8/6: Mudcats at Wood Ducks Game Notes

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CAROLINA MUDCATS (MILWAUKEE BREWERS) at DOWN EAST WOOD DUCKS (TEXAS RANGERS)
Tuesday, August 6, 2019 | 7:00 PM | Game 114, Away Game 57 | Grainger Stadium (4,100) | Kinston, NC
RADIO: WDWG, 98.5 FM The Big Dawg
STREAMING AUDIO:carolinamudcats.com via TuneIn Radio
STREAMING VIDEO: N/A
Overall Record: CAR: 57-56; DE: 77-36
Streaks: CAR: L2; DE: L1
Last 10 Games: CAR: 2-8, DE: 7-3
Home Record: CAR: 33-24; DE: 36-21
Road Record: CAR: 24-32; DE: 41-15
Division Record: CAR: 22-34; DE: 39-15
Current Series: First game (of 3)
Season Series: DE leads 14-3 (of 20)
CAR v. OPP: 2-8 @CAR (10), 2-5 @OPP (10)

UPCOMING PROBABLE STARTING PITCHERS...
TUE, 8/6 at DE, 7:00 PM: Carolina RHP Nelson Hernandez (10-8, 4.33) at Down East LHP Sal Mendez (6-0, 2.03)
WED, 8/7 at DE, 7:00 PM: Carolina RHP Noah Zavolas (6-5, 2.93) at Down East RHP Reid Anderson (6-5, 3.70)
THU, 8/8 at DE, 7:00 PM: Carolina RHP Christian Taugner (5-7, 4.80) at Down East LHP John King (2-3, 2.05)
TONIGHT: After dropping two of three in Winston-Salem and following yesterday's off-day, the Mudcats continue a six game, seven day, road trip today with the first game of a three game series at Grainger Stadium versus the Down East Wood Ducks... Tonight's game is the first of three in the series and the 18th of 20 total meetings between the two teams this season. The Wood Ducks recently won two of three versus Carolina in Zebulon from 7/30 - 8/1 and lead the overall season series 14-3 while going 5-2 vs. Carolina in Kinston and 8-2 in Zebulon. Carolina had lost 11 straight games to the Woodies before escaping with a 7-0 victory while also avoiding a sweep by the Wood Ducks at Five County Stadium on 8/1.
ICYMI: The Mudcats were off last night and last played on Sunday in Winston-Salem where Mario Feliciano hit his league leading 17th home run, Brice Turang tripled and scored a run and Payton Henry hit his 11th home run of the season in a series clinching loss to the Dash 7-5 at BB&T Ballpark. The Dash ended taking the series two games to one while dropping Carolina to 1-2 in its current road trip.
ABOUT THE LAST ONE: The Mudcats were outscored 5-0 over the first two innings of Sunday's loss to the Dash in Winston-Salem. Carolina has additionally been outscored 15-6 in the first inning and 37-18 over the first three innings of their last 24 games (since 7/10, overall Carolina is 6-18 in that same span).
CAROLINA'S STARTING PITCHER...
Nelson Hernandez: 10-8, 4.33 ERA, 22 GS, 120.2 IP, 39 BB, 90 SO, 1.33 WHIP
Last start, 7/31 vs. DE: L, 7.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 SO, 92 pitches
Post All-Star: 4-3, 3.05 ERA, 44.1 IP, 11 BB, 32 SO, 1.24 WHIP
Carolina is 13-9 in games started by Hernandez this season and have averaged 5.2 runs/game in his starts.
OF LATE: The Mudcats have gone just 6-18 since 7/10 and since starting the second half at 12-8 over their first 20 games following the All-Star break (6/20-7/9)... The Mudcats have also combined to hit just .203 with 2.75 runs/game and a run differential of -24 runs since 7/10.
WHERE THEY RANK: Mario Feliciano is 1st in the CL in home runs (17), tied for 1st in RBI (73), 1st in slugging (.470), 7th in OPS (.792), 6th in hits (107), 1st in extra-base hits (41) and 1st in total bases (185)... Payton Henry is tied for 4th in the CL in home runs (11) and 6th in RBI (62)... Tristen Lutz is tied for 9th in the CL in home runs (10), tied for 6th in XBH (33) and 3rd in runs (56)... Matt Hardy is currently tied for 7th in the CL in wins (7) and tied for 9th in games (32)... J.T. Hintzen and Cody Beckman are currently 3rd in the CL in games (34)... Michael Petersen is tied for 6th in the CL in games (33)... Noah Zavolas is currently 2nd in the CL in ERA (2.93), 1st in innings pitched (129.0) and 1st in WHIP (1.11). Zavolas is also 1st in the CL in FIP (3.12), 2nd in xFIP (3.34), 1st in BB/9 (1.47) and 2nd in K/BB (4.67)... Matt Smith is currently 3rd in the CL in ERA (3.69), tied for 4th in K/BB (2.81) and 2nd in LOB% (74.2%).
