TheCrew07

Souds Swept by Rainiers, 9-0 Nashville's Schafer comes homer short of cycle; Nelson allows two earned runs in 5.2 innings Nashville Sounds http://www.milb.com/assets/images/0/6/0/80143060/cuts/Logan_Schafer_430_4_Large_k8w0knb2_zrdkgll7.jpg NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The Nashville Sounds suffered their fourth-straight loss at Greer Stadium Monday night, as the offense again struggled in a 9-0 defeat to the Tacoma Rainiers. The loss handed the Sounds their first four-game series sweep since Sacramento took four games from Nashville from May 11-14, 2013. The four-straight losses also matches Nashville's longest losing streak of the season. The Sounds found ways to get runners on base throughout the evening, but could not bring them home. Nashville hit 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position. Sounds center fielder Logan Schafer provided a spark at the top of the order in his first game back in Nashville, going 3-for-3 and coming up a home run short of the cycle. He would never get home, however, as he would twice be stranded on third base. Eugenio Velez also appears to be finding his stroke again at the plate, going 2-for-3 with a double. Sounds starter, and Brewers top prospect, Jimmy Nelson struggled with his command, but still gave Nashville a chance to win. He went 5.2 innings, allowing two earned runs on eight hits while walking three and striking out five but still got saddled with his second loss of the season. The start was also the first non-quality start for Nelson at any level in 2014. The Rainiers got to Nelson in the top of the second when a Hector Gomez error allowed Ty Kelly to reach base. Kelly would later score in the inning on a Hunter Morris error before scoring two more runs on an Abraham Almonte double. Nelson's start would come to an end in the top of the fifth, and the Rainiers began pouring it on shortly after with a two-run single by Xavier Nady. The wheels fell off for the Sounds in the top of the seventh when Tacoma plated four runs on two hits off of Nashville relievers Dustin Molleken and Alfredo Figaro. Johnnie Lowe pitched effectively for the Sounds in his first appearance since being activated off of the disabled list, throwing two perfect innings of relief. The Sounds will hit the road for an eight-game road trip that begins Tuesday night in Las Vegas. Nashville RHP Michael Blazek (0-3, 4.26 ERA) will square off with 51s RHP Logan Verrett (5-2, 4.79 ERA) at 9:05 p.m. Nashville Boxscore Well Jimmy Nelson was bound to have a "rough" day sooner or later and though the defense didn't help him out, he did give up 8 hits. If this is as bad as it gets how can anyone complain? At least Johnnie Lowe went scoreless... Logan Schafer (3-3,3B,2B,BB) had quite the return to AAA, he hasn't thrived in a bench role for the Brewers but I believe he's better hitter than his MLB line would suggest thus far. Nashville Recap Nashville Gameday

Pipeline Prospects of the Week Top performers include slugger with 11-RBI week, promising pitcher with 10 K's

Pitchers of the Week For the week ending June 15

Offensive Players of the Week For the week ending June 15

Baseball America Prospect Hot Sheet Chat

Prospect Hot Sheet (June 13): Bryant Keeps On Bashing In The Team Photo

Baseball America Prospect Report (June 14)

