TheCrew07

Kyle Schwarber the only divisional mention. Ten 2014 Draft picks who have been quick to click By Jonathan Mayo

Pipeline Perspectives: Outfielder Bell has bright future Pirates prospect's quick development at plate puts him ahead of Mariners' Jackson

Smokies' Russell finishing on high note Cubs' No. 3 prospect slugs second slam of season on five-RBI night

Exactly what you would expect, this is the MLB version looking back at their minor league days... plenty of divisional talk. How 2014 Best Tools Winners Fared In Minors August 20, 2014 by J.J. Cooper

Sounds Outslug Isotopes, 13-12 Nashville Tied For First Place After 17-Hit Outburst Nashville Sounds http://www.milb.com/assets/images/8/2/4/75734824/cuts/Jeremy_Hermida_430_5_Large_s8h8vwn9_0m0nmlcd.jpg (Mike Strasinger / Nashville Sounds) Fueled by another incredible night at the plate, the Nashville Sounds (71-59) outlasted the Albuquerque Isotopes (57-72) in a 13-12 slugfest at Isotopes Park on Tuesday night. The win, coupled with a Memphis loss in El Paso, puts the Sounds back in a tie for first place of the American Conference Southern Division. The Sounds' 17-hit performance was one shy of the team's season high, with Matt Clark, Logan Schafer and Pete Orr leading the way with three hits each. In a game full of wild momentum swings, Nashville would be the squad that found the final answer in a four-run top of the seventh. After Orr erased a 10-9 deficit with a two-run double, Jeremy Hermida provided another pair of insurance runs after belting his 12th home run of the season. Albuquerque did not go quietly, scoring one run in the bottom of the eighth and putting the tying run on third with one out in the ninth, but Sounds reliever Rob Wooten held on to pick up the two-inning save. It didn't take long for the offensive fireworks to begin in the contest, as Nashville put up five runs in the top of the first thanks to run scoring doubles by Clark and Sean Halton in addition to a two-run single by pitcher Michael Blazek. The Isotopes didn't wait long to answer, however, scoring six runs in the bottom half of the first to take their first lead of the evening. Blazek (3-4) had an uncharacteristically wild night on the hill, walking a season-high four batters and allowing seven runs in four innings. He was taken off the hook for the loss when the Sounds answered with two runs in the top of the fourth to tie the score at 7-7, as Orr and Clark came through with run scoring hits. Logan Schafer started the rally in the inning with a triple to extend his hitting streak to 16 games. After Albuquerque retook a 9-7 lead in the bottom of the fifth, the Sounds immediately responded to tie the game on an Orr RBI single and a run scoring double from Hermida. The lead would again not last long as the 'Topes scored a run in the bottom of the sixth to pull ahead 10-9, but Jose De La Torre was able to limit the damage by stranding the bases loaded and giving the Sounds yet another chance to comeback. The Sounds will now return home and kick off the final homestand in Greer Stadium history on Wednesday at 7:05 p.m. when they welcome the Fresno Grizzlies for the first contest of a four game series. RHP Ariel Pena (9-7, 4.18) will take to the hill for Nashville opposite Grizzlies LHP Mike Kickham (7-8, 4.21). Nashville Boxscore Michael Blazek was not good on the mound but after his hit tonight (small sample alert) his AVE is now .235 which is higher than Caleb Gindl's .230 for whatever that is worth. Jason Rogers (1-3,2 BB) night pushed his OPS up to .914 in AAA. A .900+ OPS in any league is elite. Logan Shafer's torrid streak continued, I really wish he'd just relax and be the patient .270 hitter at MLB that he should be, and yes bench roles are typically tough of young players but he's not good enough to play everyday for the Brewers. However, he could be an asset off the bench if he can get out of his own head. Matt Clark pushed his OPS to a ridiculous .958. Nashville Recap Nashville Gameday