ROAD WOES: The Mudcats had lost nine straight road games before Friday's 2-1 victory in Winston-Salem. Carolina is, however, just 2-16 over the club's last 18 road games. They are also just 5-17 away from home since the All-Star break... Carolina started the season 16-11 over their first eight road series, but have gone 7-18 since. Overall Carolina is 24-30 on the road this season.
HEATING UP:Zach Clark has hit safely in six straight and is batting .348/.400/.348 with a .748 OPS during that same span (8-for-23, 1 R, 2 RBI, 2 BB, 6 SO)... Mario Feliciano has hit safely in seven of his last eight games and is batting .375/.429/.625 with a 1.054 OPS over that same span (12-for-32, 9 R, 2 2B, 2 HR, 3 BB, 9 SO).
NEW NAMES: Carolina will play each of its three games in Kinston as "Pescados de Carolina" while the Wood Ducks will play as "Patos Joyuyos" during the current series... Pescados de Carolina is one of two new alternate identities introduced by the Mudcats this season. Carolina also introduced the Micro Brews (paying homage to the Milwaukee Brewers and local craft breweries) as an alternate team identity before the season... The Mudcats are currently 3-0 in games played as the Pescados (5/24 vs. DE, 6/28 vs. POT) and 3-4 as the Micro Brews (4/13 vs. WIL, 5/9 vs. FAY, 6/6 vs. SAL, 6/13 vs. WS, 6/27 vs. POT, 7/18 vs. MB, 8/1 vs DE).
STREAKS OF NOTE: Phil Bickford has pitched through 10.0 consecutive scoreless innings (4 BB, 15 SO) and six straight scoreless appearances... Rob Henry started the season with six home runs over his first 16 games, but has not homered since 4/19 in Salem while going 58 games without a home run... Devin Hairston has played through 45 straight games without an error.
KINGS OF THE NORTH: The Mudcats are currently 35-22 versus Carolina League Northern Division teams this season. They have also gone 17-8 versus Northern Division teams since 6/11 (at FRE)... The Mudcats are, however, just 7-26 vs. Southern Division teams since 5/24 (vs. DE, 3.5 G back of first before 5/24) and had suffered nine straight losses in games versus Southern Division teams (6/16 vs. WS - 7/3 at MB) before defeating the Pelicans 3-2 on 7/19. 
BACK STOP SPLITS: Payton Henry and Mario Feliciano have split catching duties this season with Henry starting 57 games behind the plate and Feliciano starting 53 games at catcher... The Carolina pitching staff is 31-26 and has totaled a 3.51 ERA (2.9 BB/9, 8.7 SO/9, 37.7 CS%) in games started by and caught by Henry... Carolina's pitchers are 25-29 with a 4.19 ERA (3.1 BB/9, 7.9 SO/9, 29.8 CS%) in games caught by Feliciano.
ALL THE Ks: The Carolina offense has combined to total a Carolina League high 1,143 strikeouts this season (6th most in MiLB). The Mudcats are on pace to set both a CL and franchise record for most strikeouts for the third straight season. Carolina batters combined to total a CL and franchise record 1,311 strikeouts last season; breaking the previous CL and franchise record of 1,245 SO set by Carolina in 2017.
THE TOP 30: The Carolina roster currently features five of Milwaukee's Top 30 prospects (as rated by MLBPipeline.com) including No. 1 INF Brice Turang, No. 2 OF Tristen Lutz, No. 8 LHP Aaron Ashby, No. 9 C Mario Feliciano and No. 16 C Payton Henry.
THE MUDCATS HAVE…
... played in Zebulon, NC since 1991 (29th season).
... played in the Carolina League since 2012 (8th season).
... been an affiliate of the Brewers since 2017 (3rd season).
... not made the playoffs since the 2008 season.
... not made the playoffs during their Carolina League era.
... operated under the ownership of the Brewers since Oct. 2017.