2032 St. Louis River Walkers -- Growing weary of just coming close

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The St. Louis River Walkers have placed right-handed relief pitcher Cory Tiller on the injured list after he had to leave their May 29 game against Twin Cities with elbow pain.
Although, he is only expected to miss five games, management felt that was too long for the team to go with just three righties in the bullpen.
In 19 games this season, the 31-year-old Tiller has gone 0-1 with a 1.59 ERA.
Getting the callup from Memphis will be right-hander Kevin Baker.
This will be Baker's second stint with St. Louis this season.
In his earlier time in the majors, Baker, 25, got into three games during which he went 1-1 with one save and a 6.75 ERA.
At AAA, Baker has fared much better getting into eight games where he is 2-2 with one save and a 0.71 ERA.

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Record: 30-20, 1st (Tied/w. Des Moines), 1 GA Kansas City
Rookie Jerry Tate turned in his third straight strong start and St. Louis avoided getting swept by Twin Cities with a 9-1 win at Busch Stadium (1997).
The Snow Cats had won the first two games of the three-game series.
Tate (3-1) , who after a rough first start has posted three straight quality ones, allowed one run on four hits in 6.1 innings. He struck out three and walked two.
The only run Tate allowed came in the opening inning on a one-out homer from Jim Peebles.
But after that, this game was all River Walkers.
St. Louis took the lead with three runs in the bottom of the third off Twin Cities starter Keegan Jensen.
Jose Segura drove in the first run with a single.
Jean Carmona plated the other two with a double.
Jovan Gill led off the bottom of the fifth with a homer off reliever Travis Mayr to make it 4-1.
The Walkers final five runs came in the sixth, with a five-run explosion.
Alex Greene drove in the first run with a double off Luca Daltari.
After an intentional walk to Segura,. Gill plated two more with a double.
Carmona collected a third RBI with a single.
The inning's, and game's , final run scored on a passed ball.
After Tate exited with two outs in the seventh, Josh Grissom finished that inning and also took care of the eighth,
With a big lead, Nick Ruffalo allowed a pair of meaningless hits, but no runs in the ninth.

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MBL news: Week 8 -- Awards and standings

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Record: 31-20, 1st (Tied/w. Des Moines), 2 GA Kansas City
Angel Tiburcio pitched six shutout innings, and the St..Louis bullpen limited Kansas City to one run the rest of the way as the River Walkers won 3-1 at Royals Stadium (1973).
Tiburcio (6-2) allowed just two hits in his six innings. He struck out seven and walked two,
Ricky Cisneros worked a scoreless seventh and got the first out of the eighth,
Andres Hernandez retired the final two batters of the eighth.
The Monarchs did get a solo homer from Jason Gillem in the bottom of the ninth off River Walkers' closer Ernesto Barbosa, but the veteran righty was still able to post his 13th save.
St. Louis jumped in front with a run in the top of the third.
Jovan Gill was hit by a pitch from KC starting pitcher Dominic Pipkin to open the inning.
Gill stole seconjd, and moved to third on a one-out single by Nathaniel Dixon.
Gill scored when Pipkin was called for a balk.
Gill also scored the Walkers' second run.
This time he tripled off Pipkin to lead off the fifth and scored on a Jean Carmona double.
St. Louis got its third run in the seventh.
Nick Shaw led off with a single off reliever Travis Rinker.
A walk to Gill moved Shaw to second, and a bunt from Carmona placed him on third.
Dixon picked up the RBI with a two-out single.

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Walkers news: June 1 -- Player Development Report

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MBL news: June 1 -- Players and Pitchers of the Month for May 2032

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MBL news: June 1 -- Rookies of the Month for May 2032 and standings

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MBL news: June 1 -- American League leaders

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MBL news: June 1 -- National League leaders

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Walkers news: June 1 -- Cardinals statistics for May 2023

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Player of the Month: Jose Segura -- The 27-year-old center fielder hit .289 with nine homers and 28 RBIs in 27 games. He scored 19 runs, while getting on at a .372 clip and slugging .639.
Starting Pitcher of the Month: Jerry Tate -- The 29-year-old rookie right-hander got knocked around in his first start but followed with three consecutive strong outings. Overall, Tate started four games going 3-1 with a 2.39 ERA. He pitched 26.1 innings, striking out 16 and posting a 1.06 WHIP. Tate was named NL Rookie of the Month.
Relief Pitcher of the Month: Josh Forgy -- [/B]The 27-year-old left-hander got into 11 games and went 3-0 with a 0.79 ERA. He pitched a total of 11.1 innings, during which he struck out 18 and had a 0.97 WHIP.

