Carolina Blanked Again in 3-0 Loss in Fayetteville

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. - Fayetteville's J.P. France totaled a career high nine strikeouts over seven scoreless innings and reliever Riley Cabral struck out six straight while closing out a 3-0 series opening victory for Woodpeckers versus Carolina on Friday night at Segra Stadium in Fayetteville. The shutout loss was Carolina's third over the club's last four games.

The Mudcats (16-20, 55-50) totaled just two hits in the loss with one coming from Tristen Lutz in the fourth and the other off the bat of Brice Turang in the in the sixth. Turang's hit in the sixth was a double and put him at second for the second time in the game as he also started the game with a walk before stealing second base. Turang reached twice and was 1-for-3 with a double in the loss for Carolina. Lutz, meanwhile, was 1-for-4 with two strikeouts.
France (W, 4-6, 4.06) was brilliant in his start for the Woodpeckers as he pitched around Turang's walk in the first, Lutz's single in the fourth and Turang's double in the second while allowing just three baserunners in the game. France scattered two hits, walked one and struck out nine while earning the victory.
Cabral (S, 1), like France, also set a new career high for strikeouts in the game as he struck out all six of the batters he faced in consecutive order. Cabral also earned his first save of the season while recording six straight outs between the eighth and ninth to finish the game.
The Woodpeckers scored all three of their runs in the fifth after totaling four hits off Carolina's starter Christian Taugner. Scott Manea doubled to start the fifth and scored two batters later on a sacrifice fly to right from Miguelangel Sierra. Ross Adolph, who singled to move Manea over to third before the sac fly, also scored in the fifth after he came across on a double from Emmanuel Valdez. Jonathan Arauz then finished the rally with a double to score Valdez as Fayetteville went up 3-0 in the game.
Taugner (L, 4-7, 5.04) had worked through four scoreless frames before allowing the three Fayetteville runs in the fifth. In all, Taugner allowed three runs on seven hits over five innings pitched while taking the loss. He also walked one and struck out two in his start.
Relievers Michael Petersen and Phil Bickford followed Taugner and combined to hold the Woodpeckers scoreless over the final three innings of the game. Petersen tossed a scoreless sixth while walking one striking out two. Bickford struck out three and worked around two walks while leaving two men on in the eighth and turning in two scoreless innings for Carolina.
The shutout loss was Carolina's second straight and third over the club's last four games. It was also their third shutout loss in their current road trip and their fifth shutout loss in July. The Mudcats have also now been held to just two runs on 11 hits over their last four games.
The series will continue on Saturday night in Fayetteville with RHP Matt Smith (4-8, 3.25) starting for the Mudcats in game two of the three game series. Smith has pitched to a stellar 1.59 ERA over six starts since the All-Star break and is currently third among qualified Carolina League starters in second half earned run average.
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