June 7: Mudcats vs. Red Sox Game Notes

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SALEM RED SOX (BOSTON RED SOX) at CAROLINA MUDCATS (MILWAUKEE BREWERS)
Friday, June 7, 2019 | 7:00 PM | Game 60, Home Game 28 | 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: 33-26; SAL: 19-38
Streaks: CAR: L1; SAL: W1
Last 10 Games: CAR: 4-6, SAL: 1-9
Home Record: CAR: 16-12; SAL: 9-18
Road Record: CAR: 17-14; SAL: 10-20
Division Record: CAR: 17-14; SAL: 12-19
Current Series: SAL leads 1-0 (of 4)
Season Series: CAR leads 3-2 (of 15)
CAR v. OPP: 0-0 @CAR (7), 3-2 @OPP (8)

UPCOMING PROBABLE STARTING PITCHERS...
FRI, 6/7 vs. SAL, 7:00 PM: Salem TBA at Carolina RHP Braden Webb (0-2, 4.01)
SAT, 6/8 vs. SAL, 5:00 PM: Salem LHP Enmanuel DeJesus (3-4, 4.41) at Carolina RHP Dylan File (5-4, 3.94)
SUN, 6/9 vs. SAL, 2:00 PM: Salem RHP Kutter Crawford (3-5, 3.30) at Carolina RHP Nelson Hernandez (6-3, 5.18)
TONIGHT: Following last night's win streak snapping loss, the Mudcats continue a seven game, eight day, home stand tonight with game two of a four game series versus the Salem Red Sox at Five County Stadium. Salem took last night's series opener 9-7 to take a 1-0 lead in the series and snap a 10 game losing streak. Tonight's game is the second of four versus Salem and the sixth of 15 overall games between the two teams this season. It is also the sixth of eight first half meetings between Salem and Carolina. The Mudcats are currently 3-1 in the current home stand; having swept the Frederick Keys in three straight earlier this week.
ICYMI: Mario Feliciano hit his Carolina League leading 13th home run of the season, Ryan Aguilar hit a solo shot of his own in the ninth and Rob Henry went 2-for-5 with two stolen bases, but the Salem Red Sox used a four run seventh to take Thursday's series opener 9-7 at Five County Stadium in Zebulon.
ABOUT THE LAST ONE: Mario Feliciano homered for his third straight game after connecting on a two-run blast in the third inning of last night's loss to the Salem Sox. Feliciano has totaled four home runs over his last three games and leads the CL in homers this season with 13.. Julio Garcia went 1-for-4 with a RBI single last night; it was his first hit (and RBI) since 5/27. Garcia has four hits this season, with all four coming at Five County Stadium (4-for-30 Home, 0-for-31 Away).
TONIGHT'S CAROLINA MUDCATS STARTING PITCHER...
Braden Webb: 0-2, 4.01 ERA, 5 GS, 24.2 IP, 2 HR, 18 BB, 17 SO, 1.50 WHIP
Last outing... 6/1 at WS (G2): L, 5.0 IP, 8 H, 5 ER, 2 BB, 1 SO, 84 pitches
Has walked CL high 18 since making first 2019 start w/CAR on 5/11
Started 2019 w/Biloxi: 1-4, 9.00 ERA, 6/5 G/GS, 15.0 IP, 15 BB, 13 SO
WHERE THEY RANK: Mario Feliciano is currently 1st in the CL in home runs (13), tied for 1st in RBI (42), 2nd in slugging (.534), 2nd in OPS (.866), 2nd in extra-base hits (25) and 1st in total bases (111)... Ryan Aguilar is currently tied for 9th in the CL in OBP (.388), 4th in walks (36) and tied for 4th in runs (38)... Matt Hardy is tied for 1st in the CL in wins (6) and tied for 1st in games (20)... Rodrigo Benoit is tied for 2nd 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 (3.47), 1st in innings pitched (70.0) and 6th in WHIP (1.24). Zavolas is additionally 6th in the CL in FIP (3.34), 4th in xFIP (3.40) and 2nd in K/BB (5.20) per fangraphs.com... Dylan File is currently 2nd in the CL in strikeouts (57) and 7th in innings (59.1). His also tied for 2nd in the CL in FIP (2.93), 2nd in xFIP (3.09), 1st in BB/9 (1.06), and 1st in K/BB (8.14) per Fangraphs.
CAROLINA LEAGUE LEADERS - TWO-OUT RBI
Player Team RBI HR AVG OPS
Henry, P CAR 22 5 .250 .810
Corredor, A POT 19 2 .260 .682
Feliciano, M CAR 17 5 .296 .979
Gonzalez, O LYN 16 3 .375 .961
Henry, R CAR 15 3 .267 .921
BACK STOP SPLITS: Payton Henry and Mario Feliciano have split catching duties this season with Henry totaling 31 games behind the plate and Feliciano catching 28 games... The Carolina pitching staff is 19-12 and has totaled a 3.34 ERA (3.0 BB/9, 8.8 SO/9) in games caught by Henry... Carolina's pitchers are 14-14 with a 4.73 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 640 (tied for 3rd 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 1,508 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.
THE LONG BALL: The Mudcats have totaled 53 home runs (2nd in the CL behind Fayetteville's 55 HR) this season. They've also combined to total nine homers over their last three games, four of which from Mario Feliciano, and are on pace for 125 homers this season. The franchise record for homers in a season is 131 by the 2004 Mudcats. The franchise low is 39 and was set by the 1991 Mudcats; more recently the 2016 Mudcats totaled just 56 homers as a team (3rd lowest in franchise history).
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 on 6/3 versus Frederick at Five County Stadium. Feliciano has since homered in three straight games (four homers over his last three) while bringing his league leading homer total to 13 on the season. Feliciano is batting .439/.452/.951 with a 1.404 OPS over his last 10 games (18-for-41, 12 R, 4 2B, 1 3B, 5 HR, 10 RBI, 1 BB, 10 SO). 
INVEST IN SILVA: Eddie Silva has raised his average from .203 on 5/22 to .233 entering tonight's game while slashing .327/.421/.571 with a .992 OPS over his last 14 games (16-for-49, 8 R, 6 2B, 2 HR, 9 RBI, 3 BB, 7 SO). The Brewers signed Silva as a non-drafted free agent last year on 6/27/18; Silva attended Florida International University.
SPELLS RELIEF: Matt Hardy is 1-0 with a 0.61 ERA with a 0.75 WHIP and 11.7 K/9 over his last six appearances (14.2 IP, 1 ER, 4 BB, 19 SO)... Rodrigo Benoit is 1-0 with a 2.08 ERA with a 1.15 WHIP and 14.5 K/9 over his last three. He has allowed just two earned runs this season and went 10 straight appearances between allowing earned runs on 4/21 and 5/27... J.T. Hintzen owns a 2.00 ERA and 11.0 K/9 over his last five appearances (9.0 IP, 2 ER, 5 BB, 11 SO).
PEAKING: At 33-26, the Mudcats are currently seven games above .500 and 8.5 games back of first place 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 affiliated Mudcats were 58-48 in the overall standings. That 2008 team 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 171 164 .510 335 2017-Present (3)
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.