Tue. 4/16 - Mudcats Hit The Road at 8-1; Others Commence Home Series

[Joseph Zarr]

Rodriguez stole 3rd base and then scored on a WP. Hall advances to 2B. 7-5 Bad Guys. One down as Guilarte K'd singing on a high heater. 2nd out as Castillo grounds out weakly to 2B. Hall at 3B. Garcia to the dish. Garcia walks on 4 pitches. Men on corners. Two down. Mound visit.

[Joseph Zarr]

Nicasia missed a deep fly by a matter of inches. He hit that deep fly very well but it landed as a standard out to the CF warning track.

[sveumrules]

Nate Peterson finishes with 6 IP | 1 ER | 4 H | 3 BB | 6 K.

Kaleb Bowman strikes out a pair and puts up a zero working around a single and walk in the 7th.

[sveumrules]

Leading the Shuckers offense so far are Eduardo Garcia (2B), Carlos Rodriguez (two RBIs), Darrien Miller (2B, RBI).

Noah Campbell has doubled followed by an Eric Brown Jr walk as Biloxi looks to add to their 3-1 lead.

[Joseph Zarr]

Bennett running into trouble here in the top of the 6th. Men on the corners and one down. He saw a 100 mph liner to 3B Dorrian couldn't quite corral cleanly. He just saw a 107 mph dart to shallow left. AND, just like that Tyler Black thought he'd showcase why he is so questionable on defense. Yuck. Charging a very very weak pop up just inside the 3B line he somehow was allowed to call it; sprint full speed; lunge; and biff the fly off the heel of his glove. On so many levels, that just can not happen. 

Some just really really poor defensive plays have proved costly for the Sounds tonight. Bases juiced now. And Bennett falls to a 2-0 count. Ugly. 

AND it is a 7-7 ball game.

[Joseph Zarr]

Another single to LF. A line drive. Bases still juiced. 8-7 Omaha. What an ugly inning. Blackwood is getting the call.

[Joseph Zarr]

Just catching up to the Mudcats, I see RHP Jeison Pena gave us his best flashback 2023 performance. A nice 6-spot inning that wasted Rodriguez's fantastic start.

[Joseph Zarr]

Blackwood on in relief walks his first batter on four straight pitches. THIS is the vast majority of Brewers Minor League baseball I have had the opportunity to watch live tonight. I'm beginning to think walking away originally to plant things was the better move. 9-7 Omaha. Long gone are the 17 IP @ Memphis where the bullpen didn't give up a single run.

[Joseph Zarr]

He did get the 4-6-3 DP in the very next AB. The tale of that inning, however, was that ugly ugly Black botched pop fly. You want to understand why he isn't in the Majors as of yet? He is just becoming a liability on defense on a near nightly basis. It's the very sober sad truth at present.

[Joseph Zarr]

Merkel successfully works around a two-out single down the 1B line by throwing a 16" induced hammer curve for the swing-and-miss. He truly does have a fantastic breaking ball. On to the bottom half and the Shuckers are clinging to a 3-1 lead.

[Joseph Zarr]

His name is Isaac Collins. Put some dang respect on that name - I swear I've been pounding his drum for over a year. His 3rd XBH of his evening ripping a line drive rocket to the wall in deep right CF. He drives in Dorrian. It's now 9-8 Omaha. Collins has 2 doubles and a triple to round his evening. He continues to prove to every one of us: he is a stud.

[sveumrules]

Justin Yeager picks up the save for Biloxi with a perfect ninth (1 K).

[sveumrules]

Morris Austin also found himself in the Zero Club with two scoreless frames (3 BB | 4 K) for Carolina tonight.

[Joseph Zarr]

RHP Justin Yeager on to try and Save it in Biloxi. First batter: Strikes him out on a high riding 94 mph heater. Nooooice.

[Joseph Zarr]

2nd batter induces a jam shot bloop flare to Zamora at 2B just on the edge of the OF grass. 

Meanwhile RHP Trevor Megill looks fantastic in a 1-2-3 inning of rehab relief work - 2 K. Touched 99 mph throughout and got the last K swinging on a filthy off-speed pitch. 

And Yeager grabs the Save. Shuckers have suddenly won 4 in a row. 16 scoreless innings for the Shuckers bullpen in a row I do believe. Shuckers pitching echoing what I am seeing throughout the system in early 2024: PITCHING. PITCHING. PITCHING.

[Joseph Zarr]

Shuckers have outscored their opponents 17-5 in their 4-game win streak. Not scoring a lot of anything but doing just enough with this shutdown pitching staff. Team ERA has drops in this one allowing a mere earned run.

[Joseph Zarr]

Middendorf is bringing 97-98 mph in 2024?! My goodness. That's an uptick. Just ripped a 97 mph heater for a swinging K in his first batter faced. Yowza.

[Joseph Zarr]

THIS is the RHP Ryan Middendorf I envisioned when I first saw him in 2022. I feel like a proud Papa Bear. He's touching 97-98 on his heat. He still has a plus slider. How about a 78 mph curveball that drops at the last second? He gets his 2nd K. 

I'll forget about the solo jack. A big insurance run for Omaha. I still love what I've seen throughout his inning of work. That seemed to be a mislocated pitch down and in. Mejía set up outside. That was just a lucky swing on a slider off the plate and in. 

[Joseph Zarr]

Oh, hey, it's another multi-hit game from OF Brewer Hicklen. Well, how about that? It's called production. Hicklen does it in spades with the bat in his hands.

[Joseph Zarr]

Collins just missed a 3-run go-ahead jack by about a 1/2" on the barrell. Sigh. Instead it's a fly out to the LF warning track. My oh my that looked almost good enough off the bat. On to the 9th frame. Sounds still trail by 2.

[Joseph Zarr]

Two more punch outs for Middendorf. He just looks so renewed in 2024. I am absolutely here for it. On to the Sounds last chance to tie or win it. Down 10-8 in the bottom of the 9th.

[Joseph Zarr]

Double steal. Ball goes to CF. 10-9. Hicklen at the dish. Monasterio moves to 3B. Double steal and an E2. 2-2 count. Whew. Hicklen goes down looking on a 99 mph dart on the outer stripe. Ball game. Sounds lose 10-9. 

[Jim French Stepstool]

Glad to hear Megill was so effective. He'll fit nicely as one of the five relief pitchers Milwaukee needs to use nightly (exaggerating, but just a little).

I just hope there's enough of a work ethic-ability combination to allow Black to become an acceptable 1B at the MLB level. Right now I suppose it's anybodys' guess.

[Joseph Zarr]

9 minutes ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

Glad to hear Megill was so effective. He'll fit nicely as one of the five relief pitchers Milwaukee needs to use nightly (exaggerating, but just a little).

I just hope there's enough of a work ethic-ability combination to allow Black to become an acceptable 1B at the MLB level. Right now I suppose it's anybodys' guess.

Keep in mind, as you're seeing with Koenig now...as you saw with Bukauskas (my guy!) before his injury...the Sounds have a bullpen. Take this into consideration:

(From tonight's Sounds' post-game recap article)

• Nashville relievers allowed earned runs for the first time since April 7 vs. St. Paul, breaking a streak of six-consecutive games without allowing an earned run (19.2 IP). The Sounds still hold the lowest bullpen ERA (1.10), WHIP (0.95) and opponent batting average (.152) at the Triple-A level.

[Joseph Zarr]

Keep this in mind:

The Shuckers lowered the Southern League leading staff ERA to 1.87 after tonight's game. 

PITCHING. PITCHING. PITCHING.