Sounds Drop Third Straight To Tacoma, 4-3 Nashville Sounds http://www.milb.com/assets/images/1/8/6/79965186/cuts/HaltonCamo_zmg1ka08_ckwuvks2.jpg (Mike Strasinger / Nashville Sounds) NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Tacoma outfielder Jabari Blash homered for the third straight game to power the visiting Rainiers to a 4-3 victory over the Nashville Sounds on Sunday afternoon at Greer Stadium. The Sounds (38-33) suffered their third straight loss to Tacoma despite out-hitting the Rainiers, 11-6, on the afternoon. Tacoma took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning as a two-out walk came back to haunt Sounds starter Ariel Pena. After fanning the game's first two batters, the right-hander issued a free pass to Ji-Man Choi, who promptly scored the afternoon's first run on Nick Franklin's ensuing RBI double to right-center. The Rainiers doubled the lead to 2-0 in the second. Xavier Avery drew a one-out walk, stole a pair of bases, and scored on Abraham Almonte's RBI single. Almonte finished 3-for-5 on the afternoon. Pena lasted only three innings, tossing 85 pitches while matching a Sounds season high with six walks allowed. He gave up two runs on two hits and struck out five. Nashville knotted the score at 2-2 in the home half of the fourth against Tacoma starter Forrest Snow. Sean Halton led off with a double, moved to third on Hunter Morris' single, and scored the Sounds' first run on a throwing error by Rainiers catcher Jesus Sucre (audio). After advancing to third on a Hector Gomez single, Morris plated the tying run on a Taylor Green groundout (audio). Blash continued his monster series when he homered for the third straight game in the top of the seventh, belting a 434-foot homer over the neck of the guitar scoreboard in left-center to give the visitors a 4-2 cushion (video). The two-run blast off Arcenio Leon, which also plated Franklin (walk), was the slugger's team-leading 12th of the year. Leon (0-1) suffered the loss after surrendering the go-ahead homer. The Sounds mounted a rally in the ninth against Rainiers reliever Brandon Maurer. Gomez singled with one out and later scored on pinch-hitter Pete Orr's two-out single to right to pull Nashville within a run at 4-3 (video). With the potential tying run on first, Maurer recovered to retire Jeff Bianchi on a game-ending groundout to close out the victory and earn his third save of the year. The Sounds will look to avoid a sweep when the teams wrap up the four-game set with a 7:05 p.m. finale on Monday evening. PCL ERA leader Jimmy Nelson (7-1, 1.51) will toe the slab for the Sounds to face Tacoma right-hander Andrew Carraway (2-4, 4.99). Nashville Boxscore Ariel Pena continues his rollercoaster ride of a Brewers' career... wow. At least Kyle Heckathorn and Brent Leach put scoreless outings on the board. Caleb Gindl (2-4) had the only multi-hit game out of a prospect. Taylor Green just hasn't gotten going this year at all, he's posted just a 644 OPS through the first 2.5 months of the season. Nashville Recap Nashville Gameday

Chiefs' Kaminsky tosses six shutout innings Cardinals' No. 3 prospect allows two hits, strikes out six, walks none

Perez has a night against former team Reds prospect goes 3-for-6 with homer, double, two RBIs, two runs

Schwarber stands out as Hawks win opener Cubs' first-round pick collects three hits, including go-ahead homer

Kingham overcomes jitters in Triple-A debut Pirates' No. 8 prospect strikes out eight, hurls seven scoreless innings

Cardinals' Gonzales fans 10 in second win No. 4 St. Louis prospect retires final seven batters on efficient night