Rattlers rally in ninth to beat Clinton 10-9 Matos hits grand slam and drives in six for Wisconsin By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers CLINTON, IA - The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers emphatically ended their five-game losing streak with a 10-9 come-from-behind victory over the Clinton LumberKings Tuesday night at Ashford University Field. Sthervin Matos hit a grand slam and drove in six runs, including the go-ahead run in the top of the ninth inning to lead the Rattlers to the win and more breathing space in their playoff chase. Clinton (56-69 overall, 26-31 second half) grabbed the lead in the first inning. Wisconsin starter Preston Gainey retired the first two batters he faced, but a single by Tyler O'Neill and back-to-back hit batsmen loaded the bases. Gainey got ahead of Christian Carmichael 0-2 and threw a pitch off the outside corner to the right-handed hitter. Carmichael chased the pitch and sent a grounder up the first base line. The ball hit the bag and deflected into right field for a two-out, two-run single to put the LumberKings in front. Clint Coulter and Rafael Neda both singled to start the second inning for the Rattlers. Coulter took off for third and Matos squared to bunt an 0-1 pitch and was easily doubled off second when the bunt was popped up and caught by Clinton pitcher Eddie Campbell. Angel Ortega salvaged a run for the Rattlers with a double to left-center to drive in Neda from first base. O'Neill gave Clinton a two-run cushion again with a solo home run in the bottom of the third inning. The Rattlers (66-60,30-27) loaded the bases with no outs in the top of the fourth inning. Michael Ratterree walked, Coulter's double play ball to short was missed for an error, and Neda was hit by a pitch. Shtervin Matos stepped up and cracked a grand slam to center and the Rattlers had a 5-3 lead. The homer was the first hit for Matos since he joined the Rattlers on Monday from Helena, the Pioneer League affiliate of the Brewers. Gainey got the first two outs in the bottom of the fourth inning. Then, things went haywire. Nelson Ward doubled, Luis Caballero reached on an infield single, and Aaron Barbosa reached on a bunt single to load the bases. Gainey looked like he had struck out Brett Thomas on a 1-2 pitch, but the offering was called a ball. Thomas followed with a line drive single to left that drove in two runs to tie the game 5-5. O'Neill was next and he hit a high popup less than ten feet in front of the plate. Matos had to charge all the way down the line from his third base position because no one else saw the ball. Matos got a glove on the ball after a long run, but dropped it out of his glove for an error to let Barbosa score from second. The confusion of the popup led to no Rattler defender covering second. So O'Neill looked to take the extra base. Centerfielder Johnny Davis raced in to cover, but the throw from Matos sailed into an unoccupied centerfield. By the time anyone could get to the ball, both Thomas and O'Neill scored to put the LumberKings up 8-5. The Rattler bats responded in the top of the fifth. Chris McFarland was hit by a pitch and Ratterree singled. Neda delivered a one-out single that scored McFarland and got Ratterree to third. Matos knocked in Ratterree with a slow grounder to second. Neda came home when Ortega's grounder to third was misplayed for an error and the game was tied 8-8. An error would cost the Rattlers in the bottom of the seventh inning. Reliever Luke Curtis walked Justin Seager to start the inning and Joe DeCarlo followed with a single. Carmichael bunted back to the mound on a sacrifice attempt and it was bobbled for an error to load the bases. Curtis would got the first out on a strikeout, but a fly ball to left off the bat of Ward was deep enough to drive in Seager with the go ahead run. Wisconsin had one more comeback left in them. Ratterree drew a walk with one out against Clinton closer Emilio Pagan. Coulter singled to left and the ball was misplayed for an error to allow Ratterree to take third and Coulter to take second. Neda sent a line drive to right field that was caught by Thomas. It was just deep enough as Ratterree scored from third just ahead of the throw to tie the game. Coulter would take third on the throw to the plate. Matos put the Rattlers in front with a sharp single through the left side of the infield on the first pitch he saw in the ninth. Harvey Martin, who pitched a scoreless eighth inning, went back out for the ninth and retired the first two batters he faced. Ward's flyball to right-center was dropped for an error and Ward wound up at second base with the tying run and two outs. Martin regrouped and struck out Caballero to end the game and the losing streak. The grand slam by Matos was the sixth of the season for the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers. Coulter and Tyler Brennan each have two. Ratterree has the other slam by a Rattler in 2014. Wisconsin picked up ground on the three teams closest to them in the second half Western Division Wild Card chase. Peoria lost their sixth straight game and Quad Cities also lost on Tuesday night. The Rattlers now have a three game lead on Peoria and a four game lead on both Quad Cities and Clinton. There are thirteen games remaining in the regular season. Game three of the series is Wednesday night at 6:30pm. Javier Salas (0-1, 3.60) is the scheduled starter for the Timber Rattlers. Jose Flores (3-4, 4.42) is set to start for the LumberKings. Tune in for the broadcast on AM1280, WNAM or IHeartRadio starting with the Miller Lite Pregame Show at 6:10pm. HOME RUNS: WIS: Sthervin Matos (1st, GRAND SLAM in 4th inning off Eddie Campbell, 0 out) CLN: Tyler O'Neill (13th, 0 on in 3rd inning off Preston Gainey, 1 out) WP: Harvey Martin (5-5) LP: Emilio Pagan (2-3) TIME: 3:29 ATTN: 612 Wisconsin Boxscore What a comeback win, Mehring and I both needed that one after some days of less than fantastic baseball. I've been tough on Harvey Martin all year because I think he's underperformed, his stuff just isn't as bad as his stat line would suggest, but he got the job done tonight and nailed down the victory. The Rattlers finally put up double digit hits again, it's been awhile... Wisconsin batters pounded out 13 in today's game. I said good things about Johnny Davis in the community top 25 but had a rough day as the only Rattler who didn't put a ball in play going 0-3 with 3 SOs and a BB. He's been slumping lately, hitting just .143 over his last ten, which is his worst stretch since April. On the flip side Michael Ratterree (2-3,2 BB), Clint Coulter (2-5), Rafael Neda (3-3), Sthrevin Matos (2-5,GS), Angel Ortega (2-4,2B), and Jose Pena (2-4) all had multi-hit games. That was every hitter 3-8 in the order with good to great days at the plate. Wisconsin Recap

