TheCrew07

Rattlers start the homestand with 3-2 win over Cougars Coulter homers, Banda earns win with five scoreless frames By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers http://www.milb.com/assets/images/3/2/2/86994322/cuts/Coulter_Homer_July_29_atvvx8a7_mfqlgadi.jpg Wisconsin manager Matt Erickson congratulates Clint Coulter on his 17th home run of the season. (Ann Mollica/Wisconsin Timber Rattlers) GRAND CHUTE, WI - The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers defeated the Kane County Cougars 3-2 on Tuesday night at Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium to begin a six-game homestand. The Timber Rattlers held off a ninth-inning rally to pick up the one-run win over the team with the best record in the Midwest League. David Denson drew a walk to start the Wisconsin second inning. Clint Coulter followed by crushing a 1-2 pitch from Kane County starter Duane Underwood over the wall in left for a two-run homer. Coulter's seventeenth home run of the season made it 2-0 in favor of the Rattlers (56-50 overall, 20-17 second half). Wisconsin starting pitcher Anthony Banda protected that lead by tossing five scoreless innings The lefty allowed two hits, walked four, and struck out seven. Banda has a 15-inning scoreless streak. Jacob Rogers got Kane County (67-40, 22-15) on the scoreboard with a two-out, solo home run to center off Victor Diaz. The Rattlers scratched out an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth. David Denson singled with one out. He went to second on a wild pitch and took third on another wild pitch. Omar Garcia singled with two outs to get Denson home for a 3-1 lead. Diaz worked a scoreless seventh and retired the first two batters he faced in the top of the eighth. That brought Rogers back to the plate. The Cougars first baseman hit another solo home run, this one to right-center, and Kane County was back within a run. Luke Curtis, the 18th round pick of the Milwaukee Brewers in the 2014 draft, came on in the top of the ninth inning to go first his first Midwest League save. Catcher Cael Brockmeyer started the Kane County ninth with a single and was replaced by pinch-runner Giuseppe Papaccio. Curtis, who had two saves at Helena in the Pioneer League prior to joining the Timber Rattlers on July 7, threw a wild pitch to allow Papaccio to take second base. Jeffrey Baez lined out to deep center for the first out and Papaccio went to third with the tying run. Carlos Penalver was next and he hit the ball hard on an 0-1 pitch. The line drive was right at third baseman Tyler Brennan. Papaccio was too far away from third to get back and Brennan jogged over to touch third to double off the runner for a game-ending, unassisted double play. Banda picked up the win to move his record to 6-6 on the season. Banda was 1-5 through May 22. He is 5-1 since snapping a personal three-game losing streak with a win on June 8. Rattlers second baseman Chris McFarland went 1-for-4 with a first inning single. McFarland moved his current hitting streak to thirteen games. His hitting streak is the longest of the season by a Timber Rattler and the longest active hitting streak in the Midwest League. Game two of the series is Wednesday night. Tristan Archer (3-5, 4.15) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. Kane County has named Jen-Ho Tseng (6-0, 2.68) as their starter. Game time is 7:05pm. Wednesday is a Fox Communities Credit Union Cash Giveaway. Fox Communities Credit Union will be giving away envelopes to fans who attend this game. Some of the envelopes will have cash inside. It's that simple. It's also a WIXX Bang for Your Buck Night on Wednesday. Enjoy Cher-Make hotdogs, Pepsi products, and Miller beer for $1. If you can't make it out to the ballpark, there are many ways to catch the action. MyNEW32's Sports Showdown will have the television broadcast starting at 7:00pm. The radio broadcast is on AM1280, WNAM and IHeartRadio starting with the Miller Lite Pregame Show at 6:45pm. Subscribers to MiLB.TV can see the game, too. HOME RUNS: KC: Jacob Rogers (12th, 0 on in 6th inning off Victor Diaz, 2 out) Jacob Rogers (13th, 0 on in 8th inning off Victor Diaz, 2 out) WIS: Clint Coulter (17th, 1 on in 2nd inning off Duane Underwood, 0 out) WP: Anthony Banda (6-6) LP: Duane Underwood (5-3) SAVE: Luke Curtis (1) TIME: 2:35 (:35 delay) ATTN: 3,441 Wisconsin Boxscore Wisconsin Recap Wisconsin Gameday

