Wed. 6/19 - Misiorowski Needs to Impress; T-Rats To Face Yu Darvish in Fort Wayne

[Joseph Zarr]

Campbell goes down looking at a 3-2 belt high inside heater. Gotta protect there, Noah. 

[Joseph Zarr]

Shuckers leave them juiced and not a single ball hit a bat in the process. Three K's by Cargo, Campbell, and Martin. Ugly Shuckers stuff right there.

[Joseph Zarr]

Chirinos now has a 3-run bomb. And a 2-run single to CF. 6-0 T-Rats. Kuehner continues to dominance Darvish. Darvish is pulled...maybe retires after this trouncing 🤭

[Joseph Zarr]

My mini sidebar storyline of Areinamo's subtly improving plate discipline: Another free pass here in the 4th. Really a nice little trending sidebar from one of my favorite players in the entire system. 15 K: 15 BB since May 1st. Exciting development!

[Joseph Zarr]

O'Rae has 5 K now in his first two Double-A contests. He has gone down swinging and now looking. 2 AB. 2 K so far today. 

[Joseph Zarr]

LHP Tate Kuehner has entered the chat. Don't say I didn't warn you. Because, well I've warned you at least three times. Kuhener with another 1-2-3 frame in the 4th. He has 6 punchies. Looks fantastic.

[Joseph Zarr]

Corniel is having a bit of a shaky 5th frame. A walk. A single to CF. He has men on the corners. But, with his pitch count only at 55 he gets a K looking at a breaking ball belt high and slightly in. Let's see if he can get out of this. Two down. 0-1 count and he throws a ball in the dirt but his catcher saves him with a fabulous dig. 1-1. AND, they get the Fireflies in a double steal attempt. Gorgeous work. Expertly done. THAT is how you do it. Garcia with a fabulous bit of work there behind the plate. On to the 6th. 

[Joseph Zarr]

7th punchy for Kuehner who continues to defy his 5 BB per 9 IP 2024 trend. He is cruising. Best outing by a country mile. Just dialed in. Locating. He has a one hitter. Fantastic work. 6-0 T-Rats as we head to the top of the 6th.

[wiguy94]

1 hour ago, Joseph Zarr said:

Chirinos absolutely obliterated that pitch. My goodness. Camera couldn't even find it. LOL. It's 4-0 T-Rats. That ball likely left the entire ballpark. Whoa baby. On to the Summit. Atop the 400 Club. 382 '.

Darvish then ends the inning on the pitch he 'should' have given Chirinos. Off-speed dipping down and in below the zone. Swinging K. 

2 weeks in a row he broke trackman by hitting the ball too hard/far.

[Joseph Zarr]

After the early HBP, we aren't seeing the elevated velocity numbers we'd like. We aren't seeing good control, really, of his off-speed offerings. BUT, we are seeing a much improved Misiorowski. He strands a runner on 2B (misplayed dribbler by EBJ - likely scored a hit? Shouldn't be) and gets his 3rd K through 4 IP.

[Joseph Zarr]

1 minute ago, wiguy94 said:

2 weeks in a row he broke trackman by hitting the ball too hard/far.

RIght?! That ball was obliterated. AND, the cameraperson had zero clue where it went. He's had a fantastic 2024 in limited exposure. Just has had some huge moments. He'll remember that bomb for the rest of his life.

[Joseph Zarr]

Corniel has completed 6 IP. I mean, what more can you say about these young hurlers in Carolina? Unreal first halves. Just unreal poise and effort.  2-2 game.

[Joseph Zarr]

Shuckers strand two in the 5th after Boeve flies out deep to the RF warning track. Thought he might have hit that one out. Dang. Still a 0-0 pitcher's duel.

[Joseph Zarr]

Kuehner with his first BB and clearly the sudden downpour got the balls moist and the breaking ball/change-up grip had no traction. Unfortunate there. The Box Scroes so often don't tell the full story. 

[Joseph Zarr]

Boy Kuehner is having some bad luck in the 6th. He gave up a well hit single to LF to get runners on 1st and 2nd, no doubt. But the downpour caused the walk. Now a super weird short-hop chopper flew up the arm of a charging Areinamo . Runners on the corners. Nobody out. 6-1 game. Just a tough luck sequence here. 

[Joseph Zarr]

Miz is scoreless through 5 IP at just 66 pitches. You absolutely LOVE to see it. The K's aren't where we want them but we have to get back to pounding the zone and he is absolutely doing that tonight. Fantastic effort so far.

[Joseph Zarr]

Kuehner's outing ends after his 2nd free pass of the 6th. He completes 5 1/3 IP. Bad luck and then just a series of unfortunate events. Costello then gives up a first pitch oppo single to RF to load the bases. Hopefully he can leave these men stranded. Bases juiced. One down. 6-2 T-Rats.

[Joseph Zarr]

AND, he strands the pillows dripping. Wonderful. An inside breaker induces a super weak grounder directly to 2B. Barrios collects it. Steps on the bag. Casually throws to first for the inning ending DP. 

[Joseph Zarr]

An evening after a HR jack, Wilken rips a deep line drive to the LF wall. That ball was rocked. It's a lead-off double to start the 6th. 

[Joseph Zarr]

Shuckers have the bases juiced. Nobody down. Top of the 6th. Last time they had the bases juiced? They struck out three times. Let's hope for a different result. 

[Joseph Zarr]

Cargo gets a Sac Fly. That'll do. Noice. 1-0 Shuckers!

[Joseph Zarr]

Noah Campbell adds two runs with a well hit single into CF. Fantastic. 3-0 Shuckers. Let's GO!

[Joseph Zarr]

Braelin Rodriguez had some tough luck earlier in the bottom of the 8th frame. He then walked a batter after several balls to get the bases juiced with only one down. AND, in an unreal decision by the Fireflies they choose to run from 2nd to 3rd on a deep sac fly and Castillo very wisely threw his OF toss direct to the 3B bag and they get the runner out before the run crosses. Unreal decision(s) there. Game stays locked at 2-2. 

[Joseph Zarr]

I like me some long-haired moustachioed RHP Chase Costello. Give me that man in any bullpen. Any day of the week. He has the strut to match my confidence in 2024. Love it. He pitches a clean 7th and gets the K looking on high heat to end the frame three-up; three-down. T-Rats lead 7-2.

[Joseph Zarr]

6 IP for Miz. 77 pitches. I think we'll see him start the 7th. Glorious. Scoreless. One hit work. Nope. He'll end his night after 6 IP, 5 K, 1 H, 0 BB, 1 HB. Just absolutely fantastic and, frankly, what we really needed to see. Let's absolutely build up from here young man! He knocks back 0.44 off his season ERA to boot and is now at 3.44 on the season.