Matos had 2 errors on one defensive play which led to 3 runs, but man what a day at the plate as the T-Rats come back again and win to end the losing streak. I was toying with the idea of not going to another T-Rats game again this season but maybe I'll go to see if I can catch a Wang start and Matos in the field next week.

Now they just have to make it as easy to share data from the website as baseball-reference has...

Offensive Players of the Week For the week ending Aug. 17 Pitchers of the Week For the week ending Aug. 17

Pirates' Clemens suspended 68 games Bristol right-hander tested positive for human Growth Hormone

Subscriber. Kingham Enjoying Matching Wits With Hitters August 19, 2014 by John Perrotto

I've said this in the past but Jason Rogers is a coaches' type of player, similar to Khris Davis. He's not going to wow anyone with his physical tools but he does many little things well and understands the game. He won't be a plus defender or a good runner but he has a very good idea of what to do at the plate and that definitely has value. I've actually never seen him throw a ball 3rd to 1st so I haven't made any personal observations about his arm strength but he must have at least an average arm since they are giving this 3rd base experiment a serious go.

Matos would repeat A ball anyway, I still hope Coulter is the 3B to move with the WI group.

Really? The reduction in splits information is drastic. Where are the monthly stats? And just raw batting average or batting average against for splits? No clue as to sample size for any split line, such as vs. LHP or RHB. A big step down, and I was going to contact MiLB to voice concerns, they've always been good about getting back to us in the past. Maybe I'm missing something, but I really dislike the new format and find it lacking big-time compared to the past. They are all right there in the middle with the career, gamelogs, splits, and batter vs. pitcher my friend. I especially like the fielding option under the career tab. It could be a browser issue for you, the tabs are between the season numbers and the video at the bottom of the page.

