June 4: Mudcats vs. Keys Game Notes

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FREDERICK KEYS (BALTIMORE ORIOLES) at CAROLINA MUDCATS (MILWAUKEE BREWERS)
Tuesday, June 4, 2019 | 7:00 PM | Game 58, Home Game 26 | Five County Stadium | Zebulon, NC
RADIO: WDWG, The Big Dawg 98.5 FM
STREAMING AUDIO:carolinamudcats.com via TuneIn Radio
STREAMING VIDEO: MiLB.tv
Overall Record: CAR: 32-25; FRE: 28-28
Streaks: CAR: W2; FRE: L2
Last 10 Games: CAR: 4-6, FRE: 4-6
Home Record: CAR: 15-11; FRE: 18-14
Road Record: CAR: 17-14; FRE: 10-14
Division Record: CAR: 17-14; FRE: 19-13
Current Series: CAR leads 2-0 (of 3)
Season Series: CAR leads 2-0 (of 12)
CAR v. OPP: 2-0 @CAR (6), 0-0 @OPP (6)

UPCOMING PROBABLE STARTING PITCHERS...
TUE, 6/4 vs. FRE, 7:00 PM: Frederick LHP Cameron Bishop (0-3, 3.86) at Carolina RHP Matt Smith (1-5, 4.50)
WED, 6/5: OFF
THU, 6/6 vs. SAL, 7:00 PM: Salem RHP Dylan Thompson (0-4, 5.94) at Carolina RHP Noah Zavolas (3-2, 3.39)
TONIGHT: Winners of two straight, the Mudcats continue a seven game, eight day, home stand tonight with the finale of a three game series versus the Frederick Keys at Five County Stadium. The Mudcats won last night's game 7-4 and have won two straight while winning the series outright as they lead it two games to one. Tonight's game is also the third of 12 overall games and the third of six in the first half between the two teams this season. The current home stand features three games versus the Keys (Sunday - Tuesday) and four games versus the Salem Red Sox (Thursday - Sunday). 
ICYMI: Mario Feliciano led off the second and fourth innings with solo home runs, Eddie Silva added a solo shot of his own in the sixth and Nelson Hernandez turned in his longest out of the season while leading the Mudcats to a series clinching 7-4 victory versus the Keys on Monday night at Five County Stadium. Feliciano's two homer night led the way for the Mudcats and gave him the outright Carolina League lead in home runs with 11 so far this season. His solo homer in the second tied the game at 1-1 and his solo shot in the fourth broke a 2-2 tie to put Carolina up 3-2. The Mudcats then added one more in the fourth and led the rest of the way while winning their second straight game versus the visiting Keys.
ABOUT THE LAST ONE: Payton Henry started at catcher for the second consecutive game last night for the Mudcats. It was the first time that he had caught in consecutive games since the middle of April when he caught consecutive games on 4/14 and 4/15. Henry and Mario Feliciano have evenly split catching duties this season with Henry starting behind the plate 30 times and Feliciano starting at catcher 27 times. The Mudcats three straight games with Henry starting at catcher; they previously won seven straight with him starting at catcher from 5/8 - 5/20.
WHERE THEY RANK: Mario Feliciano is currently 1st in the CL in home runs (11), 2nd in RBI (38), 3rd in slugging (.495), 8th in OPS (.818), 2nd in extra-base hits (22) and 3rd in total bases (99)... Ryan Aguilar is currently 10th in the CL in OBP (.386), 4th in walks (35) and tied for 5th in runs (35)... Matt Hardy is tied for 1st in the CL in wins (6) and tied for 1st in games (19)... Rodrigo Benoit is tied for 2nd in the CL in wins (5), tied for 1st in the CL in games (19) and tied for 2nd in the CL in saves (9)... Noah Zavolas is currently 7th in the CL in earned run average (3.39), 1st in innings pitched (66.1), 10th in strikeouts (49) and 4th in WHIP (1.21). Zavolas is additionally 6th in the CL in FIP (3.39), 5th in xFIP (3.41), 2nd in BB/9 (1.22) and 2nd in K/BB (5.44) per fangraphs.com... Dylan File is currently 3rd in the CL in strikeouts (57) and 6th in innings (59.1). His also tied for 3rd in the CL in FIP (2.94), 2nd in xFIP (3.09), 1st in BB/9 (1.06), and 1st in K/BB (8.14) per fangraphs.com.
