Brewers Minor League Link Report (5/26): Sounds lose 2-1 Nailbiter; Ereu Walks Five Times and Scores Go-Ahead Run in Victory

Transactions:

• RHP Logan Henderson was optioned to the Nashville Sounds from the Milwaukee Brewers
• RHP Ryan Middendorf was transferred to the Development List by the Nashville Sounds
• LHP Connor Thomas was sent on a rehab assignment to the ACL Brewers by the Milwaukee Brewers

Final: Indianapolis (Pirates) 2, Nashville 1
Via the Sounds website, please be sure to click and read each of the affiliate write-ups as part of your season-long Link Report routine (believe me, it's worth it):

Sounds Drop Series Opener Against Indians on Memorial Day - Misiorowski Suffers First Loss of Season

Box Score/Game Log

In a game where RHP Jacob Misiorowski clearly didn't have his best stuff (compared to what we've seen over the past month), it is still quite telling he struck out eight in four innings pitched and struck out the side to end his night:

As mentioned in the above clip, the fourth and final frame was his sole 1-2-3 frame of work. All told, he managed a 4.0 IP, 5 H, 2 BB, 8 K, 2 R (1 earned) line. He threw 87 pitches with 56 thrown for strikes. Didn't have his best outing and still earned 15 swings and misses on 45 total swings. Didn't have his best outing and still adorns the entire top rungs of the Top Pitch Velocity ladder at Baseball Savant.

We sure are spoiled at present with this type of talent just sitting in Triple-A.

Three Quick Strikes:

1) LHP Bryan Hudson had his best relief outing we've since in some time his last time atop the bump May 22nd versus Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. He was touching the high 94 mph zone on his heater and he had life on every pitch. Fast forward four days later to tonight's outing and that velocity was back down into the 90-92 mph range again. He touched 92.8 mph. He averaged 91.8 mph on 15 total four-seamers thrown. He pitched a scoreless 1.0 IP with 1 H, 1 BB, 0 K, and 0 R. He was also credited with a pitch clock violation. It's hard to leave this outing feeling grand about Hudson's ability to stack outings without ten days of rest.

2) DH Wes Clarke went 0-for-3 with 1 BB and 3 K on his evening. It was the last strikeout that stung the most by my eyes. In the top of the ninth frame with the lead-off man having gotten aboard via free pass, Clarke went down on a very poor pseudo-swing on a dead center breaking ball. Clarke certainly has a unique propensity to swing and miss at pitches in the zone so, in that regard, this swing wasn't all that much different. But, the look of the swing itself spoke of a player completely fooled and simply not ready to meet the moment. Clarke continues to have way too high a K rate for a power hitter with only 7 XBH's in 155 PA in 2025. This has been a step back in level of play for Clarke in the first two months of 2025.

3) This might be my favorite outing I've seen from RHP Craig Yoho since being optioned to the Sounds by the Brewers back on May 3rd. All told, Yoho slung a very efficient 1.0 IP of 0 H, 0 BB, 2 K work. 12 pitches. 9 strikes. Absolutely what we want to see from this young high leverage phenom. The sweeper was generating, on average, 2913 RPM of spin and it even eclipsed 3,000. He generated, on average, 20 inches of horizontal break on the pitch. The change-up was doing vintage Yoho stuffs. The heater touched 94 mph but sat 93 mph. These are the type of outings that will give him serious new looks with the Brewers as the greater baseball season progresses. 

With the loss, the Sounds fell to 31-20. They lose a 1/2 G on Lehigh Valley and remain 5.0 GB of the International League leaders.

