July 18: Mudcats vs. Pelicans Game Notes

DOWNLOAD / VIEW THE FULL GAME NOTES PACKET
MYRTLE BEACH PELICANS (CHICAGO CUBS) at CAROLINA MICRO BREWS (MILWAUKEE BREWERS)
Thursday, July 18, 2019 | 7:00 PM | Game 97, Home Game 50 | Five County Stadium (6,500) | Zebulon, NC
RADIO: WDWG, 98.5 FM
STREAMING AUDIO:carolinamudcats.com via TuneIn Radio
STREAMING VIDEO: MiLB.tv
Overall Record: CAR: 52-44; MB: 36-58
Streaks: CAR: L4; MB: W3
Last 10 Games: CAR: 4-6, MB: 6-4
Home Record: CAR: 29-20; MB: 21-31
Road Record: CAR: 23-24; MB: 15-27
Division Record: CAR: 19-23; MB: 18-32
Current Series: MB leads 1-0 (of 3)
Season Series: Tied 5-5 (of 15)
CAR v. OPP: 3-1 @CAR (6), 2-4 @OPP (9)

UPCOMING PROBABLE STARTING PITCHERS...
THU, 7/18 vs. MB, 7:00 PM: Myrtle Beach RHP Alexander Vargas (2-2, 3.83) at Carolina LHP Aaron Ashby (2-3, 3.57)
FRI, 7/19 vs. MB, 7:00 PM: Myrtle Beach RHP Javier Assad (3-6, 3.86) at Carolina RHP Nelson Hernandez (9-6, 4.60)
SAT, 7/20 vs. WIL, 5:00 PM: Wilmington TBA at Carolina RHP Noah Zavolas (5-4, 2.94)
TONIGHT: Following last night's series opening loss, the Mudcats continue a six game home stand tonight with game two of a three game series versus the Myrtle Beach Pelicans at Five County Stadium in Zebulon, NC. Tonight's game is the second of three in the series and the fifth of nine second half between the two teams. Tonight's game is also the 11th of 15 total meeting this season between the two teams. The overall season series is now tied 5-5 after the Pelicans defeated Carolina 5-2 last night in Zebulon. 
ICYMI: Mario Feliciano hit his league leading 15th home run of the season, but it proved to be too little, too late as the Pelicans won Wednesday's series opener 5-2 versus the Mudcats at Five County Stadium. Feliciano went 2-for-4 with a double and a home run in the loss for the Carolina. The Mudcats scored just the two late runs in the series opening loss to Myrtle Beach. The Pelicans, meanwhile, scored once in the third, fourth, fifth, sixth and eighth innings while taking the first game of the series and handing Carolina its fourth straight loss.
STREAKY HALF: Carolina is currently mired in its second four game losing streak of the second half (6/30-7/3, 7/13-Present). They have also owned skids of three straight (6/24-6/26) and two straight (7/10-7/12) in the second half... Carolina's streaky second half has also seen win streaks of three straight (6/21-6/23, 6/27-6/29) and six straight (7/5-7/9).
TONIGHT'S STARTING PITCHER...
Aaron Ashby: 2-3, 3.57 ERA, 6 G, 6 GS, 35.1 IP, 18 BB, 26 SO, 1.22 WHIP
Last start, 7/12 at FRE: L, 4.1 IP, 8 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 3 BB, 0 SO, 81 pitches
Currently rated as the No. 9 prospect in the MIL system per MLBpipeline.com.
BOWLED OVER: The Mudcats were recently no-hit by Wilmington's Jonathan Bowlan on 7/5 in Wilmington, DE. It was the fourth time in franchise history that Carolina was held without a hit in a game.
NO-HITTERS VS. CAROLINA
Ryan Franklin, Memphis 4/21/97 at Carolina (6-0)
Elih Villanueva, Jacksonville (5.0 IP) 8/15/10 at Carolina (1-0)
Jake Dahlstrand (6.0 IP), Joe Gunkel (0.1 IP), SAL 4/9/15 at Carolina (2-0)
Jonathan Bowlan, Wilmington (9.0 IP) 7/15/19 at Wilmington (3-0)
WHERE THEY RANK: Mario Feliciano is currently 1st in the CL in home runs (15), tied for 1st in RBI (67), 1st in slugging (.468), 6th in OPS (.790), 9th in hits (89), tied for 2nd in extra-base hits (34) and 2nd in total bases (155)... Ryan Aguilar is currently 2nd in the CL in OPS (.842), 7th in AVG (.286), 3rd in OBP (.417), 9th in SLG (.425), tied for 7th in hits (91), 2nd in walks (63) and 1st in runs (69)... Payton Henry is tied for 4th in the CL in home runs (10) and 4th in RBI (55)... Matt Hardy is currently 5th in the CL in wins (7) and tied for 7th in games (28)... Rodrigo Benoit is currently tied for 6th in the CL in wins (6), 2nd in games (30) and 2nd in saves (12)... Noah Zavolas is currently 2nd in the CL in ERA (2.94), 1st in innings pitched (110.1) and 1st in WHIP (1.13). Zavolas is also 1st in the CL in FIP (3.12), 2nd in xFIP (3.31), 1st in BB/9 (1.39) and 1st in K/BB (4.82).