CAROLINA LEAGUE LEADERS - TWO-OUT RBI
Player Team RBI HR AVG OPS
Henry, P CAR 20 4 .247 .769
Corredor, A POT 19 2 .266 .696
Gonzalez, O LYN 16 3 .386 .988
Henry, R CAR 15 3 .256 .918
BACK STOP SPLITS: Payton Henry and Mario Feliciano have split catching duties this season with Henry totaling 30 games behind the plate and Feliciano catching 27 games... The Carolina pitching staff is 19-11 and has totaled a 3.36 ERA (3.1 BB/9, 8.8 SO/9) in games caught by Henry... Carolina's pitchers are 13-14 with a 4.92 ERA (3.2 BB/9, 7.9 SO/9) in games caught by Feliciano.
ALL THE Ks: Carolina batters have combined to total a Carolina League high 622 (2nd in MiLB) strikeouts this season. The Mudcats are on pace to set a league and franchise record for strikeouts as they are on pace for 1,531 strikeouts this season. Carolina batters combined to total a Carolina League and franchise record 1,311 strikeouts during the 2018 season; breaking the previous Carolina League and franchise record of 1,245 SO set by the Mudcats during the 2017 season... Carolina also currently owns the 6th largest difference between strikeouts and hits (200 more strikeouts than hits) in MiLB this season.
SUPER MARIO: Mario Feliciano took over sole possession of the top spot on the Carolina League leader board for home runs this season after connecting on his 10th and 11th homers last night versus Frederick at Five County Stadium. Feliciano is batting .424/.424/.818 with a 1.242 OPS over his last eight games (14-for-33, 8 R, 4 2B, 3 HR, 6 RBI, 0 BB, 9 SO). Feliciano is also slashing .302/.313/.651 with a .964 OPS over his last 16 games (19 H, 13 R, 7 2B, 5 HR, 14 RBI, 1 BB, 19 SO).
SILVA BULLETS: Eddie Silva is batting .407/.500/.741 with a 1.241 OPS (11 H, 3 R, 3 2B, 2 HR, 8 RBI, 2 BB, 3 SO) over his last eight games. Silva has also raised his average from .203 on 5/22 to .232 entering tonight's game while slashing .341/.449/.610 over his last 12 games (1.059 OPS, 14-for-41, 7 R, 5 2B, 2 HR, 8 RBI, 3 BB, 5 SO). The Brewers signed Silva as a non-drafted free agent last year on 6/27/18; Silva attended Florida International University.
PEAKING: At 32-25, the Mudcats are currently seven games above .500 and 7.5 games back of first place Down East in the CL Southern Division standings. Carolina has been as high as 11 games above .500 once (5/21) and 10 games above four times (5/18, 5/20, 5/22, 5/24) this season. Before this season, the last time a Mudcats team sat at least 10 games above .500 overall was on 7/27/08 when the then-Southern League Mudcats were 58-48 in the overall standings. That 2008 teams was also at 27-17 in the second half on 8/4/08 and finished the year at 80-60 overall. 
THE SKIPPER: Manager Joe Ayrault is in his third season as Manager of the Mudcats and his eighth season overall as Manager of Milwaukee's High-A affiliate. Ayrault is currently second on Carolina's all-time managerial wins list and second all-time in games managed in Carolina...
MANAGER W L PCT G SEASONS
David Bell 176 239 .424 415 2009-11 (3)
Joe Ayrault 170 163 .511 333 2017-Present (3)
Ron Gideon 126 151 .455 277 2000-01 (2)
Marc Hill 96 111 .464 207 1996-97 (2)
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).
... operated under the ownership of the Brewers since Oct. 2017.
... not made the playoffs since the 2008 season.
... not made the playoffs during their Carolina League era.