Joseph Zarr

After nine consecutive balls (a slider low and in) Wehrle gets the slider center left cut. 1-1. He then gets the batter in front of one on the inner stripe (hard to tell what that was - maybe a change-up) and then strikes him out on a slider that tailed low and out of the zone. Two down. Whewww. The drama.

Eight consecutive balls. Wehrle just put the tying and winning runs on and not a single pitch was questionable. Yikes.

Wehrle gives up a rising liner to CF (103 mph off the bat) but it hangs long enough so Lara can charge it and get the first out. He then walks the next batter on four pitches - none of them close. This is only the second SVO for Wehrle so this is a big opportunity for him.

It looks like Wehrle is going to get the SVO. Let's see if he can pull this unexpected chance at victory out of the rabbits hat!

Diaz delivers with a liner to LF! Avina scores but a poor send (imho) sees Mercado gunned down at homeplate. He was out by a good 3'. Diaz on 1B. Two down. 4-3 Mudcats.

Meanwhile, the Mudcats have scored 2 runs in the top of the 9th to tie things at 3-3 in Fayetteville. An rbi double by CF Luis Lara scored 1B Jesus Chirinos (who also doubled). Then a weak dribbler off the bat of OF Jace Avina fielded by the catcher and charged with a throwing error scored Lara and saw Avina grab 1B. We now have Avina on 2B and Castillo at 1B after his single. Two on. One down. Both runners just advanced on a WP with C Blayberg Diaz at the dish.

It would appear one of the promotions we've all been waiting for has happened. I expect INF Tyler Black will see the majority of his work at 1B. And, that may explain the sudden shift recently in Biloxi - the Sounds have zero true 1B on their roster. Black will fit right in with Hiura and Toro trying their best to fill that void. Thanks to @wibadgers23for the following:

They promote him when he was 5 or 6 SB removed from breaking the Shuckers overall record. Sigh. This just in: when you are really good at baseball you get moved before you can break a lot of things. He did, however, break the On Base streak. So, that's nice.

Smith & Shears really know how to hammer and snip things in high-leverage innings. What those two have done all season long is nothing short of remarkable. The charnel grounds of the challenging Southern League awaits them...when will they get that call? Only time will tell. The T-Rats close out a Game 1 victory 5-2. They move to 18-17 - 2 GB of the Peoria Chiefs for that second half crown (Cedar Rapids, again, is irrelevant because they did what they seem to do every year: secured a Playoff birth with the first half runaway crown).

Yikes. Not a good look.

Family Night Observations: I remain befuddled by how the Packers as an organization and the local stations covering Family Night. 73K people there. International fan base. Had to randomly find the stream in Twitch? Repeatedly cutting away to commercials in team portions? Lame. After an over-amped overthrowing beginning to his practice, J Love was fantastic. He has such a good arm. He looked natural in the pocket (I know, doesn't mean much under fake live fire) WR Malik Heath looks like something. He really does. The off-season hype appears real. WR Jayden Reed looks like something TE Luke Musgrave is going to be a big problem for opposing defenses. I hope hope hope he stays healthy. RB Tyler Goodson appeared to get the predominant amount of 3rd team RB reps K Anders Carlson was very good. 8-of-9. Several 50 yd + boots. The lone miss was a terrible snap and a bad timing play. He appears to have plenty of leg to hit 55 yarders - something I definitely can't say about late 30's Mason Crosby C Josh Myers continues to have problems. I am pretty sure there have been five miscue snaps/exchanges throughout TC and he has been the C for all of them? He misfired an early snap to J-Love in an 11-on-11 period. A classic case of a Center snapping when the QB is getting the motion man going and was completely unawares. Not drafting C Creed Humphrey continues to haunt the Packers as they fell prey to their stubborn requirements over a clearly more talented player. S Jonathan Owens again started and played with the Ones DL Karl Brooks and Colby Wooden were in the backfield quite a bit with the back-ups. DL Devontae Wyatt continues to flash That's about all I saw. Curious if anyone else tuned in and saw other things.

This is very very well deserved. Wilson has been fantastic for Lehigh Valley in 2023: 25 long balls (!!), 0.885 OPS, 25 SB (6 CS). All the shades of his first Triple-A work with Nashville in 2021 but with more PA's. So happy for Wilson - a truly versatile and talented baseball player.

That RHP Nick Merkel story is the Sauce. That is why I follow these young men. Their stories are so inspiring. What a journey for that young man. Thanks for sharing, Jim. That was a great use of a portion of my Sunday morning. Also, huge shoutout to Mudcats bullpen coach Jorge Ortega. Merkel credits him for working over his slider in 2023. Seeing the ongoing results from that Mudcats bullpen all season long, it is quite apparent he is a jewel in the Brewers org coaching ranks.

They are talented. But, a lot of their talent is having down or very inconsistent years. They've had their moments recently but they were also getting insane run production from their bats. Losing RHP Harold Chirinos was a big loss. RHP Cam Robinson has been very solid now in recent SVO's. That's a big development considering how far South his year had turned. The problem is, you just don't know what you're getting from literally any bullpen arm on any given night. That's a hard road to travel. AND, yet, they still hold a 3.0 G lead in their division for the 2nd half. Pensacola is essentially a non-factor because they already won the 1st half (currently tied with the Wahoos in the 2nd half). But, the bullpen is their Achilles' heel. Just as scoring runs is the Brewers. It is what it is.

Also History:

After a sharp ground out to 3B off the bat of Freddy Zamora, Ethan Murray gets the classic weak dribbler infield single to 3B. Tristen Lutz to the dish. Two down. He strikes out on a 2-2 off-speed pitch. Shuckers lose 4-3. The bullpen fails to hold it late...the offense couldn't get another across.

Zavi Warren just missed a HR to RF by about 6-9'. That ball need a bit more launch. Fly out to the deep warning track of right CF.

Middy gets away with the wild pitch and gets the groundout to Zamora at SS. On to the 8th. 4-3 Wahoos.

Weekly?😬

Middendorf just gave up a near 2-run jack to RF. Instead it was a two out rbi double. Wahoos lead 4-3. That ball was roped.

Middendorf will come back out for the bottom of the 7th.

Rodriguez K, Chourio fly out to CF, Collins BB, Clarke pop out to 3B. On to the bottom half of the 7th. 3-3.

RHP Ryan Middendorf is called to clean Vennaro's men on base. He does so inducing the grounder to Zamora at SS. On to the 7th. 3-3 ball game.

Vennaro just gave up a single, walk, walk, and single. It's now a tie ball game. 3-3. Two down. Men on 1st and 2nd for the Blue Wahoos.

Yup. It was a historic blast: