Tue. 8/13 - Wichrowski Toes the Biloxi Rubber

[Joseph Zarr]

Yes Sir! Walling rips a 3-1 gapper double to right CF (yeah, that's right @wiguy94!). That ball was smacked at 105 mph. Let's go! 2-1 Muddies.

[Joseph Zarr]

This is extremely reminiscent of the previous series vs Delmarva for the Muddies - they scored in the 8th inning in 5-of-6 games in that series. And, in 4 of those games, Delmarva led entering the 8th. Wild. Diaz K'd swinging. Yophery topped a warmburner to the mound. 2-1 Muddies headed to the bottom of the 8th.

[Joseph Zarr]

For reference, regarding the weird events of the 7th inning in Delmarva: Delmarva sent the same batter to the plate twice and they only sent four batters to the dish in the frame. Just extremely strange. I don't know if I've ever seen that in all my years of watching Minor League baseball.

[Joseph Zarr]

Sanchez gives up an oppo single to RF to start the frame. That batter then took 2B on the second mishandle I've seen tonight from Diaz who can't get the ball out of his mitt as it trickled before him. That runner is advanced to 3B on a groundout to 2B. Then on a three pitch K it appeared Sanchez and the Muddies were robbed of the strikeout throw him out at 3B. That ball appeared to get there. Didn't get the call. Two down. Man on 3B.

[Joseph Zarr]

Yeah, they had him. The infield ump missed the call. Sigh. And Baez absolutely knew it and was not pleased. 

[Joseph Zarr]

HUGE work by RHP Dikember Sanchez. He wasn't given the call on a gorgeous low breaker (appeared in the zone). He buckled down in a 3-1 count and ultimately got the K lookin on the inside black. He strands the tying run at 3B. The Muddies are absolutely overcoming several things going against them late. One more inning to pull this out. They lead 2-1 headed to the 9th inning. 

Meanwhile, in Biloxi the Shuckers bats continue to be bedazzled by sliders and change-ups. Wilken goes down looking. Miller goes down swinging on a change-up dead center. They now have double digit strikeouts. They each strand runners on 1st and 2nd base. Shuckers trail 1-0.

[Joseph Zarr]

How was the Mudcats game tied, you might ask? I have that answer:

 

[Joseph Zarr]

Mudcats win behind the fantastic pitching of Corniel and Sanchez and the bats of their Twin Towers in Bitonti and Walling. Beautiful stuff. 

[Joseph Zarr]

This is now the second consecutive frame the Shuckers have runners on 1st and 2nd with one down. Murray to the dish. Let's see if he can rise to the occasion. 

[Joseph Zarr]

Murray quickly falls behind 0-2. He strikes out on 3 pitches. He is offering very little to zero resistance at the dish since returning. Which, if we're being honest, has been the story of Murray's entire 2024 season. Just a really rough year for the infielder.

[Joseph Zarr]

Oh man, Caleb Martin ripped a scorcher right to the SS. Ugh. That ball was rocked. I don't think he had to move but one foot to his right. It will simply go down as a 'FO'. Man, tough luck there. 1-0 Shuckers deficit headed to the 7th where we'll likely see RHP Nick Merkel's second inning of relief work.

[Joseph Zarr]

Sounds fall 8-3 in Durham. It was absolutely an 8-3 loss in every way. Ugly game 1. They were outhit 13-4. 

[Joseph Zarr]

I swear I think the same thing each and every time I watch INF Eduardo Garcia swing the bat:

"If I'm a High-A pitcher I don't throw him a single strike. Everything off speed down or away. Maybe get him on his heels some more with some high heaters up and out of the zone for good measure. With this approach, I will very likely strike him out."

He goes down flailing with the bases juiced and two down. Swings and misses considerably on a slider about 2 feet off the plate and well away. Swings and misses on a change-up that dipped well below the zone. Absolutely fooled. He was way ahead of that pitch that wasn't really hittable regardless. 

He just doesn't have any semblance of a sophisticated approach at the plate. It's the same swing-and-miss package I've seen in him since his Low-A days. I feel for him.