Sounds Win Big In Albuquerque, 9-3 Rogers Paces Nashville Offense With Career-Best Four Hits Nashville Sounds http://www.milb.com/assets/images/4/8/2/85814482/cuts/Jason_Rogers_627_3_z19d4h17_r7bqhtsh.jpg (Mike Strasinger / Nashville Sounds) ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - The Nashville Sounds pounded out 16 hits, including 11 for extra bases, during their 9-3 victory over Albuquerque on Monday evening at Isotopes Park. With the win, Nashville (70-59) remained one game behind first-place Memphis with 15 to play. Third baseman Jason Rogers went 4-for-5 to pace the Nashville offensive attack, matching his career high for hits in a game (fifth occurrence). Hector Gomez, Sean Halton, and Matt Clark each plated a pair of runs for the Sounds in the win. Gomez finished a single short of the cycle for Nashville during his 3-for-5 night. The shortstop is batting .385 (20-for-52) over his last 15 games. Rogers gave the Sounds a 1-0 lead when he led off the second inning with a first-pitch rocket to left off Albuquerque starter Barry Enright, the infielder's eighth home run of the year. The Isotopes rallied for three runs against Donovan Hand in the bottom of the third to grab a 3-1 lead. Former Vanderbilt Commodore Mike Baxter (3-for-4) knotted the contest when he swatted his seventh longball of the season, a leadoff solo shot to right. PCL home run leader Joc Pederson followed with a solo shot of his own, his 30th big fly of the year, to put the home team in front by a run. Tim Federowicz then hit a laser to center that caromed off the wall located 428 feet from home plate, ending up at third on the play. The Albuquerque catcher later scored the frame's third run on a double play grounder. The Sounds reclaimed the lead a half-inning later, plating three of their own off Enright using three consecutive extra-base hits off the right-hander. Clark upped his season-best hitting streak to eight games with a one-out double for Nashville in the fourth. Halton followed with a two-bagger of his own to cut the Sounds' deficit to 3-2. Gomez staked the visitors to a 4-3 lead by belting his team-leading 15th home run of the campaign, a two-run shot to left. Nashville upped its lead to 5-3 in the fifth when four consecutive batters reached base after two batters were retired. With two down, Pete Orr singled up the middle and Rogers slapped a single to left-center to place runners on the corners for Clark, who walked to load the bases. Halton ripped an RBI single to left to increase the visitors' lead to two. Enright fanned Gomez with the bags full to end the frame and prevent any further damage. Hand (3-7) won his second straight outing for the Sounds and finished one out shy of a quality start. The right-hander allowed three runs (two earned) on seven hits over 5 2/3 frames, striking out six batters. The Sounds tacked on three more runs in the seventh when Orr coaxed a walk from reliever Red Patterson and raced home to score on a Rogers double before Clark continued his recent hot hitting by slammed a two-run homer, his 11th of the year. Clark is hitting .464 (13-for-28) with six home runs and 10 RBIs during the club's current seven-game road trip. Rogers closed out the Nashville scoring in the eighth with his second RBI double of the evening, a two-out two-bagger off Fabio Martinez. Brent Leach (0.2 IP) and Dustin Molleken (2.2 IP) closed out the contest with scoreless relief efforts for Nashville. The teams wrap up their four-game series with a 7:35 p.m. CT finale on Tuesday evening. Right-hander Michael Blazek (3-4, 3.61), a winner in two of his last three trips to the hill, will toe the slab for the Sounds to face Albuquerque southpaw Chris Reed (0-2, 11.05). Nashville Boxscore Donovan Hand continues to give up more hits than IP which is disconcerting even though he only gave up 2 ER in his 5.2 innings. Jason Rogers and Matt Clark are definitely making a push for a September call-up and could make Spring Training interesting next season. Nashville Recap Nashville Gameday