Rattlers fall at Quad Cities in first half finale River Bandits blast four homers to top Wisconsin 13-2 By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers DAVENPORT, IA - The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers lost 13-2 on Sunday to the Quad Cities River Bandits at Modern Woodmen Park. Quad Cities hit four homers as they scored in six of the eight innings in which they batted on Sunday. This was the final game of the first half for both teams. Chase McDonald put the River Bandits (35-34) up 3-0 with a long, three-run home run in the bottom of the first inning. Quad Cities added to their lead in the second inning. James Ramsey singled to knock in Jack Rodriguez. Later in the inning, Wisconsin starting pitcher Clint Terry hit a batter and walked another to load the bases with two outs. Terry issued a walk to Jon Kemmer on a 3-2 pitch to force in a run and the Bandits were up 5-0. Brian Holberton hit a leadoff home run in the bottom of the third inning off Terry to make the score 6-0. Terry walked the next batter and was replaced by Tyler Spurlin, who got a double play and a popup to end the frame. Wisconsin (36-33) got on the scoreboard in the top of the fourth inning against Quad Cities starting pitcher Michael Feliz. Omar Garcia singled to start the inning. He was on third with two outs. Rafael Neda sent a grounder to short, but the throw to first was wild. The error allowed Garcia to score. Garrett Cooper was next and he lined a double to left-center to send Neda home and make the score 6-2. The Rattlers got the first two batters on in the top of the fifth inning against Feliz. Paul Eshleman and Angel Ortega hit back-to-back singles to start the inning. But, Feliz got out of the inning with a pair of strikeouts and a force play at second. The Bandits got a run off Spurlin in the fifth inning. Rodriguez singled with runners at first and third to knock in one for a 7-2 lead. Quad Cities turned to Jandel Gustave in the top of the sixth and he would twirl four scoreless innings while pitching around four hits and a walk to earn the save. But, the Bandits weren't done scoring runs. Tyler White continued to torment Wisconsin pitching when he welcomed Harvey Martin to the game with a long home run to left in the bottom of the seventh. Later in the inning, Ramsay and Brett Phillips delivered two-out RBI hits for a 10-2 lead. White greeted Rodolfo Fernandez to the game in the bottom of the eighth with a leadoff homer. White has hit seven home runs in the 2014 season and six of those homers have been against Wisconsin Timber Rattlers pitching. Chan-Jong Moon capped the scoring with a two-out double on a 3-2 pitch from Fernandez to drive in two more runs for the River Bandits. Wisconsin did collect ten hits in the game. Cooper, Garcia, and Johnny Davis each had a pair of hits on Sunday. However, the Rattlers stranded nine runners and saw their four game winning streak come to an end. The Timber Rattlers are off for the Midwest League All-Star break until Thursday, June 19. They start the second half at Burlington against the Bees. Game time on Thursday is 6:30pm. The next time the Timber Rattlers are home will be Friday, June 27. Click here to order tickets for any of the remaining home games this season. Click here to check out the upcoming promotions for the Timber Rattlers. HOME RUNS: QC: Chase McDonald (3rd, 2 on in 1st inning off Clint Terry, 1 out) Brian Holberton (5th, 0 on in 3rd inning off Clint Terry, 0 out) Tyler White (6th, 0 on in 7th inning off Harvey Martin, 0 out) Tyler White (7th, 0 on in 8th inning off Rodolfo Fernandez, 0 out) WP: Michael Feliz (3-1) LP: Clint Terry (0-1) SAVE: Jandel Gustave (1) TIME: 2:52 ATTN: 3,258 Wisconsin Boxscore This is not the way the Rattlers wanted to go into the all-star break, just an ugly mess to finish the first half. Take break boys and come back firing on all cylinders for the 2nd half! P.S. I hope your listening to the audio, Erickson doesn't expect much movement/change in the roster for the 2nd half. Wisconsin Recap

Wisconsin wins fourth straight with 6-3 victory at Quad Cities Rattlers stay red hot with eleventh win in last twelve games By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers DAVENPORT, IA - Paul Eshleman homered and drove in three runs for the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers in their 6-3 win over the Quad Cities River Bandits at Modern Woodmen Park. Michael Ratterree also homered and Trevor Seidenberger earned his sixth win of the season with solid relief work for the streaking Rattlers. Wisconsin (36-32) scored single runs in the second and third innings to take the lead. Eshleman singled with two outs in the second to knock in Jose Pena. Michael Ratterree doubled with one out in the third Quad Cities (34-34) tied the game in the bottom of the third inning against starting pitcher Tyler Alexander. Chan-Jong Moon doubled with one out. Alexander walked two batters with two outs to load the bases. Jon Kemmer, who had three hits in the game, singled to center to drive in a pair of runs to even the score. Eshleman put the Rattlers back in front in the top of the fourth. The catcher lined a 2-1 pitch from Chris Lee over the wall in left field for his first home run of the season. The blast gave the Rattlers a 3-2 lead. Seidenberger entered the game in the bottom of the fifth inning. Alexander had given up a walk and a single with one out in the frame and was around 90 pitches on the night. Seidenberger got the final two outs of the fifth to maintain the one-run cushion. The score remained 3-2 until the top of the eighth inning. Ratterree singled to start the rally. Clint Coulter followed with a double to drive in Ratterree and knock Lee out of the game. Eshleman came up with two outs in the inning and drove in the final run of the inning with a single and Wisconsin was up 5-3. Brett Phillips got the Bandits a little closer with a two-out solo home run off Seidenberger in the bottom of the eighth inning. Ratterree got that run back with a long home run to left. The homer was his twelfth of the season and tied him with Eric Haase of Lake County for the Midwest League lead in homers. The home run was the third hit of the night for Ratterree, who was missing just the triple for the cycle. Taylor Williams worked around an infield single and an error in the bottom of the ninth to work a scoreless inning and pick up his second save of the season. The Rattlers, who were eliminated from playoff contention on Friday night, have won eleven of their last twelve games to get to four games over .500 for the first time since they were 8-4 on April 16. The final game of the first half is scheduled for Sunday. Clint Terry (0-0, 1.15) is scheduled to start for the Timber Rattlers. Quad Cities sends Michael Feliz (3-2, 3.03) to the mound. Game time is 1:15pm. Tune in broadcast on AM1280, WNAM or IHeartRadio starting with the Miller Lite Pregame Show at 12:55pm. HOME RUNS: WIS: Paul Eshleman (1st, 0 on in 4th inning off Chris Lee, 1 out) Michael Ratterree (12th, 0 on in 9th inning off Chris Cotton, 2 out) QC: Brett Phillips (4th, 0 on in 8th inning off Trevor Seidenberger, 2 out) WP: Trevor Seidenberger (6-1) LP: Chris Lee (2-5) SAVE: Taylor Williams (2) TIME: 2:52 ATTN: 5,775 Wisconsin Boxscore Wisconsin Recap

