Wed. 4/20: Mudcats and Timber Rattlers Matinees

[Joseph Zarr]

Jason Alexander comes out for a three-up and three-down first innings. We have 28.1 straight innings scoreless. He is touching 95 on the radar gun repeatedly with a little bit of sink in there to boot. Pairing it with a nice hooking breaking ball and he looks just as sharp as outings one and two.

[Joseph Zarr]

Worth mentioning, and I failed to mention this last night, but in and amongst the various Sounds streaks going on at present:

They are currently 17 of 17 on the stolen bases path.

This is a Triple-A team dialed-in to start the season.

[Joseph Zarr]

Mr. Baseball, Jon Singleton, punches a well-hit liner fly-out to middle RF knocking in Garrett Whitley from 3rd base on the sacrifice fly. Whitley led off the first inning with a double to left field and took third base on a Bryce Turang chopper bounce out to second base.

It's 1-0 Sounds headed to the top of the second frame.

[Joseph Zarr]

Alexander has his stuff working early as he's getting a lot of ground balls - a result the sinker baller is aiming for. That's 29.1 scoreless for you at Home. 1-0 Sounds. Bottom of the 2nd. This is my second time, in full, watching Jason pitch. He has some stuff, for sure. What a nice free agent addition this Winter!

[CheeseheadInQC]

I knew Johan Dominguez's name sounded familiar, but forgot until I looked at his page that the Brewers traded him to the White Sox a few years ago.

[Joseph Zarr]

1 minute ago, CheeseheadInQC said:

I knew Johan Dominguez's name sounded familiar, but forgot until I looked at his page that the Brewers traded him to the White Sox a few years ago.

That's right, my friend. If you recall, we picked him up in 2016 and traded him in 2018 for Xavier Cedeño (along with another player, if I recall?).

[Joseph Zarr]

That's 3-up and 3-down again for Alexander. We are into the 30's scoreless. Whewwww. 30.1 in a row. If you are wondering...the record for the Sounds is 36 some innings, I believe.

[Joseph Zarr]

Meanwhile, in Birmingham...

Gabe Holt leads ground out to second to start the first. Garrett Mitchell follows with a single to RF and Wiemer knocks him to third on a hard hit double through the third base side. Let's see if Thomas Dillard can get out of his funk as he's worked the count full. And the pay-off pitch...well done! The bases are full. One down.

[Joseph Zarr]

Hey now Brent Diaz have a young season! He punches in two with a single into center right field. It's 2-0 Shuckers. Way to give Otero a little cushion, lads!

[Joseph Zarr]

Alexander is just cruising through 4 as he grabs his second punchout to end the frame and he's only at 55 pitches. 1-0 Sounds to the bottom half. That's 31.1 scoreless. We need a scoreboard. LOL.

[Joseph Zarr]

Hey now Corey Ray!! A bases-clearing triple on a rip to right field in the bottom of the fourth with still no outs and it's 4-0 Sounds. 

[Joseph Zarr]

AND, the scoreless streak ends at 31.2 innings.?

Alexander finds a small bit of trouble here in the fifth with several opposite field hits with one down. Men are on 1st and 2nd with one down and it's 6-1 on the most recent single to Garrett Whitley in LF.

[Joseph Zarr]

Andy Otero is really struggling in the early going. He just completed 3 but has allowed seven hits and a walk for 4 runs - 3 earned. And, it's Birmingham 4, Biloxi 2.

[Joseph Zarr]

The Nashville Sounds machine just keeps churning. 8-1 victory tonight. The bullpen, once again, is flawless. Guys are hitting throughout the line-up. This is a well-oiled Triple-A machine at present. A true joy to watch.

Now, down in Double-A? I would say, they are sporting a record in Biloxi unfitting of the way they are playing at present: sloppy. Just not an enjoyable watch right now. I truly hope they can get on track. Two costly errors tonight - one not scored an error, inexplicably - have them down 6-4 into the bottom of the eighth.

[Joseph Zarr]

That was a rough one in Birmingham. A sloppy contest. A questionable call at Home Plate seeing the tying run vanish. And a strikeout looking to end the game. Sigh. 5-6 Shuckers fall to the Barons. Joey Wiemer had another heck of an evening, however. That's my silver lining. I need to take a shower after that one.

[Robocaller]

Brewers' farm teams are now 33-14, with a winning % above .700. 

I'd guess there's somewhere to find out how that compares to other organizations (without adding them all up), but I don't know where.

[Jim Goulart]

Here's your final Link Report from Wednesday 4/20