Clinton sends Rattlers to fifth straight loss LumberKings win game one of series 10-5 By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers CLINTON, IA - The Clinton LumberKings jumped out to an early 4-0 lead and never looked back as they defeated the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers 10-5 Monday night at Ashford University Field. The loss was the fifth straight for Wisconsin and allowed Clinton to creep closer in the second half playoff race. The LumberKings (56-68 overall, 26-30 second half) scored three runs with two outs in the bottom of the first inning off Wisconsin starter Chad Thompson. Justin Seager singled to drive in Aaron Barbosa from third base with the first run. Jeff Zimmerman was next and he drove a pitch deep center field. Johnny Davis appeared to make a leaping catch just before he stumbled and crashed into the wall. The ball popped free at some point and the play was ruled no catch. Seagers scored on the play and Zimmerman pulled into second with a double. Joe DeCarlo was next and he singled to drive in Zimmerman for a 3-0 lead. Clinton added to their lead with an unearned run in the bottom of the second inning. Luis Caballero reached on an error with one out and scored on a single by Brett Thomas. Wisconsin (65-60, 29-27) pulled to within 4-1 in the top of the fourth inning with a two-out rally. Michael Ratterree singled with two away and David Denson walked. Clint Coulter followed with an RBI single to get the Rattlers on the scoreboard. The run snapped a scoreless streak of 22-1/3 innings for Wisconsin. But, the LumberKings scored an unearned run in the bottom fourth inning. Aaron Barbosa walked against Wisconsin reliever Seth Harvey. He stole second and went to third on a passed ball with no out. Harvey struck out the next two batters, but a grounder to third was misplayed for an error to let Barbosa score. Clinton loaded the bases against Harvey in the fifth inning on a pair of hit batsmen and an infield single. Luis Caballero knocked in one run with a sacrifice fly. Barbosa followed with an RBI single and Thomas made it 8-1 with an RBI grounder. Coulter tripled with one out in the top of the seventh inning and Steve Halcomb knocked him in with a two out single. But, the LumberKings answered in the bottom of the seventh when Martin Peguero scored from third on a passed ball with two outs to push the lead back to 9-2. Wisconsin rallied for three runs in the top of the eighth inning. Ratterree singled with runners at first and second with one out to drive in a run. Then, David Denson doubled to right-center to drive in two more. The LumberKings had the bases loaded and one out against Zach Quintana in the bottom of the eighth. Quintana got the second out on a strikeout, but a two out passed ball let another Clinton run cross the plate for a 10-5 lead. The Rattlers went down in order in the top of the ninth. There was some good news on Monday night. The Peoria Chiefs and Quad Cities River Bandits both lost their games. That allowed the Rattlers to maintain their two-game lead over the Chiefs and three-game lead over the River Bandits in the second half Western Division Wild Card race. Clinton has moved to within three games of the Rattlers for the Wild Card with their win on Monday. There are fourteen games left in the regular season. Game two of this series is Tuesday night at Ashford University Field. Preston Gainey (5-7, 3.96) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. Clinton counters with Eddie Campbell (9-8, 4.88). Game time is 6:30pm. Tune in for the action on AM1280, WNAM or IHeartRadio starting with the Miller Lite Pregame Show at 6:10pm WP: Edwin Diaz (5-7) LP: Chad Thompson (2-2) TIME: 2:45 ATTN: 471 Wisconsin Boxscore Mehring said that Chad Thompson was consistently missing up during his stint on the mound. Seth Harvey probably deserved a better fate as he continues his injury comeback but it's very difficult to excuse away back to back hit by a pitch which I forgot to include in my earlier rant: Clinton Bottom of the 5th Joseph DeCarlo hit by pitch. With Christian Carmichael batting, wild pitch by Seth Harvey, Joseph DeCarlo to 2nd. Christian Carmichael hit by pitch. Martin Peguero singles on a ground ball to shortstop Angel Ortega. Joseph DeCarlo to 3rd. Christian Carmichael to 2nd. Luis Caballero out on a sacrifice fly to left fielder Omar Garcia. Joseph DeCarlo scores. Aaron Barbosa singles on a soft line drive to center fielder Johnny Davis. Christian Carmichael scores. Martin Peguero to 3rd. Brett Thomas grounds out, second baseman Steven Halcomb to first baseman David Denson. Martin Peguero scores. Aaron Barbosa to 2nd. Tyler O'Neill strikes out swinging. Zach Quintana topped out at 93, worked 91-92 and had a fantastic bottom of the 6th: Clinton Bottom of the 6th Pitching Change: Zach Quintana replaces Seth Harvey. Justin Seager strikes out swinging. Jeff Zimmerman strikes out swinging. Joseph DeCarlo strikes out swinging. Michael Ratterree (2-4), Clint Coulter (2-4,3B), and Angel Ortega (2-4) had the multi-hit games for the T-Rats. I mentioned the horrible defense in my earlier post but Omar Garcia did save a run with an OF assist at home. Wisconsin Recap

Normally I would post this in the game story but I'm so irked at the way this T-Rats game has gone... Clint Coulter has 3 passed balls in the game and Rattler pitchers also have 3 WPs, some of which a competent catcher could have prevented. 2 of the PB directly led to immediate runs and Taylor Brennan has booted 2 balls as well which extended innings. That's 8 extra bases best case just given away with the Rattlers now losing 10-5. Clinton has scored in 6 of their 8 innings at the plate in this game and out of those 10 runs, 6 have been earned.