Sounds Edged By Tacoma, 2-1 Nashville's Halton and Orr Provide Team's Only Hits Nashville Sounds http://www.milb.com/assets/images/6/4/0/79839640/cuts/MPS_8489_Large_nyo55ydw_cy7v1t6p.jpg (MIKE STRASINGER ) NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The first-place Nashville Sounds (38-32) were held to two hits in Saturday night's 2-1 loss to the Tacoma Rainiers before 8,287 fans at Greer Stadium. Right-handed pitcher Taijuan Walker (1-1) guided Tacoma from the hill, twice cruising through the Sounds line-up to carry a no-hit bid through the 6th inning. With one out in the 7th, Sounds first baseman Sean Halton recorded the team's first hit with a single into right field. After Halton's base knock, Walker loaded the bases on walks before picking up his seventh and final strikeout. At 94 pitches, Walker's night concluded and reliever Stephen Pryor stepped to the mound to face Kevin Mattison. During the at-bat, Pryor uncorked a wild pitch that allowed the base runners to advance one base and give Nashville its only run. But Nashville's 7th-inning rally ended with Mattison striking out. The Rainiers plated the game's first run in the 4th inning when catcher Jesus Sucre slapped a single into centerfield to score Gabriel Noriga. In centerfield, Mattison bobbled the ball to allow Noriega to move into scoring position after his single. Tacoma doubled their lead on Jabari Blash's solo home run over the left field wall in the top of the 6th. The shot off Sounds starter Brad Mills (4-2) is Blash's 11th of the season and the second in as many nights, traveling an estimated at 443 feet. Mills finished after six innings of work, allowing Tacoma batters two runs, one earned, on six hits for his seventh quality start of the year. He walked two and fanned seven in the outing, and worked out of a bases-loaded two-out jam in the first inning. He was charged the tough luck loss. His opposite, Walker, picked up the win. Relievers Jeremy Jeffress and Alfredo Figaro combined to keep the Sounds in the contest with three scoreless frames. Pete Orr recorded Nashville's second and final hit in the 8th inning. It is second time this season the Sounds have been held to two hits; also May 15 vs. Oklahoma City. The Sounds will play game three of the four-game series with the Tacoma Rainiers on Sunday at 2:05. RHP Ariel Pena (4-5, 4.19) will start for Nashville opposite RHP Forrest Snow (NR). Broadcaster Jeff Hem has the call on 102.5 The Game. Nashville Boxscore Nashville Recap Nashville Gameday

