Eric Gagne’s second of two scheduled rehabilitation appearances with Nashville ended Thursday night without the former Milwaukee closer getting out of the first inning.
Gagne struck out his first batter, but he hit the second hitter, gave up a single and issued a walk to load the bases. He uncorked a wild pitch for one run, got his second strikeout but allowed another single to give Round Rock a 2-0 lead. Randy Choate, also on a rehab assignment, took over and got the final out and ended up with 2.1 hitless innings. Gagne finished with 29 pitches, 17 for strikes.
Gagne was scheduled to join the Brewers for their series in Minnesota that begins Friday night, but who would get sent down? Southpaw Mitch Stetter was brought up because the Brewers’ foes on their current 10-game, 11-day road trip featured several big left-handed hitters, so the guess would be righty Mark DiFelice heading back to Nashville. Stay tuned.
One moving up, one going down
In other pitching news, Nashville and Double-A Huntsville exchanged right-handers as Joe Bateman has joined the Sounds while Steve Bray was reassigned to the Stars.
The 28-year-old Bateman will make his Triple-A debut after spending his first six professional campaigns in the San Francisco system before Milwaukee picked him in the minor league phase of last year’s Rule 5 draft.
Bateman posted a 2-1 record, four saves and a 2.47 ERA during 26 relief appearances
at Huntsville, striking out 39 in 43.2 innings while holding opposing hitters to a .244 average.
Meanwhile, Bray struggled in Triple-A with a 1-5 mark and 6.41 ERA in 25 outings. He had allowed 39 hits in 39.1 innings, but 11 of them were homers. That was in stark contrast to last summer, when Bray was 5-2 with a 1.62 ERA with the Sounds.
LaPorta, Gamel headed to Big Apple
Huntsville teammates Mat Gamel and Matt LaPorta have chewed up Southern League pitching this summer, and soon they’ll get a chance to take a bite out of the Big Apple.
Milwaukee’s top two hitting prospects have been named to the All-Star Futures Game at Yankee Stadium, which is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. Sunday, July 13, and will be televised on ESPN2.
LaPorta, the Brewers’ first-round pick in 2007, had smacked 19 homers and knocked in 59 runs before Thursday night’s game, while Gamel, the team’s fourth-round selection in 2005, was leading the Pacific Coast League with a .373 average and 67 RBIs.