That's an extremely interesting promotion, I was looking forward to watching Matos in 2015. BTW, MiLB.com's new stat pages are just fantastic. I'm really curious to see Matos' defense at 3B, I'd like some context on his relatively high E totals. I don't mind Brennan playing both 3B and 1B as he progresses up the chain, I think that increases his versatility for a bench role which is his most likely outcome given his hit tool. I really like Taylor Brennan but it would nice to have a 3B prospect with the potential to hit for AVE and some power.

Yes my favorite, the assignment of performance to "lucky" or "unlucky" if a player doesn't have numbers which fall in line with the average. Manny Parra was always unlucky and Wily Peralta is lucky largely because of worthless FIP which has always been Strike Out driven. Like so many "analysis" people throw around, the conclusions are only supported by looking at what's happening on the surface, for example the assertion of "luck" with relievers. Well the notion of luck is true to a certain extent since the starting pitcher has no impact on what the reliever does with his mess, but if you look at Peralta's actual game logs instead of his aggregate numbers you can see that he's only left mid inning 9 times in 25 starts and while 3 of his 4 worst starts came while leaving mid inning his "luck" has been fairly neutral when relievers have allowed his inherited runners to score. Duke gave 3 in one of those games and Gorzelanny 2 in another, but in other instances in those 9 games the pen came up huge for him. Most of the analysis doesn't go deep enough because that requires too much effort. Who cares what actually happened in the games when you can use raw numbers to make base assertions? Is Peralta a budding ace? No, I don't think so, he doesn't have the command or a full arsenal of plus pitches to be such, but he's relatively young, he's cheap, and I believe he'll ultimately settle in that #2 range. Even he's nothing more than a #3 down the road why would you trade him and hold onto much older and more expensive players? The idea should be to identify and build around young "core" players not load up with proven veterans because the Brewers simply don't have the financial resources to win big with pitchers in Free Agency which Melvin has repeatedly proven. They can have success on a limited basis here and there, but FA pitching is largely nothing more than a money sink. The focus should be on developing ascending talent not relying on pitchers who are on the downside of their careers.

Wow that's embarrassing, I completely forgot Jason Rogers.