Diaz dazzles in Rattler win at Quad Cities Wisconsin wins for tenth time in eleven games, but gets knocked out of playoff chase By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers http://www.milb.com/assets/images/6/6/8/79675668/cuts/6_13_Victor_Diaz_WEB_kwenxjht_kd1tqraz.jpg Victor Diaz makes a pitch during Friday's game at Quad Cities. Diaz allowed one hit and struck out six in the victory over the River Bandits. (Rich Guill) DAVENPORT, IA - Victor Diaz was almost perfect in his six innings on Friday night for the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers at Modern Woodmen Park. The Venezuelan right-hander retired the first sixteen Quad Cities River Bandits he faced and picked up the victory in a combined 7-0 shutout win with Anthony Banda. The win was the tenth in the last eleven games for the Rattlers, but it could not prevent them from being eliminated from the first half playoff race. Wisconsin (35-32) sent eight men to the plate in the top of the second inning and scored four times for the lead. Clint Coulter was hit by a pitch to start the inning. Taylor Brennan followed with a single. Jose Pena knocked in both runners with a double into the left field corner. Pena would take third on a wild pitch. The River Bandits brought the infield in, but Francisco Castillo lined a single over the infield for an RBI single to drive in Pena. Later in the inning, Angel Ortega made it 4-0 with a sacrifice fly that drove in Castillo. Diaz was didn't allow a runner until there was one out in the bottom of the sixth inning. He hit Jake Rodriguez with a 1-1 pitch to end the streak of sixteen straight batters retired to start the game. James Ramsay singled off the glove of Castillo at second base with two outs for the first hit by a River Bandit. But, right fielder Michael Ratterree threw Rodriguez out at third base for the final out of the inning and the Quad Cities catcher tried to go from first to third on the single. Diaz struck out six in the game. Left-handed reliever Anthony Banda took over in the bottom of the seventh inning and retired the Bandits (34-33) in order. Wisconsin tacked on a pair of runs in the eighth. Johnny Davis reached on a bunt single with Ortega at second and a wild throw to first let Ortega score. Ratterree dropped a single down the line in right to get Davis home from third later in the inning. In the top of the ninth, Rafael Neda knocked in the final Wisconsin run with a sacrifice fly for a 7-0 advantage. Banda allowed a single, a double, and a walk in the bottom of the ninth, but he got the final outs to end the game and preserve the shutout. Friday night was the third shutout of the season for the Timber Rattlers and their first since April 16 when they shutout Lansing 1-0 in the second game of a doubleheader. Unfortunately for Wisconsin the Burlington Bees rallied several times to defeat the Cedar Rapids Kernels 6-5 at Cedar Rapids on Friday. The win by the Bees eliminated the Timber Rattlers from playoff contention. Burlington trailed 2-0, 3-2, and 5-4 in the game, but took a 6-5 lead on a two-run double by Mike Fish in the top of the sixth inning. The Bees held on to clinch the first half Western Division Wild Card spot with two games remaining before the All-Star break. Wisconsin has gone 10-2 in June, but Burlington has gone 9-3 to hold off the hard-charging Timber Rattlers. The teams meet in game two of the series on Saturday night. Tyler Alexander (4-3, 3.74) is the scheduled starter for the Timber Rattlers. Chris Lee (2-4, 4.47) is set to start for the River Bandits. Game time is 6:00pm. Tune in for the broadcast on AM1280, WNAM or IHeartRadio starting with the Miller Lite Pregame Show at 5:40pm. Saturday's game is also available on MiLB.TV. WP: Victor Diaz (2-2) LP: Andrew Thurman (3-4) SAVE: Anthony Banda (2) TIME: 2:34 ATTN: 5,962 Wisconsin Boxscore This is the second gem Victor Diaz has twirled this year and of course both were on the road... he's got a lit bit of Ariel Pena in him as when he's on he's really good and when he's not the results are uneven. I'm not sure exactly where to peg him without being able to see him with his best stuff. It was awesome of Anthony Banda to keep it going as well, just 5 total baserunners against 8 strike outs between the two pitchers. Johnny Davis (3-5), Michael Ratterree (2-4), Jose Pena (2-4,2B), and Francisco Castillo (2-3,2B,BB) had the multi hit games. With the guys at the bottom of the line-up hitting hot streaks lately the entire team AVE has climbed all the way back to .251, but that's still only good for 11th overall. Wisconsin Recap