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Walkers news: June 1 -- Team statistics for 2032

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Record: 31-21, 2nd, 1 GB Des Moines
Anderson Parra shut out St. Louis over the first 5.1 innings, and a trio of relievers combined to keep the River Walkers off the scoreboard the rest of the way as Kansas City won 3-0 at Royals Stadium (1973).
Parra (7-2) scattered five hits in his 5.1 innings. He struck out two and walked one.
Tony Locey finished the sixth inning, and worked a silent seventh.
The final two innings belonged to Leo Hermsillo and Victor Vodnik.
With Vodnik earning his eighth save.
The Monarchs got the only run they would need in the bottom of the second.
Walkers starting pitcher Rich Haas issued consecutive one-out walks to Ed Moore and Adrian Del Castillo.
Dru Baker scored Moore with a double.
Del Castillo also drove in KC's second run, hitting a one-out solo homer off Haas in the fourth.
Tony Martinez made it 3-0 in the bottom of the eighth with a lead-off homer off Yeison Santos.

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Record: 32-21, 1st (Tied/w. Des Moines), 2 GA Cedar Rapids and Kansas City
Tied 2-2, Jared Thomas connected on a bases-loaded double which scored three runs to help lift St. Louis to a 6-4 win over Kansas City at Royals Stadium (1974).
The victory gave the River Walkers' victories in two of the series' three games.
In that seventh inning, Daniel Becerra led off the inning with a single off Monarchs relief pitcher Travis Rinker.
After a strikeout of Jose Segura, Alex Greene drew a walk putting two runners aboard.
Nick Shaw flew out for the second out.
Juan Sandoval took over on the mound for Kansas City.
He proceeded to walk Jovan Gill to load the bases.
Thomas followed with his double to score all three.
St. Louis added an insurance run in the ninth.
Nick Shaw doubled with one out off reliever Grayson Rodriguez.
A throwing error on a pickoff throw by catcher Logan Tanner moved Shaw to second.
Thomas collected his fourth RBI of the game when he drove in Shaw with another double.
St. Louis starting pitcher Jesse McNaboe (7-2) earned his seventh inning by going six innings, allowing two runs on three hits. He struck out five and walked three.
Josh Grissom and Nick Ruffalo both pitched an inning apiece to get the game to the ninth.
Ricky Cisneros was called upon to close the game out, only to allow a single to Josh Shuler and triple to Ed Moore to get the Monarchs back into the game.
A wild pitch scored Moore to make it 6-4.
That brought closer Ernesto Barnosa to the mound, and he slammed the door with a pair of strikeouts to notch his 14th save.

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Record: 32-22, 2nd, 1 GB Des Moines
Nick Black limited St. Louis to one run over 5.1 innings, he also drove in his team's first two runs with a double in the third inning as Cleveland went on to defeat St. Louis 4-1 at Cleveland Stadium (1980).
Trailing 1-0, a pair of walks from River Walkers starting pitcher Zack Hunsicker got things rolling for the Juke Box Heroes in the bottom of the second.
The second free pass, to No. 8 hitter Joel Petrucci, put runners on first and second with two outs.
Black followed with a double to put his team ahead 2-1.
Black later scored when Joel Silverstein followed with a single.
A home run from Robert Perez off Kevin Baker with two outs in the eighth made it 4-1.
On the mound, Black (2-3) allowed one run on five hits over 5.1 innings.
Mario Galvez got the final two outs of the sixth innings.
After that, it was an inning apiece from Bob Granillo, Juan Munoz and Adam Wenger.
Wenger, a former Walkers prospect, earned his 10th save.

