Over 30 young ladies from throughout middle Tennessee joined Motlow State head softball coach Janice Morey, assistant Randy Morey, and a number of members of the Lady Bucks’ team recently for the Softball Skills Development Camp on the Motlow Moore County campus. Campers received valuable coaching in hitting, defense, base running, bunting and more during the three day camp.
Motlow Softball Coaches and Campers from last week(Motlow College Photo)
Julio Teheran endured his worst start of the season and A.J. Ramos suffered his first blown save in nearly 10 months. It was only fitting that the Marlins claimed Friday night’s 7-5, 12-inning win over the Braves courtesy of the pinch-hit double Jose Fernandez hit off the pitcher he might have opposed in Saturday’s start.
Fernandez drilled his game-winning, two-run double to the left-center field gap off Casey Kelly, who had been considered Atlanta’s potential starter for Saturday until he was forced to enter this game in the eleventh inning.
“That’s always been like a dream, to play in the outfield or to pinch-hit like that,” Fernandez said. “But when it actually happened, I was like, ‘Oh, my God, I’m actually doing this.’ My heart rate started going faster. The main goal was trying to get a ground-ball hit somewhere, so we could get a run and go home.”
Fernandez is just the second Marlins pitcher to record a game-winning pinch-hit. The first was Dennis Cook on Aug. 1, 1997, a single in the 12th inning against the Braves.
With the unexpected offensive contribution their ace provided approximately 16 hours before his next start, the Marlins won for just the third time in 10 opportunities against the Braves.
Tyler Flowers began the ninth with a game-tying solo homer off Ramos, who had successfully converted each of his previous 24 save opportunities this year and a franchise-best 33 straight dating back to Sept. 4. The blown save came after Teheran allowed a season-high 11 hits and five earned runs over 6 2/3 innings.
“It was eventful,” Flowers said. “I thought we battled well. Julio wasn’t real sharp early on. He was able to settle in and go a lot deeper in the game than most people expected. I thought that was a positive after a tough [first] inning there, followed by another tough inning. I think there were a lot of positives to take away. We just couldn’t come up with the big hit at the end.”
Marcell Ozuna is having an All-Star-worthy first half that has been filled with plenty of career bests. With four hits, the 25-year-old center fielder matched his career high for hits in a game, now done six times, with the most recent before Friday on June 9 at Minnesota. Ozuna connected on a two-run homer in the first inning, and in the seventh, his RBI single to center gave the Marlins their 5-4 lead.
Teheran entered with a 23-inning scoreless streak and he had not allowed more than six hits in any of his previous 16 starts. But the All-Star candidate surrendered three first-inning hits, including Derek Dietrich’s leadoff homer and the two-run homer Ozuna hit while seeing nothing but four sliders during the plate appearance. Teheran struck out the first two batters he faced in the seventh and then ended his 104-pitch night by allowing a Martin Prado single and Christian Yelich’s game-tying double. Ozuna followed by greeting Chris Withrow with a go-ahead single.
“I kind of felt slow in the first inning,” Teheran said. “I didn’t make those pitches, but I tried to keep my mind in the game and tried to give my team a chance to win. That’s what I did until the seventh when I started missing a little bit. I don’t think I missed, but I didn’t make the right pitches.”
This was supposed to be a matchup we could have seen on Saturday afternoon. In the 12th inning, Kelly, who was lined up to face Fernandez on the mound, instead found himself pitching to Miami’s ace, who pinch-hit with runners on first and second because Miami was out of position players. Fernandez ripped his two-run double into the gap, giving the Marlins a two-run lead. It was the first time in his career that Fernandez has pinch-hit, and he came through in a big way.
“It’s one of those things you’re never comfortable with,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. “You don’t ever think anybody is going to get hurt. You take some precautions to make sure he’s getting loose. But the risk reward is not really great for you.”