Sounds Winning Streak Ends in 8-1 Loss Nashville's Molleken throws Three Scoreless; Bianchi Homers Nashville Sounds http://www.milb.com/assets/images/3/4/0/79666340/cuts/Dustin_Molleken_429_36_Large_etxb4nhp_z6x6uuoj.jpg NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The first-place Nashville Sounds (38-31) had their four-game win streak halted by the hot bats of the Tacoma Rainiers in an 8-1 loss before 7,353 fans at Greer Stadium Friday night. Sounds starter Taylor Jungmann (2-3), the No. 6 prospect in the Brewers' system according to Baseball America, couldn't find a rhythm all night, and the Rainiers made him pay as he gave up six runs (five earned) on seven hits in five innings. Jungmann was charged the loss, his third since joining the team on May 23. The bottom of Tacoma's order provided an early boost when No. 8 hitter Humberto Quintero opened the scoring with an RBI single in the top of the second. During the next at-bat, the Rainiers added another run on a double steal, with Jabari Blash scoring. Blash later broke the game open in the top of the fourth with a two-run homer to right field that increased Tacoma's lead to 4-0. The Rainiers tacked on one more run in the inning on a Xavier Avery double. The Sounds responded in the bottom half of the fourth when Jeff Bianchi hit a solo home run, his second of the season. Bianchi has been on a hot streak since joining the Sounds hitting .308 in his last 13 games. Tacoma scored their sixth run in the top of the fifth when Quintero came through with an RBI single set up by a Bianchi error. Sounds reliever Dustin Molleken halted Tacoma's batters by throwing three perfect innings in relief while striking out five batters for his sixth-straight scoreless outing. He has now allowed a run in just one of his last 13 appearances. Tacoma added insurance runs off of Sounds reliever Donovan Hand in the top of the ninth, with an RBI triple by Chris Taylor and a sac fly from Nick Franklin being the final blows. The Sounds will look to bounce back against Tacoma on Saturday at 6:35 p.m. Nashville LHP Brad Mills (4-1, 1.57 ERA) will take to the hill looking to continue his successful season against rehabbing Mariners RHP Taijuan Walker (0-1, 6.30 ERA). Jeff Hem has the call on 102.5-FM "The GAME". Nashville Boxscore This was ugly, go get 'em tomorrow. Nashville Recap Nashville Gameday

Indy's Morris goes distance for first time In second Triple-A start, righty shows how far he's come from surgery

First off, I remember pointing out Coulter was slumping once earlier this season, he was 3-25 or something at the time which was factual... nor did I make the claim he was "slumping" in this Link Report. This is hard to verbalize but I'll give it a shot... Coulter is a better hitter than there are pitchers to this point in the Midwest League, there is no pitcher with a comparable level of talent opposing him. That of course may change when the 2014 draftees start making an appearance, but right now he's basically getting himself out, the pitchers he's facing don't have the stuff to overpower him. I'm very careful not make comparisons to players that have dominated the league in prior years but I think that Clint could be every bit as dominating at the plate as they were, and I honestly expect him to be as the season continues. He's clearly been frustrated with pitchers pitching around him, but that's life, he's got to make the most of the mistakes he sees or pitches in the zone when they come after him. Tonight was a good step to that end, he made a noticeable effort to stay relaxed during his ABs, which is what I was looking for. Opinions will differ on prospects, but the one thing you can count on from me is that I'm always going to give my honest assessment of a player. I don't ask that anyone agrees with me but I will ask that I'm not accused of unnecessarily hating on a guy. It's not realistic to have the same baseline for every prospect, we should all have different expectations for each player. I've been extremely critical of his defense, and rightly so in my opinion, but he's been brilliant at the plate given what he did last year, and there's still more in his tank.

Only marginally my friend, but his arm is fantastic. As for the other bats I'm super high on David Denson based on what I've seen in WI, I'm still very intrigued by Tucker Neuhaus, and I'm keeping a sharp eye on last year's big bonus babies in Latin America; Nicolas Pierre and Franly Mallen. I'm also still following Victor Roache, he just seems like a guy who's going to need to make major adjustments as he moves up each level.

