Wed. 7/19 - Early Start for Mudcats. Meeker Starts Again for Biloxi

[Joseph Zarr]

Martinez Jr. gets in on the action ripping a two out single into RF scoring Wood from 2B. 8-0 T'Rats. Yes indeed.

[Joseph Zarr]

I would pull Wagoner now. He gave the T-Rats a fine outing. Walked the first batter here in the 5th frame. Then just hung an absolute meatball change-up dead center and it is launched deep over the wall in RF. Next pitch was 4' outside the zone. Fantastic first four innings but he is clearly fraying at the seams. Next pitch was in the dirt. 2-0. And they are visiting the mound. 

[Joseph Zarr]

OH hey it's another Freddy Zamora error at SS on a very routine play that helped score the Biscuits first run. His reputation precedes his wildly inconsistent actual play at SS. Just a casual routine grounder to his right. He fails to get behind it and it just ricochets off the heel of his glove. For someone as smooth and athletic as he clearly is, he just makes so many routine mistakes.

[Joseph Zarr]

3rd SB in 3 attempts on Darrien Miller. The throws aren't even close. It's hard to describe, but those balls just literally hang in the air. On the ensuing batter, with the runner safely at 2B, Guerrero gave up his 2nd long ball of the inning. It's now 8-5 T-Rats. Both left pulls over the RF fence. Inning is over, possibly, if the catcher has an arm.

[Joseph Zarr]

Really nice casual leaping catch at the wall from Carlos D. Rodriguez saved runs in the second inning. That ball hung and hung and carried. And he calmly tracked it and made the leaping reaching snare. Quite the play.

[Joseph Zarr]

OF Hendry Mendez long ball tonight - his 2nd of his young season (come on, he was injured forever). 3-for-4, 3 RBI in the clean-up slot. Love it. 1B Ernesto Martinez Jr. 3-for-4 in his second consecutive game batting in the 3rd slot. Developments like these are going to keep the T-Rats relevant....errrrrr scratch that. 4-for-5 for the ridiculously sizzling Martinez Jr. This man is just seeing that ball and ripping it of late. Wild stuff.

[Joseph Zarr]

Minor League infield umpires. Continue to be. Just not very good.😅 Tie does not go to the runner. If the ball is there regardless of the expertise of your slide, you're out. I can count on one hand the number of times I've been impressed with a good call by an infield ump in 2023. Ernesto Martinez Jr. just executed a fantastic wrap-around slide that clearly beat the tag by a couple hairs. No matter. The umpire looking directly at it just automatically calls him out. At the absolute very least, the tie goes to the runner. Just not in the Minor Leagues. As the image below shows: (you don't quite see his hand there, obviously) his hand is on the bag as the tag is inches from his arm. AND, even if the ump thought it was on his body (which it is not) the tie goes to the runner...except in the Minor Leagues.

[Joseph Zarr]

'Saved Games' - a new feature performance brought to you by the arms of Smith & Shears. RHP Shane Smith takes the closer role from the resting RHP Tanner Shears (4 Saves since his promotion) and he shuts it down with two glorious hammer curve K's (nasty stuff) and then a weak liner to Acosta reliably manning 2B as per usual. 8-5 T-Rats win and lead their road series 2-0.

[Joseph Zarr]

With the bases juiced, OF Sal Frelick hits a weak chopper to 2B but Monte Harrison was running on contact and he is very fast and very athletic. He makes a hyeck of a slide to beat the tag down the 3B side and around the plate somehow reaching back and grabbing a piece of home base. Frelick then gets caught leaving for 2B while Urias stays at 3B - who are we kidding with Urias' speed issues he likely would have been thrown out by 10 feet. LOL. 4-3 Sounds here in the bottom of the 6th. 

Meanwhile, after RHP Ryan Middendorf gave up two runs in his first inning of work, he is still ptiching here in the 7th frame. 8-8 Shuckers and Biscuits are all knotted up late.

[Joseph Zarr]

This is my first time watching LHP Justin Wilson pitch for the Sounds. Very very impressed. He's throwing Big League strikes up on that hill. Sitting 93-95 mph on his 4-seamer. Ripping a cutter in there at 89-90 and dropping a curve down to 83 mph. The quality of strikes is what impresses most - just lining the outer stripes of the zone. Nothing up and if it is it is in the outer half. His cutter has sneaky movement at the tail end. He works around a single to LF and a walk to induce a weak chopper to Dorrian at SS for the final out. 1 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 2 K, 0 R. He maintains the 4-3 lead. We head to the bottom of the 7th.

[Joseph Zarr]

4-for-4 for Hiura tonight. All four single pokes - three very hard hit and 2 oppos into RF. He continues to showcase his versatile bat. That's a season high in his many multi-hit games. He already has 3 3-hit games in 2023 for the Sounds.

[Joseph Zarr]

Actually, C Alex Jackson and 1B Keston Hiura have 7 of 10 Sounds hits tonight. How about that? 

[Joseph Zarr]

LHP Nick Bennett concedes the walk off to none other than ol' Brewers farmhand OF Tristan Peters - he hits the rbi single to CF. Shuckers lose 9-8. They scored one run after a 7-run 1st frame. The Biscuits worked the other way around as they sprinkled runs throughout. Bennet had runners on 1st and 2nd and then plunked a batter in an 0-2 count to load em up. Not a good showing for Bennett and it was scored a single but that ball bounced off the base of the CF wall. 

[Joseph Zarr]

1-2-3 8th IP for RHP Peter Strzelecki. He looked dialed. 2 K. Fantastic to see that! 12 pitches. 10 strikes. Really nice to see from Strez.

[ELCABALLO45]

Probably the most fun I’ve had following the Crews minor league system since mid 2000’s. Man is it fun to have so much talent on the farm again.