Rattlers drop game two 3-0 to Kane County Cougars sweep doubleheader from Wisconsin By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattler GRAND CHUTE, WI - The Kane County Cougars completed a doubleheader sweep of the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers at Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium with a 3-0 victory in the nightcap. Ben Wells and two relievers combined on the shutout to send the Rattlers to their fourth straight loss. Kane County (80-45 overall, 35-20 second half) loaded the bases with no outs in the second inning against Wisconsin starting pitcher Clint Terry. Cael Brockmeyer and Jacob Rogers drew walks to start the inning and Jeimer Candelario singled to load the base. Terry would get Jeffrey Baez to ground into a 5-4-3 double play for two outs, but Brockmeyer scored on the play for a 1-0 lead. Wisconsin (65-59, 29-26) had an opportunity against Wells in the fourth inning. David Denson doubled to start the inning and Clint Coulter reached on an error. Omar Garcia sacrificed both runners into scoring position. But, Wells escaped with a grounder to third and a strikeout. The Rattlers also got the leadoff batter on base in the fifth inning against Wells, but could not score. Wells allowed three hits in five shutout innings before turning the game over to the bullpen. Michael Wagner struck out the first two Wisconsin batters he faced in the bottom of the sixth inning before allowing singles to Coulter and Garcia. Wagner kept the shutout going with a foul pop. Terry kept the score at 1-0 through six innings. He went back out for the top of the seventh and got the first two outs. Then, Jeffery Baez hit a 1-1 pitch from Terry to left for a home run and a 2-0 lead. Baez had also homered in the seventh inning of the first game of the doubleheader on Sunday. That was all for Terry, who pitched 6-2/3 innings for his longest outing as a professional. The Cougars added another run in the seventh inning. Carlos Penalver singled against reliever Chris Razo, stole second, and went to third on a throwing error. Trey Martin drew a walk to put runners at the corners. Razo would step off the rubber, bluff a throw to first, and tried to pick Penalver off third. But, the throw was wild and Penalver scored to make it 3-0. Kane County sent Francisco Carrillo out for the bottom of the seventh and he walked Angel Ortega to start the inning. Taylor Brennan would draw a walk with one out to bring the tying run to the plate, but Carrillo wrapped the game with a pair of strikeouts. The Rattlers were shutout in game one of the doubleheader by a score of 9-0 and have not scored in 18-2/3 innings. Kane County is already in the Midwest League playoffs as the first half Western Division champions. In the second half divisional playoff race, Wisconsin has fallen five games off the pace set by the Cedar Rapids Kernels for the top spot. The Kernels have won six straight while the Timber Rattlers have lost four in a row. In the wild card race, Wisconsin still leads the Peoria Chiefs by two games and the Quad Cities River Bandits by three games. The Clinton LumberKings have won two in a row to climb to within four games of the Rattlers. There are fifteen games remaining in the regular season. The Timber Rattlers begin a six-game road trip on Monday night with a game at Clinton. Chad Thompson (2-1, 2.87) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. Clinton plans to send Eddie Diaz (4-7, 3.55) to the mound. Game time is 6:30pm at Ashford University Field. Catch all the action on AM1280, WNAM or IHeartRadio starting with the Miller Lite Pregame Show at 6:10pm. HOME RUN: KC: Jeffrey Baez (3rd, 0 on in 7th inning off Clint Terry, 2 out) WP: Ben Wells (2-0) LP: Clint Terry (3-3) SAVE: Francisco Carrillo (3) TIME: 2:16 ATTN: 6,860 Wisconsin Game 2 Boxscore Getting swept by the Cubs gets under my skin like none other... especially in the heat of the playoff chase, this team is slumping at the wrong time. Clint Terry was strong through his 6.2 innings, Chris Razo struggled to finish the game. Each team had just 5 hits but Kane County managed to make theirs count, unfortunately the TRats only managed 7 total hits in the 14 innings played today. David Denson did well in game 2 going 1-2 with a double and a walk. After errors in both games today Rattler Cs now have 19 errors (4 Neda, 5 Eshleman, 10 Coulter) and 24 passed balls (5 Neda, 6 Eshleman, 13 Coulter) on the season. That's currently the 4th worst total in the Midwest League PB department, there isn't an easy way to separate out C errors but the Rattlers are also 4th worst as a team in that category with 150 total. On a positive note the TRats have the 6th best attendance in the league at 85,349 coming into today's action. Wisconsin Game 2 Recap Wisconsin Game 2 Gameday

