Minors

The full-season affiliates took three of four contests Friday night, with the Timber Rattlers victory especially sweet coming off a rough ten-game slide. Freddy Peralta and Jake Cousins continued successful (so far, knock wood) rehab stints. Prepare for the Sal Frelick era in Milwaukee, hopefully commencing as early as May or June of 2023 (the cynic would say once he clears the "Super-Two" arbitration calendar bar). Regardless, it was a pleasant evening, let's kick things off.

Strong pitching and some late opponent blunders gave the Sounds a close win. The Shuckers blew open a tight affair with three eighth inning homers. The Timber Rattlers fell behind early in their 10th straight loss. The Mudcats mustered just three hits in their loss.

The Timber Rattlers continued their second-half losing ways with another rough loss; many a hard hit ball went directly into too many Kernels' waiting gloves. If there's anyone who can turn this around from a leadership perspective, it's manager Joe Ayrault, who is always a positive force with an incredibly dense curriculum vitae of experience in High-A baseball. Elsewhere, RHP Caleb Boushley returned to the mound for Nashville after a 10-day reprieve, RHP TJ Shook looked to find more consistency in his Double-A environment (and, he certainly did); and RHP Fernando Olguin made his first start for the Mudcats since back on July 2nd. Let's dive into the reports! 

All of Wisconsin slowed to a stop this fine evening. Their newest prodigal baseball son had arrived for his debut game at Fox Cities stadium. A quiet hush rolled through the land - it is rumored, the cows stopped mooing and even the beers ceased pouring. WHOA, let's not get ahead of ourselves! Many beers were poured. And then more beers were poured. Beers were poured in beers. That's more like it.

The first pitch was tossed from the arm of lefty Russ Smith at 5:42 pm CST and a new center fielder manned the outfield grass: Jackson Chourio debuted in a Timber Rattlers jersey. And, folks, let me tell you: it was everything we could have asked for. This young man is absolutely, undeniably, special.

A day of solid pitching and late production delivered walk-off wins for ACL Brewers Gold and DSL Brewers-1, the latter in Game Two of its doubleheader. ACL Brewers Blue and DSL Brewers-1 (its opener) each dropped one-run games, despite excellent pitching.

Biloxi and Carolina grabbed series-clinching wins over tough competition with solid 7-3 victories. Wisconsin was swept in a doubleheader, as the bats disappointed. Nashville gave up four home runs to lose their finale in Louisville.

The Sounds and Shuckers combined to surrender 17 runs and commit six errors. Although the Mudcats only plated three runs of their own, they played clean defense and saw strong pitching lead to victory. The Timber Rattlers learned Mother Nature is undefeated - when she says you can play, you play, and when she says you can't, you don't.

 

The full-season minor league affiliates all returned to play Friday night after four days off and let's just say, the Brewers bats (and their opponent's) were very refreshed. There were 18 runs scored in Nashville's game at Louisville. The Wisconsin and Carolina home games saw 19 and 22 runs light up the scoreboard, respectively, in games with unfavorable final scores. A combined 29 young men crossed the plate in the two Arizona Rookie games, a combined 21 in the two Dominican contests. Only in Biloxi, where LHP Nick Bennett (much more on him in a bit) and two relievers combined on a two-hitter in a 5-1 victory, did any semblance of mound magic prevail. Be prepared to refer to crooked numbers, positive and not-so-positive, when you review the teams' game summaries and the linked box scores. Strap on your seat belt, roller coaster fans - it is summer, after all!

Oh, and one of the Brewers best prospects exited with what appeared to be a significant injury, sigh...

Eight extra base hits powered ACL Brewers Blue to a victory. ACL Brewers Gold lost big in spite of nine hits. DSL Brewers-1 were stopped by rain in the 3rd inning. DSL Brewers-2 lost a shortened five inning game. All minor league squads return to action on Friday.

The ACL Brewers will return to the diamond tomorrow in Maryvale, but until that time it is all DSL coverage all the time as the DSL Brewers 1 and 2 went head-to-head yet again. This contest featured a potential up-and-coming 20-year-old right-hander in one Jeral Vizcaino - he has really come on in July and is building on an already impressive resume of relief and starting work. All told, we flipped the script today and the DSL Brewers 2 literally pitched a shutout over the DSL Brewers 1. The two squads finished their two-game series this week 1-1.

As has been noted on multiple occasions this week: Maryville ACL teams are off until Thursday. All full-season affiliates are off until Friday. That leaves us with the beloved Brewers Dominican Summer League affiliates. Today, the DSL Brewers 1 and 2 went head-to-head in a quality DSL pitching match-up - the first of back-to-back contests between the DSL Brewers 1 and 2 before they branch out and face other organizations on  Thursday.

Let's see how the young men fared!

The Crew's minor league system enjoys a respite as the Maryvale games don't resume until Thursday, while the four-full season clubs return to action on Friday.

In the sunny Dominican Republic, however, rookie complex league games will be played each day this week.