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Record: 33-22, 1st (Tied/w. Des Moines), 1 GA Cedar Rapids
Rookie Jerry Tate won his fourth consecutive start, allowing one run over 6.1 innings, as St. Louis defeated Cleveland 6-3 at Cleveland Stadium (1980).
Tate (4-1) allowed one run on four hits over his 6.1 innings. He struck out two and walked the same.
The River Walkers scored single runs in the first, third, fourth and sixth innings to build a 4-0 lead.
Nathaniel Dixon led off the game with a single off Juke Box Heroes starter Daniel Vasquez and later scored on a Nate Shaw single.
Two innings later, Thairo Estrada led off the inning with a homer off Vasquez,
Jovan Gill singled with one out in the fourth off Vasquez.
He was eliminated when Armando Morales hit into a fielder's choice.
A Tate single moved Morales to third.
Morales scored when Cleveland catcher Tony Jackson allowed a passed ball with Dixon at the plate.
Jae-hong Chang doubled with one out in the sixth off Vasquez.
It also ended Vasquez's time on the mound.
A wild pitch by reliever Jay Flury moved Chang to third.
Gill drove home Chang with a single.
Tate exited after allowing a pair of singles -- to Tony Jackson and Will Holland in the seventh -- and Adrian Hernandez made it 4-1 with a sac fly off Josh Grissom.
But Dixon hit a two-run homer off Omari Gordon in the top of the ninth, making it 6-1.
So it really did not matter, when rookie Kevin Baker gave up a pair of runs in the ninth,
Although, it did mean RIcky Cisneros had to come in and get Joel Petrucci to ground out to end it.
Cisneros earned his second save.

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Record: 33-23, 2nd, 1 GB Des Moines
Cleveland's Joe Silverstein homered in the first inning and in the 11th inning to help give the Juke Box Heroes a 5-4 win over St. Louis at Cleveland Stadium (1980).
Silverstein's second home run ended it, as he powered a two-out, 1-0 pitch from River Walkers reliever Yeison Santos 438 feet over the fence in left-center field.
In the first inning, Silverstein took Walkers ace Angel Tiburcio deep with a 405 feet homer to lead off the bottom of the inning.
In between, a pair of homers from the Walkers' Jose Segura -- in the fourth off Andy Caruthers and in the eighth off Drake Fellows -- had helped St. Louis take a 4-1 lead.
But Cleveland fought back.
Robert Perez hit a solo homer off Ricky Cisneros in the bottom of the eighth.
In the bottom of the ninth, pinch-hitter Fernando Jimenez hit a two-run homer to tie it off Walkers closer Ernesto Barbosa.
Barbosa has allowed six homers in 18.1 innings.
Maybe the best closer in the MBL for the past three seasons, Barbosa had allowed just six homers combined in the 2030 and 2031 seasons, covering 103.1 innings.
Reliever Juan Munoz (1-4) pitched the top of the 11th for the Heroes, and earned his first win of the season.
Caruthers had lasted 4.2 innings as the starters, allowing two runs on four hits.
Five relievers followed him -- Omari Gordon (1.1 IP),. Bob Granillo (1.2), Fellows (1.1), Adam Wnger (1.0) and Munoz -- with Munoz coming out of it with the win.

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MBL news: June 6 -- All-Star game fan voting update

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Record: 34-23, 1st (Tied/w. Des Moines), 1 GA Cedar Rapids
Making his first start since spending time on the injured list with a strained oblique, Kaneo Kawamoto turned in maybe his best outing of the season to lead St. Louis to an 8-2 win over Cleveland at Cleveland Stadium (1980).
The victory gave the River Walkers a four-game split of their series with the Juke Box Heroes.
Kawamoto (2-3) handled the first 6.1 innings, allowing two runs on three hits. He struck out seven and walked none.
The two runs came on a home run from Tony Jackson to make it 2-1 in the bottom of the second inning.
After that, it was all River Walkers.
St. Louis went in front with four runs in the top of the third.
Jose Segura drove in the first run with a triple.
Jose Ramirez and Nick Shaw later hit back-to-back doubles to score two more runs.
Jared Thomas drove in the inning's third run with a single.
Jovan Gill tallied Shaw with a single, but was thrown out trying to stretch it to a double.
All of the damage came against Heroes starter Luis Vasquez.
Thomas collected a second RBI with a run-scoring single in the top of the fifth off Omar Benitez.
Daniel Becerra capped the scoring with a two-run homer off Drake Fellows in the sixth.
Andres Hernandez (1.2 IP) and Kevin Baker (1.0) combined to finish the game for St. Louis.

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MBL news: Week 8 -- Awards and standings