Sounds Halted By Isotopes, 4-2 Nashville's Schafer Extends Hitting Streak To 14 Games Nashville Sounds http://www.milb.com/assets/images/9/7/8/82650978/cuts/Logan_Schafer_627_Large_f8i7bkmz_1ywidow6.jpg Despite achieving double-digit hits for the second consecutive game, the Nashville Sounds (69-59) could not muster enough runs in a 4-2 defeat to the Albuquerque Isotopes (57-71) Sunday afternoon at Isotopes Park. Eight different Sounds recorded hits in the contest including outfielder Logan Schafer, who extended his hitting streak to 14 games with a single in the top of the third. He finished the game going 2-for-5 and is hitting .362 during his streak. The 'Topes got to Sounds starter Jay Jackson in the bottom of the third when Clint Robinson and Walter Ibarra both homered to put Albuquerque ahead 3-0. The Isotopes then added another run in the bottom of the third when Robinson knocked in another run on a groundout with the bases loaded. Jackson (0-2) went five innings for his longest start since joining the Sounds, allowing four earned runs on six hits while striking out six. Nashville got on the board in the bottom of the fifth when Eugenio Velez scored Adam Weisenburger with a two-out double to cut the deficit to 4-1. Velez hit 3-for-5 on the afternoon, giving him multiple hits in five of his last seven games and 37 total times in 2014. The score would remain until the top of the eighth when Hector Gomez scored Pete Orr on an RBI double with two outs. Gomez now has 20 RBIs and 18 extra base hits in his last 40 games. Reliever Alfredo Figaro kept the Sounds in the game with two scoreless innings out of the bullpen and was followed by Billy Buckner, who retired the side while striking out two in his Sounds debut. The Sounds will look to return to the win column on Monday when RHP Donovan Hand (2-7, 5.40) takes to the bump against Albuquerque RHP Barry Enright (4-9, 5.58). First pitch is scheduled for 7:35 p.m., and Jeff Hem will have the call on 102.5 The Fan. Nashville Boxscore All I have for this one is a *sigh*, peruse the recap if you wish to see missed opportunities. Nashville Recap Nashville Gameday

Cougars pull away late for 9-0 win over Rattlers Wisconsin held to two hits in game one of twinbill By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers GRAND CHUTE, WI - Daury Torrez is now 4-0 in four starts against the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers. The right-hander out of the Dominican Republic tossed five scoreless innings and allowed one hit as the Kane County Cougars defeated the Rattlers 9-0 at Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium. Kane County (79-45 overall, 34-20 second half) had Shawon Dunston, Jr. at first and Carlos Penalver at third with one out in the top of the third inning, but catcher Clint Coulter picked Penalver off third for the second out. Then, Mark Zagunis drew a walk to keep the inning alive. Dunston and Zagunis pulled a double steal on the first pitch to Victor Caratini and Dunston would score when Coulter's throw to third sailed into left field. Caratini drove in Zagunis with a single to center and the Cougars were up 2-0. Wisconsin (65-58, 29-25) could do little against Daury Torrez. Michael Ratterree had a two out single in the first inning and that was the lone Timber Rattlers hit off Torrez, who walked two, and struck out three to earn his eleventh win of the season.. Wei-Chung Wang made the start for the Timber Rattlers and allowed two runs on six hits over 4-1/3 innings. He walked two and struck out four in the game. Brandon Moore, who was making his Timber Rattlers debut, took over for Wang in the fifth inning and kept Kane County in check until the seventh. Jeffrey Baez started the inning with a solo home run. A walk and a double put runners at second and third with no outs. Moore got the first out on a grounder to second that held the runners at second and third before walking Zagunis intentionally to load the bases and set up an inning-ending double play. Caratini spoiled the strategy with a two run single to make the score 5-0. Moore looked like he was headed out of the inning, but a chopper to short was misplayed for an error to allow another run to score and that was all for Moore. Harvey Martin took over on the hill and gave up an RBI single to Jacob Rogers and an RBI double to Jeimer Candelario. A walk to Baez reloaded the bases. Daniel Lockhart knocked in the final run of the inning with a single and Kane County was up 7-0. Taylor Brennan singled off David Garner with one out in the bottom of the seventh inning to account for Wisconsin's second hit of the game. The loss was the third in a row for the Rattlers and the sixth time they have been shutout this season. Kane County has shut Wisconsin out three times this season, twice when Torrez was the starting pitcher. HOME RUN: KC: Jeffrey Baez (2nd, 0 on in 7th off Brandon Moore, 0 out) WP: Daury Torrez (11-5) LP: Wei-Chung Wang (0-2) SAVE: David Garner (1) TIME: 2:25 Wisconsin Game 1 Boxscore Well Wei-Chung Wang was very hittable but helped himself with a pickoff in the first and then Coulter had the pickoff mentioned above. I would guess he's having similar location issues as he did when he was pitching in MLB. Regardless he has a couple of more weeks to make some progress in Wisconsin before Milwaukee has to recall him. Brandon Moore had a debut to forget and Harvey Martin did what he's done most of the year. Wisconsin Game 1 Recap Wisconsin Game 1 Gameday

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