Series Opener Rained Out In Colorado Springs Sounds, Sky Sox To Play Doubleheader On Wednesday Afternoon COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Tuesday evening's scheduled series opener between the Nashville Sounds and Colorado Springs Sky Sox at Security Service Field has been postponed due to rain. The teams will make up the game as part of a 1:35 p.m. CT doubleheader on Wednesday afternoon, when the two teams will play a pair of seven-inning games. Right-hander Mike Fiers (8-5, 2.62) will start game one for Nashville. Colorado Springs will counter with left-hander Pedro Hernandez (6-6, 6.14). Right-hander Taylor Jungmann (5-5, 5.13) will toe the slab for the Sounds in the nightcap and face veteran Sky Sox right-hander Brett Tomko (2-3, 6.16).

When teams are OPSing south of .650 they aren't slugging their way to anything, you're missing the big picture and seeing what you want to see. Hitting is a function of pitching, not the other way around, no one lucks their way to a 7 game series win. All of those teams out pitched the other team by a drastic margin. For example every team in the entire Midwest League has a higher team OPS than the .621 OPS your touting as proof of something, Dayton is the league's worst team at .668 and 6 teams have an OPS over .700. Call me crazy but I think the 14 runs Boston gave up in 6 games might have had something to do with it. Finally, the regular season has little to do with what happens in the post season, it's an entirely different animal because of the off days. Depth isn't as important, it's mostly a test of best on best, the match-ups are what matters.

Is that so? Proven by whom exactly? That reads as an opinion being passed off as fact. 2013 WS The Cards actually outhit the Sox and lost the series... maybe pitching is actually king? Regardless acquiring Price with any notion of spinning him right back off is fool hardy at best, when have Mark A or Melvin ever done anything along those lines? That kind of move is organization building at it's worst... everything has to work out perfectly to get as much out of the 2nd deal as you put into the first deal. I don't disagree with posters who think the Brewers don't match up well with many of the playoff teams from a top end pitching standpoint, but acquiring another short term solution is not the answer to the problem. At some point the Brewers need to start building up pitching depth and before anyone says it no pitchers like Jungmann, Pena, Hellweg, and so on are not quality depth.... they are not top of the rotation starters. There are plenty of 3-5s and bullpen options but we don't have any pitchers who comfortably project at the top of the rotation right now. We have guys whom could certainly ascend in that direction but there's no realistic way to make that claim today. Lohse hurt that effort last year as the lost 1st round pick is part of his opportunity cost, Devin Williams and Kodi Medeiros may be part of the solution down the road but both of them are in Rookie ball right now. Nelson is MLB ready today, a potential compensation draft pick (who would have to work out best case) from losing Price is 6 years away from MLB ready as of today. That was the same argument people used for Sheets, Sabathia, K-Rod, and so on... the Brewers haven't done well with compensation picks at all. The "going for it" model should have went out with the Wild Cards, there's no reason to sell out to get the post season now, you don't have to be 1 of 2 teams vying for spots, there's way more wiggle room. If the postseason expands again there will be even less reason to make rash moves at the deadline, the marginal differences in production wouldn't be worth the cost if 6 or 8 teams are getting in.

Second time's the charm for Cubs' Paniagua Daytona right-hander delivers six two-hit innings in second FSL start

Roomies Almora, Russell get job done Two of Cubs' top five prospects combine for eight hits, four runs