CAROLINA LEAGUE LEADERS - TWO-OUT RBI
Player Team RBI HR AVG OPS
Henry, P CAR 28 6 .257 .813
Feliciano, M CAR 26 6 .282 .932
Corredor, A POT 26 3 .243 .641
Henry, R CAR 21 3 .243 .817
GIDP GROWTH: The Mudcats have hit into 20 double plays over their last 23 games, 24 in their last 27 games and hit into a CL high 35 GIDPs in June... The Mudcats lead the CL in most GIDPs this season having hit into 74 double plays in 2019... Payton Henry leads the CL with 15 GIDPs overall (eight in June). Devin Hairston totaled seven GIDPs last month.
KINGS OF THE NORTH: The Mudcats are currently 33-21 versus the Carolina League Northern Division teams this season. They have also gone 15-8 versus Northern Division teams since 6/11 (at FRE)... The Mudcats are just 4-15 vs. Southern Division teams since 5/24 (vs. DE, 3.5 GB before 5/24) and have suffered eight straight losses in games versus Southern Division teams (6/16 vs. WS - 7/3 at MB).
FIRST IMPRESSION: The Carolina offense has recently gone quiet in regard to early runs as they have scored just four runs in the first inning over their last eight games. Three of those four runs, meanwhile, were scored in game one of a doubleheader on 7/12 in Frederick. They had, however, totaled a combined 11 first inning runs and had scored at least two runs in the first inning in four of their six games during their recent 6-0 home stand played from 7/5 through 7/9. During that same stretch, Wes Rogers scored at least on run in the first inning in four of those five games. Rogers led off for Carolina in four of those five games and hit .429/.526/.643 with a 1.169 OPS and nine runs over those four (7/5-7/8).
AG DEPT.: Ryan Aguilar has hit safely in 16 of his last 19 games and is batting .369/.494/.600 with a 1.094 OPS during that span (24-for-65, 18 R, 6 2B, 3 HR, 15 RBI, 14 BB, 19 SO). Aguilar also recently reached safely in all five of his PA on 7/6 vs. FRE after going 2-for-2 with 3 R, 3 BB, 2 2B & 3 RBI.
HAIR ON FIRE: Devin Hairston has hit safely in nine of his last 11 and is batting .389/.436/.583 with a 1.019 OPS during that span (14-for-36, 8 R, 2 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 5 RBI, 3 BB, 7 SO). Hairston recently finished a double shy of the cycle on 7/9 vs. LYN after going 3-for-3 with a solo home run, a 2-run triple and a single (attempted a hustle double, but was caught at second). His solo home run came in back-to-back fashion as it followed Pat McInerney (3-run HR) in the third on 7/9 vs. LYN and was his first of the season.
POWER OUTAGE: Mario Feliciano hit his league leading 15th home run of the season last night. That home run broke a streak of 31 straight games where Feliciano had not hit a home run... Rob Henry has totaled six home runs this season, but has not homered since 4/29 in Salem. He has gone 48 straight games without a home run.
PEN WOES: The Carolina bullpen has pitched to a 4.57 ERA and a .261 average against since the All-Star break (3.5 BB/9, 10.2 SO/9). The Carolina bullpen has also been charged with three blown saves since the break, including two by Rodrigo Benoit. Since the beginning of the second half, Benoit is 0-1 with a 12.14 ERA and a .457 average against (2 BS, 6.2 IP, 16 H, 12 R, 9 ER, 3 BB, 7 SO).
BACK STOP SPLITS: Payton Henry and Mario Feliciano have split catching duties this season with Henry totaling 49 games behind the plate and Feliciano catching 44 games... The Carolina pitching staff is 28-21 and has totaled a 3.65 ERA (2.9 BB/9, 8.8 SO/9) in games caught by Henry... Carolina's pitchers are 23-21 with a 4.27 ERA (3.2 BB/9, 7.9 SO/9) in games caught by Feliciano... Carolina has, however, won four straight games when Feliciano starts behind the plate.
ALL THE Ks: Carolina batters have combined to total a Carolina League high 970 strikeouts this season (6th most in MiLB). The Mudcats are on pace to set a league and franchise record for strikeouts for the third straight season as they are on pace for over 1,400 strikeouts this 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 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.