Wisconsin wins 8-2 over Beloit Rattlers are 9-1 in last ten games By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers http://www.milb.com/assets/images/6/6/8/79528668/cuts/Gainey_June_12_w8o7397g_x3dqqq0o.jpg Preston Gainey allowed two runs over seven innings to pick up the win on Salute to Cows Night for the Timber Rattlers. (Ann Mollica/Wisconsin Timber Rattlers) GRAND CHUTE, WI - The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers closed out their first half home schedule with an 8-2 win over the Beloit Snappers on Thursday night at Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium. The Rattlers are 9-1 in their last ten games, but got some bad news in their quest for a playoff spot. The Timber Rattlers (34-32) scored twice in the bottom of the first inning and needed just one hit to do it. Francisco Castillo singled with one out. Clint Coulter and Taylor Brennan each walked with two outs to load the bases. Jose Pena drew a walk on a 3-2 pitch to force in Castillo. A wild pitch let Coulter score from third for a 2-0 advantage. Wisconsin added to their lead in the bottom of the third. Castillo doubled to start the inning. He scored on a single to center by Michael Ratterree. Walks to Coulter and Brennan loaded the bases for Pena again. He grounded into a force play at second to allow Ratterree to score. Steve Halcomb made it 5-0 with a two-out single to left-center to knock in Brennan. Beloit (27-40) got their first base runner of the game against Wisconsin starting pitcher Preston Gainey when Boog Powell drew a leadoff walk in the fourth. Melvin Mercedes doubled to left to put runners on second and third with no outs. Tyler Marincov drove in Powell with a sacrifice fly and Chih-Fang Pan got Mercedes home with a single, but Gainey held the Snappers to those two runs. The Midwest League All-Star went seven innings, allowed five hits, walked three, and struck out three to put himself in position for his second win of the season. Wisconsin's offense added to their lead with two more runs in the sixth inning. Rafael Neda singled and was sacrificed to second on a bunt by Angel Ortega. Johnny Davis singled to knock in Neda. Later in the inning Coulter would drove in Davis with a sacrifice fly. Pena doubled to start the bottom of the seventh inning. Neda made the score 8-2 with a single to get Pena home. Rodolfo Fernandez pitched a scoreless eighth and a scoreless ninth to close out the Snappers. Wisconsin may have won for the ninth time in their last ten games, but they have been pushed to the brink of elimination in the first half Western Division Wild Card race. The Burlington Bees edged the Clinton LumberKings 3-2 in eleven innings at Clinton on Thursday night. The Bees are now 36-30 with three games remaining in the first half. Quad Cities and Peoria lost their games on Thursday. Wisconsin is tied with Quad Cities and Peoria at 34-32, two games behind the Bees. Burlington holds the tiebreaker on all three teams chasing them and their magic number is one over all three teams. If Burlington wins one of their three games at Cedar Rapids - or the Rattlers lose one of their three games at Quad Cities - this weekend, the Rattlers will be eliminated from playoff contention in this half. Game one of Wisconsin's series at Quad Cities is Friday night at 7:00pm at Modern Woodmen Park. Victor Diaz (1-2, 3.48) is the scheduled starting pitcher for Wisconsin. The River Bandits have named Andrew Thurman (3-3, 5.23) as their starter. Tune in for the broadcast on AM1280, WNAM or IHeartRadio starting with the Miller Lite Pregame Show at 6:40pm. Friday's game is also available to subscribers of MiLB.TV. WP: Preston Gainey (2-3) LP: Kyle Finnegan (5-4) TIME: 2:48 ATTN: 5,136 Wisconsin Boxscore First things first... the cow unis were... well less than awesome, hopefully you can see them when the game story is posted. However everyone in the ballpark sure seemed to have fun with the cow tribute tonight. Preston Gainey was effectively wild (as are most A ball starters) tonight, he wasn't hitting his spots with regularity, but his slider was working well. His command slipped more as the game went on, all 3 of his walks came during the 4th and 5th innings. The defense was awesome behind him in the 3rd; Taylor Brennan made an outstanding pick on a bad hop for the first out, Francisco Castillo ran down a line drive slicing away from him in the LF corner for the second out (then promptly threw the ball to the kids on the berm which was odd, must have thought it was the 3rd out), and Michael Ratterree came in on a looping liner to RF but corralled it with a nice play looking directly into the sun without sun glasses for the 3rd out. Francisco Castillo (3-4,2B,BB) is looking like a completely different hitter on this homestand, it's amazing how different he looks now that he's playing with confidence. I was intrigued by him coming into the season, had really cooled on him based on his limited playing time over the first 2 months, but he's filled in admirably for Chris McFarland and showed a very nice line drive stroke tonight. Speaking of McFarland, I think I saw him in the dugout still sporting a red boot on his foot. It's been 3 weeks or so since that ankle sprain, hopefully he was just icing and is almost done with his rehab. Rafael Neda (2-4) had the other multi-hit game for the T-Rats this evening. Clint Coulter and Taylor Brennan didn't see anything to hit until later in the game, when both finally saw FBs they could turn on Coulter hit 2 in a row into the T-Rats dugout before walking for the 3rd time, and Brennan turned on the first one he saw hitting it into the Rattler dugout as well. That's incredibly hard for right handed hitters to do... both guys had to be pretty anxious, Coulter in particular was taking time to step out and take relaxing breaths between pitches which I liked to see. In all Wisconsin batters had 9 hits and 8 walks in the contest. Wisconsin Recap Wisconsin Gameday