Rattlers drop road trip finale 6-4 at Fort Wayne Wisconsin can't hold on to 4-0 lead By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers FORT WAYNE, IN - The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers had a 4-0 lead through 3-1/2 innings at Parkview Field on Monday night. But, the Fort Wayne TinCaps chipped away at the lead to tie the game and eventually win 6-4 over the Rattlers in Wisconsin's final game of a six-game trip to the Eastern Division. Jose Pena gave Wisconsin (55-50 overall, 19-17 second half) the lead in the top of the second inning. Pena launched a two-out, solo home run to left-center for a 1-0 lead. The homer was the eighth of the season for Pena. Wisconsin loaded the bases in the top of the third on singles by Paul Eshleman and Omar Garcia and a walk to Michael Ratterree. Taylor Brennan stepped in with two outs and the bases still loaded and lined a double into the left field corner. All three runners scored and Wisconsin was up 4-0. Fort Wayne (45-60, 15-21) got on the board in the bottom of the fourth inning. Trea Turner doubled to start the inning. An error sent Turner to third base. Franmil Reyes singled through the middle of the diamond with two outs to score Turner. The TinCaps made it a one run game in the bottom of the fifth. Adolfo Reina singled and Ronnie Richardson doubled to start the inning. Henry Charles knocked in both runners with a single to center and Wisconsin was up 4-3. Fort Wayne tied the game in the bottom of the sixth. Reyes walked with one out and wound up at third after a single by Jake Bauers. Reina drove in Reyes with a sacrifice fly to center to tie the game 4-4. In the bottom of the eighth inning against reliever Seth Harvey, Turner reached on a broken bat bloop single to left and stole second. Dustin Peterson tried to bunt Turner over to third, but was hit by a pitch. Harvey struck out the next batter for the first out. Reyes was at the plate when Turner took off for third while Harvey was still in the stretch position. Harvey stepped off and threw to third and the tag looked like it got down on Turner's heel as he slid into the base head first, but Turner was ruled safe. Peterson, the trail runner, took second base on the play and that forced the Rattlers to walk Reyes intentionally to load the bases. Bauers swung at the next pitch and sent a fly ball deep to right for a sacrifice fly that scored Turner with the go-ahead run. Reina followed with a double to left to drive in Peterson and the TinCaps were up 6-4. Ryan Butler entered in the top of the ninth and pitched a 1-2-3 frame with two strikeouts for his fourth save of the season. Chris McFarland extended his current hitting streak to twelve games with an infield single in the top of the seventh inning. That is the longest streak by a Wisconsin hitter this season. The Timber Rattlers ended their road trip to the Eastern Division with a 3-3 record. Wisconsin won two of three at Lake County, but dropped two of three at Fort Wayne. Wisconsin finished their schedule of games against the East with a 13-10 record, including 7-5 on the road. The Timber Rattlers return home to begin a six-game homestand with a game against the Kane County Cougars on Tuesday night at Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium. Anthony Banda (5-6, 3.89) is the scheduled starting pitcher for Wisconsin. The Midwest League affiliate of the Chicago Cubs have Duane Underwood (5-2, 2.44) as their scheduled starter. Game time is 7:05pm. The homestand begins with a Throwback Night as part of the 20th Anniversary season presented by Bergstrom Automotive. Tickets are thrown back to 1995 prices of $5 for box seats, $4 for reserved bleacher seats, and $3 for grass seats. The Timber Rattlers players and coaches will be wearing jerseys based on the ones worn by the 1995 Rattlers. Plus, look for a special item at the concession stands to be thrown back to its 1995 price. Cleveland Indians shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera was a Midwest League All-Star as a Timber Rattlers second baseman in 2005 and he is the next bobblehead in the 20th Anniversary Series. The first 1,000 fans to attend Tuesday's game will receive the Asdrubal Cabrera bobblehead courtesy of Modern Woodmen. Show your business card when you purchase a ticket and for $13.50 you will receive a box seat ticket, a beverage, and your choice of brat or hot dog to take advantage of the Baker Tilly Business Person special. The offer is also available to senior citizens (55 & older) courtesy of WVBO and AM1280 WNAM. If you can't make it out to the ballpark, there are several ways to catch the action. MyNEW 32's Sports Showdown will have the television broadcast starting at 7:00pm. The radio broadcast will be on AM1280, WNAM or IHeartRadio starting with the Miller Lite Pregame Show at 6:45pm. The game is also available to subscribers of MiLB.TV. HOME RUN: WIS: Jose Pena (8th, 0 on in 2nd inning off Yimmi Brasoban, 2 out) WP: Justin Livengood (6-1) LP: Seth Harvey (0-1) SAVE: Ryan Butler (4) TIME: 2:31 ATTN: 7,144 Wisconsin Boxscore Omar Garcia and Paul Eshleman had the multi-hit games for the T-Rats. Wisconsin Recap

