th inning walk (David Dahl), single (Abraham Almonte), double (Pablo Reyes) and home run (Tyler White – his 7th of the year) closing the gap to 9-7.

However, that was as close as Nashville could get, as Durham’s bullpen combination of Seth Blair and Cristofer Ogando retired all 7 Sounds they faced to close it out.

Performances of Note:

• Abraham Almonte – 2-4, double, walk
• Tyler White – 1-3, HR, walk, 2 RBIs
• Mark Mathias – 1-5, HR, 2 RBIs
• Garrett Whitley – 1-3, HR, walk, RBI
• Pablo Reyes – 1-3, double, walk, SB
• Willy Adames – 1-3
• Josh Lindblom (Loss) – 5 IP, 7 R, 10 H, 3 BBs, 1 WP, 3 Ks
• Zack Brown – 1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 BB, 0 K
• Matt Hardy – 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 BB, 2 Ks

Friday’s outlook: RHP Caleb Boushley (3.66 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, 7.1 K/9 in 51 2/3 innings) aims to continue his recent resurgence (7 shutout innings of 3-hit ball last week), which Nashville will need in order to tie up their series in Durham at 2-2.

We hope that you enjoy the Minor League Link Report. Good luck tonight, Brewers’ affiliates!

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