Tue. 5/28 (plus Mon. 5/27) - Nashville on Road, Other Full-Season Squads at Home

[Joseph Zarr]

A gorgeous Yoshwar Garcia bunt single. Steals 2nd. Walling k's swinging on a 3-2 heater (foul tip). Briceno walks. Men on 1st and 2nd. After 71 pitches, Correa is pulled. This is good news for the Mudcats. They had a very hard time getting anything of meaning against the young Cuban. Let's hope they can start rallying.

[Joseph Zarr]

3-0 count to Guilarte with the fresh lefty bullpen arm, Cooper. He has a green light on a dead center heater. He misses. 3-1. Cooper is a lefty out of last year's NCAA champion, LSU Tigers. And Guilarte pops out harmlessly to shallow right field. Has to do better there. 3-1 count. Lunges and pops up an outside heater. Ouch. On to the sixth. 3-0 Mudcats trail.

[Joseph Zarr]

1 hour ago, Joseph Zarr said:

Baez swinging K on a 95 mph 0-2 heater. Roll over weak grounder by Garcia. Castillo chases a change-up that drops low and inside below the zone. Swinging K. 2-0 Delmarva headed to the 3rd.

It's important to remember, Delmarva's weakness is not their starting pitching. Their bullpen, however, is very very hittable. 

BUMP.

3-run 6th has the Muddies within 4-3. Will Durow's run allowed in the top half prove detrimental? Two down. Man on first. Walling to the dish.

[Joseph Zarr]

Baez does it again! After a 2-RBI triple the in ing before, he just smacked a two out RBI ground rule double scoring Guilarte. We are knotted at 4-4!

[Joseph Zarr]

Reece Walling truthers unite @wiguy94 (I guess that's, well, you and I 😅)

 

[Joseph Zarr]

The same day Hicklen goes on the IL, the Sounds are on the verge of being no-hit. They have zeroes on the scoreboard in the top of the 8th at Memphis. Yuck.

And, color me absolutely shocked:

The Shuckers have not plated a run either headed to the bottom of the 8th. They trail 3-0. On the verge of losing their seventh straight at Home. This team. There is a certain lack of words.

[Joseph Zarr]

Wiemer breaks the no-no. Well, there's that! Did they think they were facing Cubs starters? 

[Joseph Zarr]

T-Rats WALK OFF!!! Barrios flares an 0-2 single to shallow right CF. Heck of a hit in the situation. They are now 1/2 G in 1st place over the Kernels. C Matt Wood played a huge part in the win - he hit the game-tying double scoring Adams (with two down) in the 8th and threw a runner out at 2B in the top of the 9th. HUGE W. 

Thank the heavens for the the T-Rats and the Mudcats in 2024!

[Joseph Zarr]

I know I laud manager Victor Estevez any chance I get. BUT, let me just share with you how different he is than most the Minor League managers I've watched in my many years watching the system. He just makes winning decisions in real time on such a consistent basis. Nobody will likely talk about it, but, bringing in his Ace in RHP Craig Yoho to put out Aquino's bases loaded firestorm after the Tin Caps had already plated three in the 5th inning absolutely won that ball game. I firmly believe this. THAT is what I'm talking about when i say Estevez plays to develop and win. He knows his team just had a rough series at South Bend. He knows it's a two-horse race between Cedar Rapids and his young team. AND, let me tell you: not a lot of Minor League managers play that game all that well. He's different. He's a star in the making. I'm going to follow his career wherever it leads.

[Ro Mueller]

Nervy win for the Mudcats. They were up 6-5, facing the bases loaded with 1 out, but Bayden Root got the 6-4-3 GIDP to end it.

Did Daniel Guilarte injure himself trying to steal 3rd base to end the 8th inning? Or did he get pulled for stealing when he shouldn’t? 

[Ro Mueller]

No earned runs were scored in the Sounds-Redbirds game, but the Redbirds had 10 of the 13 hard hit balls. No Sounds offense without Hicklen. Solid 6 shutout innings by Taylor Clarke and Evan McKendry.

[Ro Mueller]

Not many positives in the box score of the ACL Brewers 8-1 defeat to ACL Rangers.

But 18-year old RHP Bryan Rivera (1 R, 3 Ks) was solid over 4 innings of middle relief and 1B Luis Lameda reached base 3 times (single, walk, HBP).

Oddly, Eric Martinez sat for the 2nd straight game. With the Brewers also attempting Zero stolen bases for the 2nd straight game, you have to wonder whether they had Zero bench position players available. More likely they’re still at 10 total position players - with Martinez essentially a substitute-only-in-emergency player the past 2 days.