Sounds Snag Series Finale, 3-1 Nashville's Pena Whiffs Eight In Quality Start Nashville Sounds http://www.milb.com/assets/images/6/4/4/86792644/cuts/MPS_8555_Large_j0nlc6j3_k3bpmbmk.jpg (MIKE STRASINGER ) NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The first-place Nashville Sounds (59-51) capped off a homestand full of dominant starting pitching performances with yet another good outing, as Ariel Pena shut down the Oklahoma City RedHawks (54-56) in a 3-1 win at Greer Stadium on Monday night. Pena (8-6), went six innings, allowing just one run on four hits while racking up eight strikeouts. The start wraps up a stellar July for Pena, who went 4-0 with a 3.60 ERA and 43 strikeouts in six starts. His performance was yet another great one for the Sounds rotation, who posted a 1.07 ERA (5er/42ip) during the eight game homestand. The Sounds all of their damage offensively in the bottom of the third, as nine players came to the plate, resulting in three runs. After Eugenio Velez brought home the first run on an RBI single, Nashville's patience at the plate paid off as Sean Halton and Caleb Gindl both drew walks with the bases loaded to up the lead to 3-0. RedHawks starter Mike Foltynewicz (7-7) kept Nashville's bats silent for most of the evening after that, striking out 10 batters in six innings. The RedHawks got on the board in the top of the sixth when Domingo Santana singled home Preston Tucker, but Pena got the next batter, Carlos Perez, to fly out to center field to end the threat. Jose De La Torre followed with two innings of scoreless relief, raising his streak of consecutive scoreless appearances to four games. Alfredo Figaro then came on in the ninth and preserved the lead to pick up his second save of the season. The Sounds will now embark on an eight game road trip that begins in Colorado Springs with a game Tuesday night at 8:05 p.m. Sounds RHP Mike Fiers (8-5, 2.62) will take to the hill against Sky Sox southpaw Pedro Hernandez (6-6, 6.14). Nashville Boxscore Ariel Pena was very solid through 4 but ran into trouble in both the 5th and 6th, though he did manage to escape in the 5th. In a recurring theme his walks are the main issue, even when he's limiting hits. He's only allowed 75 hits in 103.1 innings (6.5 H/9) coming into today's game but he's given up 59 walks and sports a 5.1 BB/9. His K rate is fantastic, he had 108 strike outs over that same span which equates to a 9.4 SO/9. Maybe he'll figure it out enough to be a starter later in his career but with that BB rate he seems destined for the bullpen. His stuff is much better than Hellweg's though he's similarly poor from a command standpoint. Thank goodness Michael Foltynewicz has trouble harnessing his 100 MPH heat because the Sounds managed just 3 hits but still scored 3 runs. Nashville Recap Nashville Gameday

Offensive Players of the Week For the week ending July 27 Pitchers of the Week For the week ending July 27

Sweet-swinging Winker shows great promise for Reds No. 3 prospect has excellent eye, could have homer potential with development

Nelson was hitting 97 on occasion yesterday and working consistently at 94-95. His ceiling is pretty similar to Peralta's, at least a #2 with an outside shot at #1. Nelson's upside is quite high. Nelson doesn't have the control or stuff to be a #1, that's just silly. He could maybe be a #2 if he improves his command but how much farther is his stuff really going to come? He's already 25 years old and wasn't the raw pitcher that Peralta (converted OF + TJ surgery) was to begin with.

Baez impresses with bat, at new position Cubs' top prospect plays second base for first time in his pro career

Russell's homer sparks Smokies to win No. 3 Cubs prospect connects for first time since his trade from A's

Cubs' Tseng excellent again for Cougars Taiwanese teenager flashing talents to take fast track to Majors

Cubs' Russell gets pranked on a career day Shortstop prospect goes yard twice, plates six runs in Smokies' rout

Baez extends hitting streak to 14 games Top Chicago prospect rips three singles, lifts July average to .290

Pitchers of the Week For the week ending July 20 Offensive Players of the Week For the week ending July 20

Glasnow gets comfortable, stays scoreless Pirates' No. 2 prospect strikes out 11 over six innings for Marauders

Cubs promote blue chips Soler, Almora Club's No. 6 prospect heads for Iowa, No. 4 prospect takes his place

FSL notes: Tilson ready to play spoiler role Cardinals No. 10 prospect relishes idea of opposing hometown Cubs

D-Cubs' Vogelbach goes opposite field twice Chicago's No. 12 prospect solving FSL's pitcher-friendly environment

Appy notes: Cards' Mercado faces tall task Johnson City's 6-foot-2 shortstop looks to model his game after Jeter

Pioneer notes: Blandino happy at shortstop Converted Stanford third baseman feeling comfortable with Billings

MWL notes: Kaminsky refining his curve 'Hard working' Chiefs southpaw studying video of Dodgers' Kershaw

Johnson pierces win column for Smokies Cubs' No. 8 prospect snaps three-game skid with six shutout innings