May 16 - Mudcats at Hillcats - Game Notes

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CAROLINA MUDCATS (MILWAUKEE BREWERS) at LYNCHBURG HILLCATS (CLEVELAND INDIANS)
Thursday, May 16, 2019 | 6:30 PM | Game 40, Away Game 24 | City Stadium at Calvin Falwell Field | Lynchburg, VA
RADIO: WDWG, The Big Dawg 98.5 FM
STREAMING AUDIO:carolinamudcats.com via TuneIn Radio
STREAMING VIDEO: 
Overall Record: CAR: 23-16; LYN: 19-18
Streaks: CAR: L1; LYN: W1
Last 10 Games: CAR: 6-4, LYN: 4-6
Home Record: CAR: 10-6; LYN: 8-11
Road Record: CAR: 13-10; LYN: 11-7
Division Record: CAR: 13-7; LYN: 5-7
Current Series: LYN leads 2-1 (of 4)
Season Series: LYN leads 2-1 (of 17)
CAR v. OPP: 0-0 @CAR (10), 1-2 @OPP (7)

UPCOMING PROBABLE STARTERS:
THU, 5/16 at LYN, 6:30 PM: Carolina RHP Braden Webb (0-0, 1.80) at Lynchburg LHP Adam Scott (2-4, 3.23)
FRI, 5/17 at FAY, 7:00 PM: Carolina RHP Dylan File (3-3, 3.32) at Fayetteville RHP J.P. France (0-3, 4.55)
SAT, 5/18 at FAY, 5:00 PM: Carolina RHP Nelson Hernandez (4-1, 4.97) at Fayetteville RHP Chad Donato (3-4, 5.52)
TONIGHT: Following last night's loss, the Mudcats take on the Lynchburg Hillcats again tonight in the finale of a four game series at City Stadium in Lynchburg. Carolina enters tonight's game down 2-1 in the current four game set and in the overall 17 game season series between the two teams... Tonight's game is also the third of a seven game road trip through both Lynchburg and Fayetteville for the Mudcats.
ICYMI: The Mudcats scored four runs over the first four and a half innings, but the Hillcats rallied back with four unanswered runs in the fifth, sixth and seventh while winning game three of the four game set 6-4 on Wednesday night at Calvin Falwell Field in Lynchburg. The Mudcats scored two first inning runs and two more later in the fifth in support of starter Noah Zavolas, but the Hillcats rallied back with three in the fifth, one in the sixth and two in the seventh while winning the game 6-4.
ABOUT THE LAST ONE: Last night's game marked the first time that Carolina's pitchers (Noah Zavolas, Cody Beckman and Chris Dula) did not record a single strikeout in a game this season. The last time Carolina's pitchers combined to finish a game without a strikeout was in game two of a doubleheader on 6/12/18 at Buies Creek (Conor Harber, Daniel Brown); the only such occurrence of the 2018 season.
TONIGHT'S CAROLINA MUDCATS STARTER...
Braden Webb: 0-0, 1.80 ERA, 1 GS, 5.0 IP, 4 BB, 3 SO, 1.20 WHIP
Last outing - 5/11 vs. MB: ND, 5.0 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 4 BB, 3 SO, 82 pitches
Making second 2019 start with Carolina after originally beginning the 2019 season in Double-A with Biloxi.
TRENDING: Tristen Lutz has hit safely in eight straight games and is batting .344/.417/.625 with a 1.042 OPS (8-for-32, 8 R, 6 2B, 1 HR, 3 BB, 9 SO) during the streak. Lutz has also hit safely in 12 of his last 13 games and is batting .346/.404/.654 with a 1.057 OPS (18-for-52, 12 R, 8 2B, 1 3B, 2 HR, 7 RBI, 3 BB, 17 SO) since 4/27... Devin Hairston has had at least one hit in nine of his last 13 games and is batting .277/.333/.340 with a .674 OPS (13-for-47, 7 R, 3 2B, 6 RBI, 4 BB, 14 SO) over his last 13 games... Joantgel Segovia has totaled at least one hit in six of his last seven games and is batting .407/.429/.593 with a 1.021 OPS over his last six games (11-for-27, 6 R, 2 2B, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 1 BB, 1 SO).
ALL THE Ks: Carolina batters have combined to total a CL high 426 strikeouts this season and are on pace for 1,518 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.
FIRST QUARTER: The Mudcats went 21-14 over their first 35 games, or first quarter, of the 2019 season. That 21-14 (.600) matches the 1994 Mudcats for the fourth best first 35-game record in team history. The 1995 and 2005 Mudcats own the franchise's best first 35-game team record in franchise history after both clubs started their respective seasons at 24-11.
WHAT IF: Having totaled just 100 plate appearances, Rob Henry is currently just shy of qualifying for the CL leader board this season. Henry is, however, currently 5th in the CL in slugging (.518), 6th in OPS (.868) and 2nd in ISO (.282) among CL players with at least 100 PA this season.
BACK STOP SPLITS: Payton Henry and Mario Feliciano have split catching duties this season with Henry totaling 20 games behind the plate and Feliciano catching 19 games... The Carolina pitching staff is 12-8 and has totaled a 3.16 ERA (166 SO, 56 BB) in games caught by Henry and 11-8 with a 4.53 ERA (148 SO, 55 BB) in games caught by Feliciano.
THREE TRUE OUTCOMES: Home runs, walks and strikeouts have accounted for 40.7% of Carolina's plate appearances this season; the 2nd highest such percentage of the three true outcomes in the Carolina League this season... Mario Feliciano (46.4%), Ryan Aguilar (44.2%), Payton Henry (44.2%) and Tristen Lutz (42.4%) are 3rd, 6th, 7th and 9th among qualified CL batters in TTO%. 
WHERE THEY RANK: Ryan Aguilar is currently 7th in the CL in OBP (.410), tied for 4th in runs (25) and 3rd in walks (26)... Rob Henry is currently tied for 4th in the CL in homers (6)... Payton Henry is currently tied for 8th in the CL in homers (5) and 6th in RBI (26). Henry is also 2nd in the CL in most caught steals having caught 18 of 42 (42.9%) would-be base stealers... Mario Feliciano is currently tied for 4th in the CL in home runs (6) and tied for 7th in RBI (24)... Matt Hardy leads the CL wins (5) and is tied for the CL lead in games (14)... Rodrigo Benoit is tied for 1st in the CL in games (14) and second in saves (7)... Noah Zavolas currently 2nd in the CL in ERA (2.81), 1st innings (48.0), 4th in average against (.266) and 3rd in WHIP (1.17)... Dylan File is currently 1st in the CL in K/BB (14.00), 1st in BB/9 (0.66), 1st in FIP (2.51) and 2nd in xFIP (2.75) per fangraphs.com.
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 161 154 .511 315 2017-Present (3)
Ron Gideon 126 151 .455 277 2000-01 (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.