Freddie Freeman began the 10th inning with what appeared to be a routine flyball until shortstop Adeiny Hechavarria collided with Yelich in shallow left field. Adonis Garcia followed with a strikeout and A.J. Pierzynski flew out after Nick Markakis was intentionally walked. Flowers was hit by Nick Wittgren’s first-pitch slider to load the bases with two outs, but Erick Aybar flew out to end the threat.
“We just couldn’t get it done,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “We made a good run at it and gave ourselves a chance, put ourselves in position, and it just didn’t happen tonight.”
Before heading to Fort Bragg later in the night for Sunday’s series finale, the Marlins complete their-three-game stint at Turner Field at 3:10 p.m. CT on Saturday. Jose Fernandez (10-3, 2.28 ERA) makes his 16th start. The right-hander is 4-1 with a 2.15 ERA in seven career starts against Atlanta.
With Kelly being used on Friday, the Braves will call Lucas Harrell up from Triple-A Gwinnett to start Saturday’s game. Harrell has produced a 2.81 ERA in nine appearances (five starts) for Triple-A Gwinnett. Bud Norris was scheduled to make this start before being traded to the Dodgers on Thursday. Thunder Radio will bring you the broadcast beginning with the pregame show at 2 PM.
The Oklahoma City Dodgers got a dynamite performance from starter Jharel Cotton in a 9-6 win over the Nashville Sounds in front of 8,538 fans Friday night at First Tennessee Park.
Cotton allowed two unearned runs on just two hits in six innings. The right-hander struck out nine batters on the way to his seventh win of the season.
Oklahoma City’s Rob Segedin started his 4-for-4 night with a base hit to right-center to start the second inning. He moved to third on O’Koyea Dickson’s double and then scored on a groundout by Zach Walters.
The Sounds (47-35) came back in the bottom of the third with the help of a pair of errors committed by Dodgers’ second baseman Austin Barnes. Arismendy Alcantara started Nashville’s scoring with a run-scoring single to even the game at 1-1.
Two batters later, Max Muncy hit a groundball to Barnes who bobbled, allowing Muncy to reach safely and Bruce Maxwell to score with the go-ahead run.
It stayed 2-1 until the sixth as Cotton and Sounds’ starter Nick Tepesch exchanged zeroes in the middle innings.
Barnes made up for his miscues on defense when he launched a grand slam off Tepesch in the top of the sixth. The slam gave the Dodgers (44-36) a 5-2 lead and came after the first three batters reached safely.
After four in the sixth, Oklahoma City plated another four in the seventh to open up a 9-2 lead. Barnes added another RBI with a base hit to right field, and Dickson drove in a pair of runs with a double to the gap in left-center.
The Sounds made noise late when Matt McBride launched a three-run homer to the left field seats to cut the deficit to 9-5 in the seventh.
Matt Olson started the ninth with a double and quickly moved to third on McBride’s second hit of the night. Maxwell made it a 9-6 game with a sacrifice fly. Alcantara sent a single to right to bring the tying run to the plate but Dodgers’ reliever Matt West retired Chad Pinder and Max Muncy on back-to-back pitches to shut down the rally.
Tepesch allowed five runs on seven hits in six innings and was hit with the loss in his Sounds debut.
Game three of the four-game set is scheduled for Saturday night at First Tennessee Park. Right-hander Jesse Hahn (1-3, 3.60) starts for Nashville against right-hander Trevor Oaks (0-0, 9.00) for Oklahoma City. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.
Ryon Healy of the Nashville Sounds
Nashville Sounds infielder Ryon Healy was named to the Sirius XM All-Star Futures Game today as announced by Major League Baseball.
Now in its 18th year, the All-Star Futures Game features top Minor League prospects competing as part of All-Star Sunday at Petco Park in San Diego. Healy will be part of the U.S. Team taking on the World Team.
Healy will be teammates with former Vanderbilt Baseball standouts Dansby Swanson and Carson Fulmer.
