Milwaukee Brewers: Minor League Affiliate Recap for 4/25 to 4/30

As we near the end of the first month of baseball, let's take a trip down on the farm for the Brewers Minor League system over the last week. We saw a lot of good pitching and plenty of rehab assignments to go around, that will soon fill the holes need up in Milwaukee.

Here is the Milwaukee Brewers minor league affiliate recap from April 25th to April 30th.

Triple-A Nashville Sounds (14-12)

The Sounds find themselves around the middle of the pack in the International League West standings as this week of action closes. Despite not being where they want be in the standings there were still a lot of exciting things going on down in Hit City.

With a couple of Brewers players on rehab assignments the Sounds were able to take four of six from the Omaha Storm Chasers, improving their record to three games above .500. Brewers top pitching prospect Robert Gasser started the series strong as he picked up his first win of the season with a strong five innings of work which included eight punchouts. Most importantly for Brewers fans, Tyrone Taylor was back in action for the first time this season as he had a multi-hit game that included a couple of RBIs on the Sounds' way to win game one 8-3.

The bats stayed hot and so did Keston Hiura as he had a three-hit game, but maybe the bigger storyline was the shutout thrown by the Sounds pitching as they cruised on by the Storm Chasers 5-0. The bats went quiet in game three as the bullpen did their job not allowing any runs, as the Sounds dropped the first game of the series 2-1.

In need of starting pitching depth, Brewers fans had another sigh of relief as Adrian Houser took the mound for the first time since his injury, and he went five strong. However, the bats didn't wake up until the bottom of the eighth inning when they mustered three runs across the plate to tie it up. Brian Navarreto beat out the throw from third to bring home the winning run from third for the Sounds to walk it off in the bottom of the ninth, winning 4-3.

The hot bats continued over to Saturday night's game as there was a combined nine runs scored in the first two innings between the teams and then the pitching showed up. The Sounds bullpen threw seven shutout innings and the Sounds took advantage of yet another infield error made by the Storm Chasers as Keston Hiura was responsible for the RBI single, winning 6-5.

It was a bit of a slugfest for the series finale between the two, and the Sounds were in it right up until the end. Robert Gasser took the mound for the second time in the series and typically, a team seeing the same pitcher twice in one series doesn't go so well for the pitcher. Gasser threw five innings, giving up five runs, three walks, and three long balls as well. As far as the offensive side of things goes, third baseman Eddy Alvarez had a three-hit game followed by a productive afternoon from Tyrone Taylor as who had a hit and two RBIs.

The Sounds go on the road for a six-game series this week against the St. Paul Saints with the first pitch of the game being Tuesday at 11:07 AM CT.

Double-A Biloxi Shuckers (11-9)

Starting the week just a couple of games above .500, the Shuckers are currently a half game behind first place in the Southern League South standings with a huge divisional series looming against the Montgomery Biscuits.

But first, let's recap this past week's series against the Mississippi Braves, where they split the series. In game one, Braves starting pitcher Alan Rangel threw six strong shutout innings striking out five, and on the other side, Shuckers starting pitcher Tobias Myers went six deep, giving up six hits and two runs but striking out five as well. The Shuckers' bats finally woke up in the last three innings as they scored one in the seventh, two in the eighth, and then walked it off on a passed ball in the ninth to take game one 4-3.

Not much went on in game two as the Braves evened up the series at one, winning 4-2. The biggest headline in this game was top prospect Jackson Chourio extending his hitting streak to five games with a double.

Things were more or less the same in game three as the Braves and Shuckers pitching continued to dominate as the Braves took this one 2-1. Shuckers starting pitcher Carlos Rodriguez threw five innings giving up three hits, and three walks, and a run, but most importantly striking out nine batters in his outing. However, the hitting continued to slump as the offense could only come up with three hits, and Chourio's hitting streaking coming to an end.

The Shuckers looked to get back on track during Friday night's game against the Braves, and they did just so, beginning with a strong six-inning outing by Justin Jarvis where he gave up only one run off of a home run and struck out six. The bats came alive scoring eight, which included a multi-hit home run game from Freddy Zamora, and another bomb from Jeferson Quero. Shuckers showed out in front of the home crowd 8-3.

The bats stayed hot but the pitching slumped as the Shuckers dropped game five 7-6. Chourio and Quero both had a multi-hit game. The starting pitching for both sides had strong showings as they both combined to have 15 strikeouts.

The Shuckers bats stayed alive in the final game of the series as five players had multi-hit games. Jeferson Quero went yard for the second time this weekend continuing his hot streak of 5-for-11 from the plate. The Shuckers wound up splitting the series overall with the Braves as they won 10-5 on Sunday.

High-A Wisconsin Timber Rattlers (8-12)

After sitting just a game below .500, the Timber Rattlers looked to get things back on track as they reach the conclusion of the first month. The Timber Rattlers took advantage of the six walks thrown by the starting pitcher for the Beloit Sky Carp, pushing across three runs. Everything following the exit of the Sky Carp's pitcher was dominant as the bullpen threw four shutout innings that included five punchouts. Third baseman Eduardo Garcia had a three-hit game on the Timber Rattlers' way to a 4-3 loss to the Sky Carp in game one.

The bats looked to be alive at the start of game two but that was shut down quickly after the Timber Rattlers scored four runs in the first two innings but would then be shut out for the rest of the game. Jose Acosta was the shining star for the Timber Rattlers as he went 3-3 on the night scoring two runs and improving his batting average to .389 on the season. The Timber Rattlers dropped game two 7-4.

Brewers relief pitcher Gus Varland was sent on a rehab assignment to the Timber Rattlers this week and he would make his first appearance during game three. Things didn't go according to plan as he didn't even make it out of the inning giving up three runs on three hits including a walk. He'd eventually be accredited for the loss on the evening. Acosta continued his hot hitting with another multi-hit night improving his average to .429. The Timber Rattlers dropped their third game in a row 6-4.

The pitching woes continued for the Timber Rattlers heading into the weekend as they gave up nine hits and three runs on their way to a fourth straight loss to the Sky Carp 3-0. Tyler Woessner gave up eight of those hits, as well as three runs in six innings. On the offensive side of things, there wasn't much going on as they could only scrounge up two hits against the Sky Carp pitching.

Looking to at least scrape a couple from this series after dropping the first four, the Timber Rattlers did just that but needed an extra inning to do so. Alexander Cornielle had a strong showing pitching five and third innings striking out seven along the way. Gus Varland made an appearance looking to bounce back from a rough first rehab outing. Varland would finish up the sixth for Cornielle and pitch the seventh and only gave up one hit in doing so. Joe Gray Jr. came to the plate in the bottom of the tenth with the bases loaded and hit a sacrifice fly to left field which brought home the winning run to win 4-3.

Sunday afternoon's finale was cancelled in light of the weather, leaving the Timber Rattlers to drop the series to the Sky Carp four games to one.

The Timber Rattlers look to change their fortune in their upcoming series against the Peoria Chiefs. They currently sit dead last in the Midwest League West standings and a series win against the Chiefs would move them up a couple of places.