Wed. 5/29: First-place Timber Rattlers Kick Things Off in Matinee

[Joseph Zarr]

Castillo in a hitters count as well. 3-0. OH MY GOODNESS!!!!!!!

[Joseph Zarr]

MUDCATS now lead 10-8. Holy heck he crushed that ball over the short corner in RF. Never say die, Muddies! Unreal. Castillo's 8th HR of the season. That was an absolute no doubter. Mighty. WOW. A 5-run 9th on ONE single BIG hit.

And, now we have the highlight:

 

[Joseph Zarr]

Meanwhile, the Shuckers got both Boeve and Wilken aboard to start their 8th in a 0-0 game. What happens? Darrien Miller K's looking in the clean-up spot. EBJ strikes out swinging in the 5-spot. (COUGH). And, Martinez Jr. flies out to LF. Like I said, I can't take Ayrault seriously. Did he even pinch run for Boeve? Nah.

[Joseph Zarr]

Two down for Austin in the 9th. K swinging. Fly out to Castillo in RF. 0-2 on the next batter. Still has juice on that heat here in his 3rd inning of work. Just misses upstairs and outside on a 94 mph heater. Off-speed and he gets a foul ball to the backstop. 1-2 and he gets the batter looking with a gorgeous outer strip change-up. 

WHAT. AN. IMPROBABLE. WIN.

WHEEEEEE.

Also: major props to the homeplate umpire. That was definitively some of the best ball and strike calling I've seen at any level all season. Major kudos there. Impressive work from Larry Pettis. 

[Joseph Zarr]

Meanwhile, predictably, the Shuckers now trail 1-0. Double. Single. Seminaris gave 4 IP of 1 R, 4 K relief work. He'll likely take the Loss. Meanwhile, chomping at the bit to see what innovation manager Joe Ayrault can give us to light the proverbial spark in this wooooooozy Shuckers line up.

[Joseph Zarr]

Black with a 2-rbi single in the 5th. Sounds now lead 9-3. Patrick really not having a solid outing whatsoever but he's going to try and give his team 5 IP. Black now has 4 RBI. Heck of a game for him at the dish.

[Joseph Zarr]

And, as predictable as the sun rising in the East and setting in the West, the Shuckers lose 1-0. That's 8-straight at Home 'L's. That's 9 straight L's overall. The manager's innovative move to light the spark? Put two of his worst 2024 hitters in the most important spots in the line up. I struggle to understand Ayrault's 'tactics'. I really do. Anyhow, the uglier got ugliest. Shuckers now sit at 11 games under 0.500. Yuck.

[Joseph Zarr]

Isaac Collins now 3-for-3 with a double here in the 6th frame. Let's get that triple and cycle in the next AB, Isaac! Woot woot.

[Joseph Zarr]

RHP Melvin Hernandez has five punch outs through 2 IP. You have to love these ACL glimpses we're getting of this young man's move stateside. ACL Crew lead 3-1 in the 3rd.

[Joseph Zarr]

3.0 IP, 1 R, 3 H, 6 K for Hernandez now. Man, it is fun to see him start to shine and hit another level in his stateside stuff. This just in: it plays. 

[Joseph Zarr]

Meeker's first batter faced in the 8th? Gone. He hung a mid 80's breaking ball dead center and it was smoked well over the wall in left CF. Welcome back to the mound, Mr. Meeker. Sounds still lead 9-4.

[Joseph Zarr]

Definitely not a sharp first inning of relief for Meeker. He got two outs after the solo jack. He then proceeded to walk the next two batters for the dangerous Jordan Walker. A HR and 2 BB is not going to do you any favors most innings. BUT, it ultimately made no difference as Dorrian makes his second superb stab of a smoked liner in his evening of work. That ball was smoked. Like I said, Meeker was not sharp at all that inning.

[Joseph Zarr]

Coming into tonight's relief work, RHP Dikember Sanchez had 14 K in 7 IP. He added 5 more punch outs in 2 2/3 IP tonight with an unearned run in there. He lowered his ERA to 3.72 in the process. SO, now through 9 2/3 IP and a much more palatable ERA (at, say, a Box Score glance - after all, we all know this is what the ACL 'scouting' is) we see 19 K over 9 2/3 IP. THAT kind of production is going to catch eyes and likely lead to a promotion to Low-A Carolina as the proverbial roster deck chairs shuffle. 

[Joseph Zarr]

ACL Crew move to 8-11 with a 7-2 victory over a classic 7-inning ACL tilt. Excellent! 

[Jim French Stepstool]

Great night at the dish for Tyler Black. But I see he committed his 7th error of the season, and that's A LOT for a 1B with June not yet here (2 of the 7 in one game at 3B). It's difficult to get a handle on what direction his future may take AFA possible position change, etc. It'll be interesting.