In 39 games with the Sounds, he’s hitting .346 (53-for-153) with 31 runs scored, 25 RBI, 15 doubles, 5 home runs and 18 multi-hit games. Since being promoted from Double-A Midland on May 17, he’s among PCL leaders in hits (T-2nd), doubles (3rd), total bases (85, T-3rd), extra-base hits (21, T-5th), runs (T-6th) and average (8th).
Healy’s hometown of West Hills, California is located 150 miles northwest of San Diego. A preview of the event, along with complete rosters from Major League Baseball is listed below and attached.
Rosters for the 2016 SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game, which will be played at 7:00 p.m. (ET)/4:00 p.m. (PT) on
Sunday, July 10th at Petco Park in San Diego, were announced by Major League Baseball earlier today on MLB
Network’s “The Rundown.”
Major League Baseball, in conjunction with MLB.com, Baseball America and the 30
Major League Clubs, selected the 25 players currently on each team. Each Major League
organization is represented and players from all full-season Minor Leagues were eligible to be
selected. Complete Futures Game rosters, prospect analysis and rankings can be found at
MLB.com/pipeline.
The teams feature 15 former first round draft picks (14 on U.S. Team and one on World Team), one player
picked in Compensation Round A (U.S. Team) and four second round picks (all U.S.). Among the 15 first round
picks, seven were selected in the 2015 Draft, one in the 2014 Draft and seven in the 2013 Draft.
The World Team features players from 11 different countries and territories outside the 50 United States.
The Dominican Republic is represented by 13 players, followed by Canada (2) and Venezuela (2). Colombia, Cuba,
Lithuania, Mexico, Puerto Rico, South Africa, Taiwan and the U.S. Virgin Islands are each represented by one player
on the World Team.
The SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game will last nine innings, and in the event of a tie, a 10th inning will be
played. The game will not go longer than 10 innings, regardless of the score. Players and coaches will be outfitted
in special SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game caps and jerseys.
The SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game, which is now in its 18th year, features the top Minor League prospects
competing in a contest as part of All-Star Sunday. The U.S. Team, which has won each of the last six games, leads
the all-time series, 11-6. As part of its live All-Star Week programming, MLB Network will exclusively televise and
MLB.com will live stream the SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game at 4:00 p.m. (PT)/7:00 p.m. (ET), with Matt
Vasgersian, Mark DeRosa, Heidi Watney and MLB.com prospect expert Jonathan Mayo on the call live from Petco
Park.
SiriusXM, the Official Satellite Radio Partner of Major League Baseball, will provide live play-by-play
coverage of the SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game on MLB Network Radio (XM channel 89; Sirius channel 209) in
addition to SiriusXM’s other comprehensive live coverage from San Diego. The game will also be available to
SiriusXM subscribers on the SiriusXM app and online at SiriusXM.com. SiriusXM’s broadcast team will feature Mike
Ferrin, Jim Duquette, Jim Bowden and Grant Paulsen. All-Star Sunday is the first of three days of All-Star events at
Petco Park, culminating with the 87th All-Star Game on Tuesday, July 12th.
Tickets are available for purchase for the SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game and the All-Star Legends and
Celebrity Softball Game by visiting www.allstargame.com or visiting the Padres box office at Petco Park.
MLB All-Star Week includes the MLB All-Star Game presented by MasterCard at Petco Park (July 12th),
Gatorade All-Star Workout Day featuring the T-Mobile Home Run Derby (July 11th), All-Star Sunday featuring the
SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game and All-Star Legends & Celebrity Softball Game (July 10th), All-Star FanFest at the
San Diego Convention Center (July 8th-12th), plus a lineup of additional events taking place around the city. The
87th Midsummer Classic will be televised nationally by FOX Sports; in Canada by Rogers Sportsnet and RDS; and
worldwide by partners in more than 160 countries. ESPN Radio and ESPN Radio Deportes will provide exclusive
national radio coverage of the All-Star Game. MLB Network, MLB.com and Sirius XM also will provide
comprehensive All-Star Week coverage. For more information about MLB All-Star Week and to purchase tickets,
please visit AllStarGame.com and follow @AllStarGame on social media.
