The Sky Sox and Zephyrs opened their four-game series, but Mother Nature rudely interrupted the opening tilt and ended it after 4 1/2 innings with the score 3-0 in favor of New Orleans. Taylor Jungmann took the hill for Colorado Springs and could not make it out of the fourth inning and New Orleans’ Paul Clemens silenced the Sox to the tune of just two hits over his five frames. The loss put an end to the Sky Sox five-game wining streak and put them a game out of first place as both Oklahoma City and Iowa won their respective games.

The Quick Hits portion of the blog is below and you can read the Full Recap Here.

Before we get into today’s tilt, the Brewers and Sky Sox announced the following transaction:

ADD: RHP Corey Knebel from Class-A Brevard County on Major League Rehab

Today, the Sky Sox look to start another winning streak in game two of the four game set against the Zephyrs this afternoon in Metairie. Corey Knebel gets the start in his third MLB rehab appearance and will be followed by Jorge Lopez for Colorado Springs. Lopez will  make the 11th appearance of his season, the first against the Zephyrs. He’s 1-3 with a 6.20 ERA through his first 10 Triple-A starts in 2016. Righty Dylan Axelrod will go for the Marlins top affiliate in the 10th appearance and 9th start of 2016, it will be his second against the Sky Sox. He is 2-2 with a 4.83 ERA through his first 41 innings on the season. Colorado Springs has fared well against the Zs and are 85-67 all time and 46-34 on the road.

Today’s Game Notes / Listen Live at 11:30 MDT / Lineups 

Colorado Springs Sky Sox (25-26) at New Orleans Zephyrs (24-30) – 12:00 p.m. – Zephyr Field – Metairie, Louisiana

Pitching Matchup: RHP Corey Knebel (MLB Rehab)/RHP Jorge Lopez (1-3, 6.20) at RHP Dylan Axelrod (2-2, 4.83)

Sky Sox Pitchers: RHP Corey Knebel is slated to start the game and go 20 pitches for the Sky Sox in his continuing MLB rehab assignment. He’s made two with Brevard County covering three scoreless innings. He allowed 2 hits, a walk, and struck out 6 in the Florida State League. He landed on the disabled list right out of spring training with a strained left oblique. The Brewers picked up Knebel in the trade that sent Yovani Gallardo to the Rangers in January 2015.

RHP Jorge Lopez will take his 11th turn in the rotation this afternoon at Zephyr Field when he makes his first career appearance against New Orleans. The Brewers’ top pitching prospect enters play today 1-3 with a 6.20 ERA allowing 34 runs, 31 earned, on 55 hits, 33 walks, and 33 strikeouts in 45 innings. This will mark the third game in a row on the road for Lopez and fifth overall. He’s 0-2 with a 7.71 ERA in his first four contests away from Security Service Field, opposed to the 1-1 with a 5.34 ERA mark he’s posted in six home starts. The righty has tossed 9 2/3 innings over his last two starts and has allowed 9 runs (7 earned) on 13 hits, 6 walks, and 10 strikeouts against Sacramento and Fresno. Opponents are hitting .299 against Lopez. Today marks the 101st minor-league outing for him, he’s 31-30 with a 4.20 ERZ through his first 100 and 1-1 with a 5.40 ERA in his first big-league starts.

Last Time Out: 5/30/16 at Fresno – Lopez made his 10th start f the season last Sunday in Fresno and couldn’t make it out of the fifth frame. In 4 2/3 innings he allowed 3 runs on 6 hits, 2 walks, and 6 strikeouts. He threw a season-high 95 pitches, 58 of which were for strikes, also a season high. The righty’s six strikeouts were the most he’s tallied this season. The Sky Sox and Grizzlies would tie the tilt 6-6.

2016 Game Log:

 

Zephyrs Pitcher: RHP Dylan Axelrod is set to make his 10th appearance and ninth start of the season with the Zephyrs. He did face the Sky Sox in their mid-May series and took home the win on May 10 with 5 2/3 innings of scoreless work. He allowed four hits, a walk, and struck out seven Sky Sox. All told, Axelrod is 2-2 with a 4.83 ERA allowing 24 runs (22 earned) on 48 hits, 13 walks, and 26 strikeouts in 41 innings with the Marlins top affiliate. Today will mark his 5th game (4th start) at home where he is 1-1 with a 2.84 ERA in 19 innings of work. Axelrod was originally selected by the Padres in the 30th round of the 2007 draft, he’s pitched for the Padres, White Sox, Reds and Marlins organizations. In 216 MiLB appearances he is 47-37 with a 3.41 ERA in 788 1/3 innings and in 59 MLB games he is 9-15 with a 5.27 ERA in 228.2 innings. He most recently pitched for the Reds in 2015 where he went 0-1 with a 7.30 ERA in 6 bullpen appearances.

Last Time Out: 5/31/2016 at Memphis –  Axelrod received no decision his last trip to the mound, despite going five scoreless against Memphis. He allowed 3 hits, 3 walks, struck out 4 Redbirds and tossed 92 pitches, 50 for strikes. New Orleans would lose that game 1-0.

2016 Game Log:

Dan Karcher (@SkySoxKarch) continues his 27^th season behind the mic for Sky Sox games, he will have the call of tonight’s game from Zephyr Field at 5:00 p.m. I’ll get Sky Sox Warmup all fired up at 4:30 MDT on XTRA Sports 1300.

Quick Hits from Saturday

The Sky Sox ran into a strike throwing machine and Mother Nature in the rained shortened 3-0 loss to the Zephyrs in the series opener Saturday night. Paul Clemens was rolling when the game ended, he threw five shutout innings and allowed just two hits and a walk, while striking out five Sky Sox. Taylor Jungmann gave up an unearned run in the first and two more earned tallies in the fourth, before he departed the game with two down in the frame. Jaye Chapman finished the game on the mound for the Sox.

Hitting Notes

 

Not much to report on this front as the Sky Sox were shutout for the fifth time this season and limited to a season-low two hits.

Orlando Arcia extended his hitting streak to nine and has hit safely in in 23 of his last 25 games.

Garin Cecchini had the other hit for Colorado Springs and extended his hitting streak to nine games as well.

Jake Elmore was the third Sky Sox to reach as he walked against Clemens.

Pitching Notes

Taylor Jungmann took the ball in his fourth road start and for the first time, couldn’t make it to the fifth inning. In his return to the place where he picked up his lone win on the season, Jungmann allowed an unearned run in the first and two earned in the fourth before leaving. His final line read 3 2/3 inning, 2 hits, 3 runs, 2 earned, 5 walks, and 3 strikeouts. He threw 83 pitches, but just 35 for strikes.

Jaye Chapman took over and faced three batters and recorded one out before the skies opened up and halted play.

 

Play of the Game

Eric Young, Jr. brought the leather again Saturday night and made the Sky Sox play of the game in the bottom of the second. Isaac Galloway stepped in and smoked a line drive to left that was falling fast in front of EY, but the outstanding outfielder dove at the last second and made a tremendous diving catch for the first out of the frame.

Sky Sox Warmup with the Second Part of My Interview with Brewers Pitching Coordinator Rick Tomlin – 

Thanks for reading – See you on the radio,

Dan

@Dan_Acheson