Brewers Minors: Another No-Hitter Leads Week 6 Action

No Milwaukee Brewers affiliate was able to pick up a series win in the sixth week of action for the 2021 minor league season. But like usual, there was still plenty of impressive action down on the farm.

There was yet another no-hitter thrown last week, the third for the Brewers organization this season. And there was another player of the week award for a Milwaukee minor leaguer, for a player on a team that is used to seeing the award come their way.

Which team collected the no-hitter? Let’s see as we jump into our week 6 recap for the Brewers minor league affiliates.

Triple-A Nashville Sounds (24-11, T-1st in Southeast Division)

The Sounds began their series against the Indianapolis Indians by extending their losing streak to four games before ending that and going on a quick three-game winning streak immediately thereafter. Two losses to end the series, however, gave Nashville their second straight series split.

Jamie Westbrook was on fire last week, going 11 for 25 in the series, slugging three doubles and two homers, and knocking in nine. He is now batting .380 with a 1.056 OPS in the 14 games since his promotion to Triple-A.

Keston Hiura has also hit well again since his second demotion to the minors in 2021, going 7 for 17, all singles, with five walks and three RBIs. Jake Hager, who returned to the Brewers organization in late May, had six hits in the series.

On the pitching side, Bowden Francis has impressed since his promotion to Nashville. In his third start for the Sounds on Friday, he gave up just a hit and a walk over seven scoreless innings, striking out six. Josh Lindblom also continued to look solid, throwing another four scoreless on a hit and a walk in a start on Wednesday.

Double-A Biloxi Shuckers (13-23, 4th in North Division)

It was another rough series for the Shuckers last week as they dropped five of their six games at home against the Mississippi Braves. Biloxi has won one series so far in 2021, that one also against the Braves back in mid-May.

Some familiar names led the way on offense for the Shuckers. Tyler Friis paced the team with eight hits in the series with MLB Pipeline’s No. 19 Brewers prospect Payton Henry following with six. No. 2 prospect, and potential deadline trade chip, Brice Turang had five hits, which included a double, triple, and a home run.

No. 4 Brewers prospect Ethan Small followed up his pitcher of the week honor with a tough luck loss in a start on Saturday. In 6 2/3 innings, Small gave up one run on five hits and a walk while striking out a dozen Braves batters.

A few Shuckers pitchers threw scoreless outings in relief last week, including 29-year-old Andy Otero who threw four scoreless, hitless innings out of the bullpen on Friday. He now has a 1.35 ERA over 13 1/3 innings of relief in 2021, giving up five hits and four walks on the season with 13 strikeouts.

High-A Wisconsin Timber Rattlers (18-18, 2nd in East Division)

The Timber Rattlers split their six-game series for the second week in a row, this time against the South Bend Cubs. But the highlight of the week was Wisconsin’s second no-hitter of the season on Thursday, their first since a seven-inning no-no on May 29th.

Justin Bullock, in his first start since being promoted after an excellent start to the season at Low-A Carolina, threw five innings and struck out ten. Carlos Luna, who just joined the team five days prior to the game, closed out the no-hitter with a four-inning, three-strikeout effort of his own. He actually gave up an unearned run, making it the rare no-hitter where the other team still scores.

No. 16 prospect Hayden Cantrelle filled up the stat sheet in the series, as he went 6 for 19 with a double, 10 walks, and seven steals on nine attempts. Je’Von Ward also had six hits while No. 1 prospect Garrett Mitchell and Gabriel Garcia, who also had a grand slam in an extra-inning loss on Wednesday, followed with five hits.

On the mound, Justin Jarvis had a solid start of his own, giving up one run over six innings on three hits and a walk with three strikeouts on Friday. And Taylor Floyd continued to impress out of the bullpen, throwing another three scoreless innings, which lowered his ERA to 2.82 over 22 1/3 innings on the 2021 season.

Low-A Carolina Mudcats (21-14, 2nd in Central Division)

Make it yet another series split for a Brewers affiliate last week, this one coming in the Mudcats’ six-gamer against the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers. Carolina scored a combined 18 runs in a pair of wins over the weekend to salvage the split.

And for once, we’re not leading off with Joe Gray Jr. (though we’ll get to him). No, this time Felix Valerio gets the honors on the back of a 12 for 21 performance that featured two doubles, a triple, a homer, seven walks, and seven runs scored. It allowed him to keep the Low-A East player of the week award residing in Carolina.

Gray Jr. was not to be forgotten as he put up six hits in the series, including three triples, as well as six walks. No. 11 prospect Zavier Warren also returned from injury to put up five hits, which included a pair of bombs.

No. 30 prospect Abner Uribe has settled in after a rough start to the season, throwing 4 1/3 scoreless innings over two appearances, striking out eight along the way. He hasn’t given up a run in June and has lowered his ERA to 3.98, down from 7.36 to start the month.

Will another prospect pick up a player of the week award after the upcoming series are complete? Come back next week and find out as we round up the minor league highlights!