2016 AllStar Futures Game(Click to enlarge)
Nashville Sounds infielder Chad Pinder and left-handed pitcher Patrick Schuster have been named to the Pacific Coast League All-Star Team as announced by the league on Thursday. Both players were selected as reserves.
The 2016 Triple-A All-Star Game is Wednesday, July 13 at 6:05 CT. The Pacific Coast League All-Stars take on the International All-Stars at BB&T Ballpark in Charlotte, North Carolina. The game will be carried live on the MLB Network.
Pinder, 24, is hitting .266 (75-for-282) with 48 runs scored, 37 RBI, 17 doubles, 9 home runs, 2 triples and 14 walks in 71 games. It’s the second career All-Star Game appearance for the Virginia native who was named a mid-season Texas League All-Star in 2015.
Drafted by the Oakland Athletics with the 71st overall pick in the 2013 MLB First-Year Player Draft, Pinder is in his first season at the Triple-A level after being named the Texas League Player of the Year in 2015. He leads Nashville with 22 multi-hit games and is second on the team with 10 multi-RBI games.
He has supplied the Sounds with two walk-off hits and owns the second longest hitting streak of any Sounds player this season at 12 games from May 22-June 4.
Schuster, 25, is 1-0 with a 1.36 ERA and 5 saves in 27 games. In 33 innings, the reliever has allowed 25 hits and 12 walks while racking up 36 strikeouts. It’s the first All-Star Game for Schuster in his career.
The Florida native is a member of the PCL’s best pitching staff with a 3.25 ERA through 80 games.
Schuster is allowing opponents to hit .205 (25-for-122) against him. With runners in scoring position, batters are hitting just .103 (4-for-39) against him.
Signed by the Oakland Athletics as a minor-league free agent in November 2015, Schuster is in his second season at the Triple-A level.
The complete Pacific Coast League All-Star Game roster is pictured below. The International League All-Stars can be found at www.milb.com.
The 2016 season is the Sounds’ 19th year in the Pacific Coast League and their second as the Oakland Athletics’ top affiliate. Tickets are available now by calling (615) 690-4487 or by visiting www.nashvillesounds.com.
2016 PCL AllStar Team (Click to enlarge)
Pinch-hitter Brandon Snyder’s two-run triple off Mike Dunn highlighted a four-run sixth inning that enabled the Braves to further frustrate the Marlins in claiming an 8-5 win on Thursday night at Turner Field.
Tyler Flowers recorded a career-high three doubles, including one that chased Marlins starter Wei-Yin Chen in the sixth. Erick Aybar greeted Dunn with a game-tying infield single, and Snyder followed with his two-run triple. Chase d’Arnaud capped the sixth inning with a RBI single for the Braves.
Miami scored a pair of two-out runs in the ninth and brought the tying run to the plate, but Mauricio Cabrera retired pinch-hitter Cole Gillespie on a lineout to record his first save.
“It was a little too eventful, but we won the game, and that’s the main thing,’ said Braves manager Brian Snitker, whose team has gone 7-2 against the Marlins and 20-50 against all other opponents.
Justin Bour provided the Marlins an early lead with a three-run homer off Mike Foltynewicz in the second. Foltynewicz did not return after rain halted play during the middle of the third inning for 68 minutes. But the Marlins stayed with Chen, who allowed three hits, including Freddie Freeman’s RBI triple, during Atlanta’s two-run third. Mike Dunn surrendered four hits, including Brandon Snyder’s go-ahead two-run triple and Chase d’Arnaud’s decisive two-out RBI single, in Atlanta’s four-run sixth.