Final: ACL Brewers 11, ACL Guardians 9
Box Score/Game Log

Sometimes you leave a Complex League game wondering what actually went down in that particular contest. Tonight's action between the ACL Brewers and ACL Guardians was one such affair.  Before the ACL Brewers had come to the dish in their half of the fifth inning, they had already walked nine times. LF Jayden Fielder and 2B Kevin Ereu led the mad dash to the free pass buffet with three apiece at that point in the game. The Crew were leading 9-7 and yet they were failing to reallllly capitalize - 8 LOB and 4-for-14 with RISP through 4 1/2 frames. And, as I typed this little introduction, 3B Frederi Montero walked aboard - the 10th Brewer to be given a charitable walk down the first base line. When all was said and done the ACL Crew batters as a group walked 13 times to seven strikeouts. Coming into this evening's game, 2B Kevin Ereu had a woeful 0.302 OPS. He was hitting with a 0.075 BA on the season. His batting average did not change but with the five free passes (and scoring the winning run after his fifth walk) he bumped that OPS up to 0.377 on his season. Miles to go. When you aren't hitting, however, it's always a great feeling to still find ways to impact games in meaningful ways. Ereu will continue to look to get his bat heating up.

Also of note on the offense:

• CF Handelfry Encarnacio hit his 7th double of his season in a 2-for-5, 1 RBI evening. He has a 0.918 OPS through 60 ACL AB.
• Lead-off, DH Jorge Quintana continues to rebound from his sluggish start to the ACL season with a 2-for-5, 2 R, 2 RBI, 1 K, 2 SB evening. He continues to trend up.
• Despite a two base fielding error, RF Engel Paulino knocked the go-ahead run across in the bottom of the eighth with a single to right field in a 2-for-5, 2 R, 2 RBI, 2 K evening.

RHP Ethan Dorchies suffered his first real adversity since the ACL season began. He worked around eight hits and three errors (2B Kevin Ereu with two fielding errors and RF Engel Paulino with a fielding error) for a final line of 5.0 IP, 8 H, 0 BB, 3 K, 7 R (3 earned). He threw 71 pitches with 50 strikes. Unfortunately, we had no StatCast data on the evening. One would surmise, without the errors we may be looking at an entirely different final output but the control continues to be a strength 22 K-to-3 BB in 17.0 IP for an 18-year-old 10th round high school draft pick is phenomenal. LHP Connor Thomas saw his first rehab work in the desert. It did not go wonderfully: 1.0 IP, 3 H, 1 BB, 2 ER. It's important to note, his evening started with an apparent slowly hit ground ball infield single to 3B. He got his feet wet. We'll leave it at that. RHP Argenis Aparicio pitched a clean ninth frame (1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 BB, 0 K, 0 R) to pick up his second Save but, really, I think it's time we start paying more attention to the early work of one RHP Daurys Mora. At 21 years of age, this Dominican righty is making a case for an eventual promotion to Low-A Carolina. The age matches a call up. His early (yes, very early) production is warranting attention. After tonights scoreless 2.0 IP of 0 H, 1 BB, 2 K work, he is unscored upon across five outings. 6.0 IP, 2 H, 10 K, 4 BB, 1 HB, 0 ER, 1 HLF, 2 SV, 2 SVO. He is sporting a 1.00 WHIP with a 0.100 BAA. All the boxes are currently being checked. 

With the victory, the ACL Brewers moved to 13-5 on their season. They gained 1/2 G on the Angels and lead their ACL Central division by 1.5 G. They continue to outscore everyone in the ACL. Their next closest RS competitor is the ACL Reds at 101 Runs. The ACL Crew have scored 134 runs on their season.  They continue to lead the entire ACL in run differential with their +39 output. It truly is an incredible season to witness given the extremely young roster they put out there on a nightly basis.

The Sounds will take the day off tomorrow while Carolina, Wisconsin, Biloxi, and the ACL Brewers will all be back at it in the evening hours. RHP Travis Smith will try to limit opposing batters in a season where they have generally found a lot of bat-to-ball success. At this juncture, the remaining starting pitching decisions are 'TBD'.

As always, thanks for reading and thanks for supporting Brewers Minor League baseball.

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