Sounds Sweep Reno With 12-6 Victory Nashville Belts Season-High Four Homers In Win Nashville Sounds http://www.milb.com/assets/images/5/5/4/79503554/cuts/VelezThrowback_0612_i3z1pa37_qrw9iomm.jpg (Mike Strasinger / Nashville Sounds) NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The Nashville Sounds belted a season-high four home runs as they completed a four-game sweep of the Reno Aces with a 12-6 victory on Thursday evening at Greer Stadium. The first-place Sounds (38-30) have won six of their last seven games overall and 22 of their past 29 contests played at Greer Stadium. Eugenio Velez homered and drove in a season-high five RBIs during his 3-for-4 evening, one of a trio of Sounds with three knocks on the night. The Sounds turned the game into a rout early on, sending 10 batters to the plate in the bottom of the first inning against Reno starter Lucas Harrell. The first seven batters of the night reached and scored for Nashville, which belted three home runs in the frame. Pete Orr got the scoring start with a two-run homer to right, his second big fly of the year. Jeremy Hermida followed with a double and scored on a single by Sean Halton (3-for-4). After Caleb Gindl (3-for-5) also singled, Velez hammered a three-run homer to right and Kevin Mattison followed with a solo homer to right-center to up the home team lead to 7-0. The back-to-back homers marked each player's sixth roundtripper of the year. The seven-run outburst was the Sounds' largest in a single inning since July 1, 2012, when they plated eight in a frame against Iowa. Nashville continued its hot start in the second, plating two more runs to send Harrell (3-1) to the showers after giving up nine runs in two frames to take his first loss of the season. Halton and Velez contributed run-scoring doubles in the frame as the Sounds' lead swelled to 9-0. Spot starter Michael Blazek turned in a solid effort while filling in for the recently-promoted Mike Fiers. The right-hander allowed three hits over 4 2/3 scoreless frames, finishing one out shy of qualifying for his first win of the year. Blazek retired 14 of his first 15 batters faced on the evening. Alfredo Figaro inherited a two-out, bases-loaded jam from Blazek in the fifth but escaped with no damage by retiring Nick Ahmed on a lineout. The Sounds upped the advantage to 11-0 in the sixth with a pair of two-out runs against Mark Serrano. Gindl smacked an opposite-field double to the left-center gap brought home Orr, who had singled earlier in the frame. Velez followed with an RBI single down the right field line. Reno finally got on the scoreboard in the top of the seventh with a pair of runs on Ahmed's two-out single against Figaro (2-1), who picked up the win after allowing two runs in two innings of work. Sounds reliever Kyle Heckathorn made it a 12-2 game in the home half of the seventh when he slugged a home run off Serrano. The blast was the first by a Nashville pitcher since Mark Rogers went yard on June 23, 2012 at Albuquerque. The Aces pulled back within 12-6 with a four-run rally against Heckathorn, highlighted by a two-run homer by Mike Freeman (3-for-3). The Sounds continue their homestand on Friday when they welcome the Tacoma Rainiers (AAA-Mariners) to town for the 7:05 p.m. opener of a four-game series. Right-hander Taylor Jungmann (2-2, 5.40) will make the start for the Sounds and face Tacoma southpaw James Gilheeney (1-6, 6.45). Nashville Boxscore Wow I did a double take but Kyle Heckathorn actually went yard! While that obviously doesn't affect my opinion of him as a pitcher, I must admit I love it when pitchers go ya-ya! Michael Blazek has 4 scoreless outings in a row now, he was tough to tonight allowing just 4 baserunners in his 4+ innings, he threw 41 of 62 pitches for strikes. Arcenio Leon had an incredibly busy 9th but somehow made it through unscathed. What an offensive outburst with 16 hits, the last time the Sounds dropped double digit hits was on June 8th against Memphis, they've been getting it done with pitching for the most part in this series with Reno. Sean Halton (3-5,2B) and Caleb Gindl (3-5,2B) were the prospects with monster games. Gindl especially needed a good jump start as he had been just 5 for his last 33 coming into tonight's game. Nashville Recap Nashville Gameday

This is pretty cool... Thirty Alumni of MLB’s Diversity Programs Drafted

Baseball America Prospect Report (June 12)