“Frustrating, in a sense, really with myself, to be honest with you,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said of his club’s struggles with the Braves. “I feel like somewhere, we’re not getting prepared properly. I feel like I’m missing something with this. I just have to do a better job of getting us ready to play.”
The game resumed after the delay at 9:09 p.m. ET, and Mattingly said his cutoff point to send Chen back out was at 9:15 p.m.
“I didn’t think [the delay] was a big problem because I had been ready to go and pitch again,” Chen said through his interpreter. “Today, it wasn’t my best condition, and I missed some spots, and I couldn’t control the game as I wished.”
Flowers’ sixth-inning double gave him the first multi-double game of his career and, more importantly, set the stage for the decisive rally. Aybar’s game-tying single deflected off the glove of Dunn, the former Atlanta lefty who has allowed hits to four of the six Braves batters he has faced this season. Snyder’s pinch-hit triple gave him five extra-base hits through 19 at-bats this season.
“It wasn’t the prettiest [game],” Flowers said. “It was a long one, for sure. We did a good job of tacking on runs and taking advantage of some two-out situations. That’s always a plus. Our pitching did a good job all and all to shut them down and eliminate the big innings.”
It was the biggest moment of the game before the rain delay. Bour’s homer gave the Marlins a three-run cushion, and it also capped an impressive month for the left-handed-hitting first baseman. Bour also drew two walks, including with two outs in the ninth inning, and he went on to score. In June, Bour connected on six home runs while driving in 20 runs.
“I just noticed, it wasn’t good enough tonight,” Bour said. “We’ve got to move on and get to tomorrow. No real excuse. It wasn’t good enough today. We’ve got to do better tomorrow.”
The long rain delay limited Foltynewicz to just three innings in his first start since going on the disabled list on June 3 with a bone spur in his right elbow. Tyrell Jenkins pitched around three fifth-inning walks over 2 1/3 scoreless innings, and the Marlins did not tally another run until Ichiro Suzuki ended Jim Johnson’s 11-inning scoreless streak with a sacrifice fly in the eighth.
“Just out of the stretch [in the second inning], I didn’t get a good rhythm,” Foltynewicz said. “I think I got a little excited and just kind of rushed through things. But other than that, everything felt good for me.”
Stranding runners, a problem in their two losses at Detroit, carried over for the Marlins. A pivotal moment for Miami came in the fifth inning when Jenkins walked the bases loaded with two outs. With the Marlins ahead, 3-2, J.T. Realmuto had a 2-0 count before Jenkins regrouped and fanned the Miami catcher to retire the side. In the eighth inning with two outs, Christian Yelich went down swinging. The Marlins left 13 on base, which is one reason they have now lost three straight. In each of the two losses at Detroit to open the road trip, Miami stranded 12.
Mattingly and hitting coach Barry Bonds discussed stranding runners before the game and how better to approach situational hitting.
“How do we attack it?” Mattingly said. “We’re not quite sure. I don’t really have an answer for that. But the name of the game is runs, not necessarily hits. I think that’s where we’re falling short a little bit. But I think we know we’re capable. I think that’s the one thing we need to continue to look at, and stay positive. We’re getting hits. Tonight, we throw up some runs. But in general, runs we have to get offensively better at. I think that’s one of the areas we need to improve.”
Freeman has recorded four triples in his past 98 plate appearances, dating back to June 7. Before this stretch, he had totaled eight triples through the first 3,337 plate appearances of his career.
The Marlins’ historical defensive streak also came to an end. Leading off the eighth inning, Emilio Bonifacio hit a grounder to third that Martin Prado couldn’t handle. The misplay went as an error, which snapped Miami’s streak of 28 straight games without an error committed by an infielder. According to STATS LLC, that’s the longest such streak in MLB’s modern era. STAT’s data dates back to 1913. Prior to Prado’s error, the last miscue by a Marlins infielder came on May 29, by second baseman Derek Dietrich, also at Atlanta.
