Brewers Minor League Link Report (9/14): All Eyes on Appleton Tonight as Biloxi Snoozes Before Their Own Tuesday Playoff

[Jim Goulart]

With Mother Nature wiping out two game ticket proceeds in Nashville, Saturday's only on-field action (if you can call it that) was in a Biloxi shortened shutout home loss. The Shuckers will hopefully do more than go through the motions on Sunday afternoon, setting up some momentum for their Tuesday playoff opener.

Image courtesy of BrewerFanatic

It was announced that RHP Ryan Birchard, the 21-year-old drafted out of an upstate New York community college in the 5th round in 2023, would start Sunday's Timber Rattlers playoff opener. It's a surprise given Birchard's struggles in five Wisconsin appearances, all starts since August 13th (14 walks in 10.1 IP, 8.71 ERA).

Now, how much has the Wisconsin pitching staff been ravaged by injuries and promotions? Review the roster including the "status" column here. It's clear the one injury that hurts most right now is that of LHP Brian Fitzpatrick, who has been awesome for many weeks as his game log indicates.

So, given the options, and considering Birchard will only be asked to pitch a limited number of innings, throwing Birchard in a non-elimination game may be wise, lining up RHP's Alexander Cornielle and (if needed) Will Rudy for road games in the series starting Tuesday.

 

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Sounds Doubleheader with Memphis Canceled Due to Inclement Weather
Games will not be made up – tomorrow’s home finale to be one game at 6:05 PM Central

Nashville heads to Norfolk for the final series of the season beginning Tuesday. Those will be the lone regular season games within this coming week's Link Reports, with the focus placed on Biloxi and Wisconsin playoff action.

 

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Biloxi Pre-Game Media Notes (unavailable for this date)
Final: Mississippi (Braves) 6, Biloxi 0, called with one out in the bottom of the 7th
Box Score and Game Log

Shuckers Fall to M-Braves in Penultimate Game of Regular Season - Hall records multi-hit effort, bullpen tosses 5.1 shutout innings

First, we can enjoy happier memories as acting Manager Fidel Pena relives Thursday's playoff-clinching sweep -

Coming off a 7-0 loss Friday night, this repeat shutout makes us wonder how much champagne was enjoyed Thursday.

RH reliever Chase Costello's arrival from Wisconsin has been most welcome, he stranded a runner for miscast and struggling LH starter Adam Seminaris, and then Costello tossed two additional scoreless frames. He has allowed one hit in six scoreless innings (4 BB, 6 K).

Each of the Shuckers' four hits was a single.

Brock Wilken drew a walk, but we'll see if he can keep his 2024 mark with Biloxi above the infamous Mendoza line.

Eric Brown, Jr. sat for a consecutive game. His line of .220/.317/.262 (.532 OPS) in 105 games is well, less than ideal.

Looks like a bullpen game on Sunday, with Kaleb Bowman the opener as the linked game summary noted.

 

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Biloxi day game Sunday, Nashville evening, but the Sounds will be opposite the Timber Rattlers, who wisely scheduled a 6:40 PM local time game, avoiding both the Packers and Brewers attention span conflicts. Go T-Rats!

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