Jim Goulart

Ninth Inning Rally Comes Up Short Great Falls holds on for 4-3 win By Zac Vierra / Helena Brewers Through eight innings on Saturday, the Brewer offense was dormant as it has been most of the series with Great Falls. But in the bottom of the ninth, Helena received a spark, thanks in part to a pair of Voyager errors. Trailing 4-1 going into their last at bat, the Brewers rallied for a pair of runs and had the tying run at second base, but Sean Hagan closed the game out as the Voyagers held on for a 4-3 win, their third straight victory over Helena. The ninth inning rally started when Michael Ratterree reached on a throwing error by the third baseman, Zach Voight. After Adam Giacalone singled, Dustin Houle pulled a base hit into left as Ratterree scored. When the ball got under the glove of Justin Jirschele in left, Giacalone came home as well. Houle would advance to second on the error. After Ruben Ozuna pinch ran for Houle, Hagan got Jose Pena to ground out to third, retired Clint Coulter on a lineout to third, and struck out Jalen Harris on a 3-2 pitch to end the ballgame. For the third straight game against the Voyagers, Helena was limited to less than four runs. And although the Brewers are 5-23 when scoring fewer than four runs, Helena skipper Tony Diggs does not seem concerned with the recent lack of offense, even with the playoffs starting on Monday. "You just have to be ready to have a good, solid approach every at bat and be ready to hit that's all. Nothing has changed since day one. You are going to have days when you have a ton of runs and days when you have to scratch them out and this was one of those games where you have to scratch them out so we're good," he said. Brandon Moore (photo below by Seth Eikomstead) was given the loss although he didn't pitch badly. He allowed a run in the second off a sac fly by Corey Thompson and two runs in the fourth, including his lone mistake, a solo homer off the bat of Zac Fisher. "It was a good solid outing for Moore. We wanted to stretch him out and get him to about four or five [innings]. Their hitter jumped on one good pitch and basically that was about it, that was the only ball he gave up that was hard," said Diggs. Trevor Seidenberger would come into the game with two outs in the fourth and he would keep the Brewers in the game through 4.1 innings. The only run he allowed, an RBI single by Tyler Shryock in the seventh, would be the difference in the game. Although the Brewers have lost three straight to their playoff foe, these games essentially mean nothing and Diggs is not worried. "Every game you want to win. You want to be on top of everything but just to see the way they played especially tonight, we're good," said Diggs. "The hitters did a good job of keeping us in this ballgame and in the ninth they made a run for it," he said. "I can handle tonight." The Brewers and Voyagers will finish the regular season on Sunday afternoon. Sunday's first pitch is scheduled for 1:05 PM (2:05 Central). http://www.milb.com/assets/images/6/6/0/59938660/cuts/31_Brandon_Moore_P_2_d7u1irsg_muh235ij.jpg

New this season: Helena has media notes; it's a unique link each day, but look for it just prior to game time each day within the "Stats and Scores" banner here.

Helena: RHP Brandon Moore at home vs. Great Falls (White Sox), 7:45 PM pre-game, 8:05 gametime Free Live Audio Link Voice of the Helena Brewers Steve Wendt is back on board, and this year he's added Twitter to the mix @steve_wendt. We've been treated to Steve's work for many years now (ten!); he is among the very best at the art of the pre-game interview, especially considering how at ease he makes all these first-time professional ballplayers. *** Follow Saturday's action as it happens with box score / game log links: Helena Box Score / Game Log *** STANDINGS: Rookie Advanced - Pioneer League North Division NOTE: To view first half or overall standings for Helena, you'll notice an option at the link for that. Otherwise it's second-half standings as the default view for those this league. *** Weather.com: Helena, MT

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Helena Box Score Lost in Helena's 43-31 record, the pitching staff has issued the most walks in the Pioneer League (by far) and K'd the fewest men. And most of the team hitting numbers are in the middle of the league pack. Not exactly peaking right now... Helena Game Log

Great Falls Wins Again Wimmer's Double the Difference By Zac Vierra / Helena Brewers Trey Wimmer's RBI double in the fifth inning ended up being the difference as Great Falls beat Helena 7-3 on Friday. After the Brewers had tied the game at three in the bottom of the fourth, the Voyagers struck back in the fifth. With one out and runners on first and second, Wimmer pulled a double to left to plate Jacob Morris with the go-ahead run. Christian Stringer would drive home another run in the inning when he reached on an infield single. The Voyagers would pick up a pair of insurance runs in the ninth when Christian Stringer drove two and Jeffrey McKenzie shut down the Brewers in the final two innings to earn his sixth save. Anthony Santiago picked up the win after allowing just one hit in the fifth and sixth innings. Danny Keller was handed the loss after allowing two runs on seven hits in 4.2 innings. The Brewers managed only five hits, one of which was a solo home run by Taylor Brennan (photo below by Seth Eikomstead) in the fourth inning, his 12th long ball of the season. For the second straight night Helena pitchers struggled to find the plate as they walked 10. Tyler Shryock and Corey Thompson each had three hits for Great Falls in the win. The game was delayed twice, once at the beginning of the game due to rain and again in the second inning due to lightning, for a total delay of one hour and 49 minutes. http://www.milb.com/assets/images/0/9/6/59834096/cuts/12_Taylor_Brennan_running_azwyrph2_vprq5rep.jpg

As they should have -- Oh my, that would have been sweet. Too bad Melvin (as far as we know) didn't try to add chips to make it happen.

AUDIO from Thursday -- Helena Brewers catcher Dustin Houle talks about his stint with the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers and his return to Helena

New this season: Helena has media notes; it's a unique link each day, but look for it just prior to game time each day within the "Stats and Scores" banner here.