Julio Teheran will carry a streak of 23 consecutive scoreless innings into Friday’s start. Teheran has produced a 1.72 ERA over his past 13 starts. He allowed three earned runs in 5 1/3 innings to the Marlins on May 29 at Turner Field. First pitch is set for 6:35 PM. Thunder Radio will bring you the broadcast as part of the Atlanta Braves Radio Network beginning with the pregame show at 6:00 PM.
The Oklahoma City Dodgers’ steady offense led to a 7-3 win over the Nashville Sounds in front of a sellout crowd of 10,023 Thursday night at First Tennessee Park.
In a battle of first place teams in the PCL’s American Conference, Oklahoma City grabbed game one of the four-game series thanks to scoring in five different innings.
The trouble started right away for Nashville’s Angel Castro. Micah Johnson opened the game with a double to the left field wall against the Sounds’ starter. Corey Brown knocked him in with a groundout to give the Dodgers a 1-0 lead before the Sounds came to the plate.
After Nashville left a pair of runners on base in the home half of the first, Oklahoma City was at it again in the second. Jack Murphy drove in Charlie Culberson with the second run of the game, and Castro issued a bases loaded walk to force in Andrew Toles to make it 3-0.
Jaycob Brugman started the bottom of the third with a double to left-center. He quickly moved to third when Chad Pinder followed with a base hit up the middle. Ryon Healy’s groundout brought in Brugman to cut the deficit to 3-1.
That’s as close as the Sounds would get as the Dodgers continued to tack on runs. Jack Murphy, who went 4-for-4, plated Zach Walters with a base hit in the fourth.
Castro was finished after six innings and gave way to Ryan Doolittle. The reliever was greeted by Corey Brown who launched the first pitch he saw into The Band Box for a solo home run. O’Koyea Dickson did the same thing to the other side of the field as he blasted his own solo shot out to left field to open up a 6-1 lead.
Matt Olson added a solo homer of his own in the bottom of the ninth inning but it was too late. The home run for Olson was his eighth of the season.
Castro was tagged with the loss and Jose De Leon picked up the win for the Dodgers after allowing one run in five innings.
Olson and Brugman each had multi-hit games for the Sounds who dropped to 47-34 on the season. Murphy’s four hits led the way for the Dodgers who improved to 43-36.
Game two of the four-game series is set for Friday night at First Tennessee Park. Right-hander Nick Tepesch (7-2, 3.66) starts in his Sounds debut against right-hander Jharel Cotton (6-4, 4.98) for the Dodgers. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.
Jason Kipnis soured Joel De La Cruz’s Major League debut with a two-out, two-run single in the fifth and Danny Salazar enhanced his All-Star candidacy as the Indians extended their winning streak to 12 games with Wednesday night’s 3-0 victory over the Braves at Turner Field.
Salazar won his sixth straight start and lowered his ERA to 2.22 with seven scoreless innings. Kipnis extended his hitting streak to 11 games with a two-run single that followed Rajai Davis’ two-out single. Lonnie Chisenhall’s two-out solo homer in the sixth inning provided some insurance for the Indians, who are one win shy of matching the franchise-best 13-game win streak recorded in both 1942 and 1951.
The Braves have lost six of eight since recording a season-best six-game winning streak. They received more than they could have expected from De La Cruz, who allowed three earned runs over six innings. The 27-year-old right-hander was promoted from Triple-A Gwinnett to fill the rotation spot vacated when Aaron Blair was optioned to Gwinnett.
With his solo home run on Wednesday, Chisenhall has now homered three times in the past four games. All five of his homers this year have come since May 31. The 27-year-old is batting .322 (29-for-90) with 16 RBIs during that span. The right fielder’s hot hitting has played an influential role in the Indians’ winning streak, during which he’s batted .359 (14-for-39).