[Joseph Zarr]

O'Rae begins the 8th K'ng on a slider down and in and the Shuckers have now punched out 14 times. They are getting absolutely owned by off-speed. Boeve just smacked a single up the middle and has another multi-hit game. One down. Boeve on 1B.

[Joseph Zarr]

Wilken quickly falls behind 0-2. Slider inside looking. Slider inside fouled behind home plate. He is 0-for-2, with 2 K, 1 BB heading into this AB. He has struggled mightily in August. It's ugly.

[Joseph Zarr]

Wilken K's again. He is just lost right now. Not a good swing on a 98 mph heater belt high on the outer black. A reach flail swing and miss. He is all sorts of discombobulated in the batters box at present. The struggle is very real. 3 K. 1 BB. You don't want to know his numbers in August. You really don't. 

[Joseph Zarr]

Miller grounds out harmlessly to 2B to end the Shuckers half of the 7th. These AB's right now are eerily reminiscent of the first half Shuckers. They've now K'd 15 times. They'll head to the 8th down 1-0. 

[Joseph Zarr]

Merkel's knuckle curve and slider combo are just realllllly good pitch offerings. He continues to impress me nearly every time I watch him pitch. He can sit on those for a batter plus and then boom his 92-93 mph (touches 94-95 from time-to-time) just catches you sitting off speed. He's now struck out 4 in three shutout innings of work with a very healthy pitch count. I continue to just love his game.

[biedergb]

11 minutes ago, Joseph Zarr said:

Wilken K's again. He is just lost right now. Not a good swing on a 98 mph heater belt high on the outer black. A reach flail swing and miss. He is all sorts of discombobulated in the batters box at present. The struggle is very real. 3 K. 1 BB. You don't want to know his numbers in August. You really don't. 

While Boeve has come back and hit mostly, Wilken has been ice cold. Hopefully he figures it out again. His was hitting well in July. Just not great to watch

Also - add Lara as one who is struggling. Outside his first few weeks in Wisconsin, he has had a good week here and there but just not consistent on the offensive side. I suspect he will repeat A+ next year.

[Joseph Zarr]

The Shuckers have had a base runner on board for seven consecutive innings. They have yet to score a run. The revelation that is Connor Scott just smacked his 2nd double of his evening. He's aboard 2B with one down (EBJ shallow pop out behind 2B). Adam Hall just advanced Scott on a come backer. Man on 3B. Two down. Ethan Murray will try to put together a meaningful AB. He's looked overmatched all night but that can change in a hurry. 0-for-3. 3 K. AND, the Shuckers and Murray rips another absolute dart directly to the SS. Uncanny. That's twice now. That was Murray's best swing of the night. And, he suffers a classic "That's baseball." result. 

[Joseph Zarr]

Hey a clean and scoreless inning for RHP Yerlin Rodriguez. No wild nothing in there. Thank the heavens. I needed that storyline after watching these games tonight. 😂

[Joseph Zarr]

RHP Sam Gardner comes aboard and K's two consecutive on dirty dirty sliders. Man, I love me some RHP Sam Gardner. This pitching effort deserves so much better tonight. The Shuckers have three more outs. I wish I could say I'm confident they'll pull it out. 

[Joseph Zarr]

Just like that the home plate ump randomly decides to squeeze Garnder on gorgeous consecutive inner black sliders. He gets the ground out to end the frame. Three up. Three down. On to the bottom of the 9th. 1-0 Shuckers trail.

[Joseph Zarr]

Martin opens the ninth with a fesity AB. After a questionable low outside sinker called for a K he fouls one back. Takes a ball to go full. Fouls another back. Fouls another back. He's opening with at least 9 pitches. He fouls another. On to the 10th pitch. And, he fouls out harmless to 1B foul territory. Really good AB. Just not the result he was looking for. 

[Joseph Zarr]

Shuckers scored on an Eduardo Garcia single up the middle to pull within 6-2 (a heater on the outer half but belt high - can't do that to Garcia...see my scouting report 😂). BUT, Hall grounds into the game-ending DP. T-Rats lose game 1 6-2.

Meanwhile, Brock Wilken has an opportunity to walk it off and kiss his August struggles good bye. O'Rae on 1B via BB. Boeve just popped out to shallow LF. 1-0 Braves lead.