Helena: LHP Anthony Banda at home vs. Great Falls (White Sox), 7:45 PM pre-game, 8:05 gametime Free Live Audio Link Voice of the Helena Brewers Steve Wendt is back on board, and this year he's added Twitter to the mix @steve_wendt. We've been treated to Steve's work for many years now (ten!); he is among the very best at the art of the pre-game interview, especially considering how at ease he makes all these first-time professional ballplayers. *** Follow Friday's action as it happens with box score / game log links: Helena Box Score / Game Log *** STANDINGS: Rookie Advanced - Pioneer League North Division NOTE: To view first half or overall standings for Helena, you'll notice an option at the link for that. Otherwise it's second-half standings as the default view for those this league. *** Weather.com: Helena, MT

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Fourth Inning Dooms Brewers Great Falls scores nine in the frame en route to win By Zac Vierra / Helena Brewers The old baseball cliché is that pitching and defense wins championships. If the Helena Brewers want to knock off Great Falls when the Pioneer League Playoffs start on Monday, they are going to have to see improvement in those facets of the game. The Brewers had a nightmare fourth inning when they committed two errors, walked four batters, hit a batter, and allowed four hits as the Voyagers sent 14 men to the plate and scored nine times. Helena could not recover as they fell to Great Falls 10-1 on Thursday at Kindrick Legion Field. After Zach Quintana (photo below by Seth Eikomstead) tossed three shutout innings to start the game, things fell apart for him and his teammates in the fourth. After a pair of walks and a single loaded the bases for the Voyagers, Corey Thompson hit a sharp ground ball Taylor Brennan at third. Instead of attempting to turn a 5-4-3 double play, Brennan tried to get the runner at the plate but his throw came up short and bounced by catcher Dustin Houle. Jacob Morris and Zach Voight scored on the play. Zac Fisher would later score on a groundball off the bat of Dillon Haupt. After Justin Jirschele singled and Christian Stringer was hit by a pitch to reload the bases, Brennan made another costly miscue. Adam Engel hit a grounder to Brennan and this time he looked to turn a double play. But as he was about to throw to second he bobbled the ball and his throw to first was late as everyone was safe on the error and the Voyagers took a 4-0 lead. Great Falls would score its fifth run of the inning when Shryock hit a grounder to second and the Brewers couldn't complete a double play as Jirschele scored. After Morris walked for the second time in the frame, Quintana was pulled from the game in favor of David Otterman. Voight, the 11th man to bat in the inning, greeted Otterman to game by ripping a double to left to make it a 7-1 game. After Otterman walked Fisher to load the bases, Thompson smoked a 3-2 pitch past Angel Ortega at short to give Great Falls a 9-1 lead. In the fifth inning it started raining and once the bottom of the fifth was finished, the tarp was called onto the field and the game was delayed for 37 minutes. Once the game resumed, the Voyagers would grab another run in the seventh when Brennan made another throwing error as Stringer scored. The Brewers scored their only run in the first inning when Dionis Hinojosa walked to lead off the inning and Charlie Markson hit a 3-2 pitch over the head of Morris in right to drive home Hinojosa. Helena actually out hit Great Falls 11 to 7, but nine walks and five hit by pitches by Brewer pitching certainly didn't help the cause on a rough all-around night for Helena. The Brewers will get another chance against their playoff foe Friday night at Kindrick Legion Field. First pitch is at 7:05 PM (8:05 Central). http://www.milb.com/assets/images/9/2/4/59710924/cuts/29_Zach_Quintana_P_w02ez9ai_0crnsr17.jpg

Nashville Site: Sounds Season in Review

Yay for Media Notes!

Helena: RHP Zach Quintana at home vs. Great Falls (White Sox), 7:45 PM pre-game, 8:05 gametime Free Live Audio Link Voice of the Helena Brewers Steve Wendt is back on board, and this year he's added Twitter to the mix @steve_wendt. We've been treated to Steve's work for many years now (ten!); he is among the very best at the art of the pre-game interview, especially considering how at ease he makes all these first-time professional ballplayers. *** Follow Thursday's action as it happens with box score / game log links: Helena Box Score / Game Log *** STANDINGS: Rookie Advanced - Pioneer League North Division NOTE: To view first half or overall standings for Helena, you'll notice an option at the link for that. Otherwise it's second-half standings as the default view for those this league. *** Weather.com: Helena, MT

Rattler Radio Blog -- Timber Rattlers 2013 Numbers with Highs and Lows

Bob Brainerd's final installment for 2013 -- RHP Austin Ross MiLB Player Page

Just a spectacular effort from Jim Owczarski of OnMilwaukee -- Road to the major leagues isn't always smooth Kintzler, Lintz, Anundsen...

VIDEO: Stars' final game

AUDIO pre-game interview from Tuesday: outfielder Jose Pena talks about his recent success at the plate, his hitting approach, and the playoffs Yee-hah, Jose!

Helena has media notes; it's a unique link each day, but look for it just prior to game time each day within the "Stats and Scores" banner here.

Helena: RHP Barrett Astin at Billings (Reds), 7:45 PM pre-game, 8:05 gametime Free Live Audio Link Voice of the Helena Brewers Steve Wendt is back on board, and this year he's added Twitter to the mix @steve_wendt. We've been treated to Steve's work for many years now (ten!); he is among the very best at the art of the pre-game interview, especially considering how at ease he makes all these first-time professional ballplayers. *** Follow Wednesday's action as it happens with box score / game log links: Helena Box Score / Game Log *** STANDINGS: Rookie Advanced - Pioneer League North Division NOTE: To view first half or overall standings for Helena, you'll notice an option at the link for that. Otherwise it's second-half standings as the default view for those this league. *** Weather.com: Billings, MT

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Congratulations, Tyler and Jason!

Via Alec at BCB: Who's Hot and Who's Not, August 2013