Jace Peterson recorded a pair of leadoff doubles off Salazar, who entered the game having limited left-handed hitters to three hits in 26 at-bats in June. But Peterson was retired when he tried to score on Ender Inciarte’s grounder to third in the first inning and he was left stranded when Salazar concluded the sixth with consecutive strikeouts of Freddie Freeman and Nick Markakis. Freeman shattered his bat against the ground when Bryan Shaw struck him out with two on to end the eighth.
With one out and a runner on first in the bottom of the fifth, De La Cruz pushed a sacrifice bunt toward the left side of the pitcher’s mound, hoping to advance Emilio Bonifacio to second. Jose Ramirez snuffed the play out, though, and threw across his body to second base to initiate an inning-ending double play. The utility man has proven himself at third base, committing zero errors in 63 chances this year.
De La Cruz had been promoted to the Major Leagues three previous times (twice this season) but had not made an appearance. The Minor League journeyman notched his first big league hit with a third-inning single, and he held the Indians scoreless through the first four innings. But his good fortune expired when Davis doubled and Kipnis followed with his sharp two-run single that eluded a diving Adonis Garcia at third base.
Atlanta will open a four-game home series against Miami on Thursday at 6:10 p.m. CT. Mike Foltynewicz will return from the disabled list to make his first start since May 30. Thunder Radio will bring you the broadcast as part of the Atlanta Braves Radio Network beginning with the pregame show at 6:00 PM.
Pat Summitt
Tuesday was a sad day in Tennessee for sports fans and non-sports fans alike with the passing of former Lady Vol basketball coach Pat Head Sumitt. As most everyone knows, Coach Summitt succumbed to early onset dementia in the form of Alzheimer’s early Tuesday morning. Coach Summitt, who never recorded a losing season in 38 years of coaching at Tennessee, won more games than anyone in college basketball history, including 8 national championships.
As is most often the case, many of the Manchester area people who knew Coach Summitt, or had dealings with her, flooded social media with their condolences. Stories of her recruiting local girls, visiting Coffee County Central High School and even interactions with her in the classroom and in gym.
Nick Trail, who served as a student manager at the University of Tennessee from 2002 to 2009, was one of those who had his own personal interactions with the iconic coach. “She was the most classy and humble individual I have ever met” said Trail when contacted by Thunder Radio on Tuesday night. “Once she spoke to you, she made you feel like family” Trail added. To hear more from our interview with Nick Trail, you can click on the audio clip below.
Coffee County Central High School girls basketball coach Herb Horton was a student under Coach Summitt during his college days at Tennessee. “I had the honor of having her as a teacher at UT” coach Horton shared in a text message on Tuesday. “She was an inspiration!” added Horton.
Perhaps Coach Summitt’s legacy and position of reverence to all Tennesseans is best captured in her own quote from her 2013 book “Sum it Up: A Thousand and Ninety-Eight Victories, a Couple of Irrelevant Losses, and a Life in Perspective.“ “I remember every player — every single one — who wore the Tennessee orange, a shade that our rivals hate, a bold, aggravating color that you can usually find on a roadside crew, ‘or in a correctional institution,’ as my friend Wendy Larry jokes. But to us the color is a flag of pride, because it identifies us as Lady Vols and therefore as women of an unmistakable type. Fighters. I remember how many of them fought for a better life for themselves. I just met them halfway.” Patricia Sue Head Summitt was 64 years old.
Carlos Santana’s RBI single sparked a three-run ninth inning for the Indians, who received another solid start from Corey Kluber and extended their winning streak to 11 games with a 5-3 victory over the Braves on Tuesday night at Turner Field.
Cleveland has won 11 games in a row during a single season for the first time since 1982, while Atlanta has now lost five of its past seven games since its season-high six-game winning streak.
“They’re a hot team right now,” said Braves starter Matt Wisler, who picked up the no-decision. “That’s 11 straight for them, so I knew I’d have to come in and shut the door on them, and Kluber threw really well tonight, so I was just trying to keep [us] in the ballgame as long as possible. I think the team played really well today. It was a tough matchup against Kluber, so to battle like that and everything is kind of good.”
The Tribe struck first in the opening frame, as Jason Kipnis scored on an RBI single by Jose Ramirez, and Francisco Lindor stole home to give the Indians a 2-0 lead. Wisler settled in after that, surrendering only three more hits over the next five innings. The Braves couldn’t solve Kluber, though, who yielded one walk and no hits through the first five innings.
Atlanta finally got its first hit off the right-hander in the sixth, when Erick Aybar reached on an infield single. The hit was the first of three allowed by Kluber in the frame, which was capped by Ender Inciarte’s two-run single that tied the game at 2.
Braves closer Arodys Vizcaino walked the first two batters he faced in the ninth, though, which led to the Indians taking the lead for good on Santana’s single.
“Ultimately, an 11-game winning streak doesn’t really mean much if you don’t continue to build on the momentum you have throughout that winning streak,” Kluber said. “I just think we’re trying to take it game by game and keep it rolling. At some point in time, we’re going to lose a game, and then we’re just going to have to start back over again the next day and win that one.”
With runners on first and third and one out in the first inning, the Indians scratched across their second run of the game on a double steal by Ramirez and Lindor. As Braves catcher A.J. Pierzynski fired a throw to second to get Ramirez, Lindor broke for home and scored standing up. The Tribe entered Tuesday’s game tied for third in the Majors with 58 stolen bases and added to that total with four.
“First of all, you’ve got to have baserunners and it’s got to be the right situation,” Indians manager Terry Francona said. “But when you get the right guys on, the odds are in your favor. I thought [Lindor] did a really good job of reading that throw and forcing them into a mistake. When you get the right guys on and the times are good, we want to let them run.”
After five hitless innings, the Braves got to Kluber in the bottom of the sixth. Aybar broke up the no-hit bid with an infield single, the first Brave to reach base since Inciarte walked in the first inning, followed by an Emilio Bonifacio single. Wisler moved the runners to second and third with a sacrifice bunt, before Inciarte tied the game with a two-run single with two outs.
Coming off his complete-game shutout of the Rays last Tuesday, Kluber continued his recent success against the Braves. After the right-hander surrendered a walk to the second batter of the game, he didn’t allow a single baserunner until Atlanta’s two-run sixth. Kluber (8-7) tossed only 87 pitches through his eight innings of work, and he finished his June 4-1 with a 2.17 ERA.
“I thought he was very good,” Francona said. “Through five innings, I think he had 49 or 50 pitches. The inning they scored two, he gave up the infield hit, a base hit and then Inciarte had a really nice at-bat, fouling off some pitches and getting a hit. But we never let them take the lead.”
After giving up two runs in the top of the first inning, Wisler kept Atlanta in the game, collecting a career-high nine strikeouts in six innings of work, before the Braves tied it up in the bottom of the sixth.
“First-inning struggles [are] killing me again, so I’ve got to kind of figure that out, but besides that I kind of settled in after the first inning,” Wisler said after the game. “I think the team picked me up in the sixth inning getting those two runs, so the team battled for us tonight and it’s tough to come away with that loss.”
Cleveland will send Danny Salazar to the mound on Wednesday looking to complete the three-game sweep of the Braves and increase its winning streak to 12. The right-hander is a perfect 4-0 in four June starts, posting a 2.42 ERA and limiting opposing hitters to a .170 batting average. He surrendered two runs and lasted just four innings in his only career start against the Braves on Aug. 27, 2013. Atlanta looks to end the Indians’ winning streak and avoid a sweep in Wednesday’s series finale. Joel De La Cruz, 27, will make his Major League debut against the Indians, with first pitch set for 6:10 CT. Thunder Radio will bring you the broadcast as part of the Atlanta Braves Radio Network beginning with the pregame show at 6:00 PM.