May 26 - Mudcats vs. Wood Ducks Game Notes

DOWNLOAD THE FULL GAME NOTES PACKET HERE
DOWN EAST WOOD DUCKS (TEXAS RANGERS) at CAROLINA MUDCATS (MILWAUKEE BREWERS)
Sunday, May 26, 2019 | 6:00 PM | Game 50, Home Game 23 | 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: 29-20; DE: 33-17
Streaks: CAR: L1; DE: W1
Last 10 Games: CAR: 6-4, DE: 4-6
Home Record: CAR: 13-9; DE: 14-13
Road Record: CAR: 16-11; DE: 19-4
Division Record: CAR: 16-9; DE: 21-7
Current Series: Tied 1-1 (of 4)
Season Series: Tied 3-3 (of 20)
CAR v. OPP: 1-1 @CAR (10), 2-2 @OPP (10)

UPCOMING PROBABLE STARTING PITCHERS
SUN, 5/26 vs. DE, 6:00 PM: Down East LHP Jake Latz (2-1, 3.09) at Carolina RHP Braden Webb (0-0, 2.45)
MON, 5/27 vs. DE, 12:00 PM: Down East RHP Reid Anderson (2-1, 3.48) at Carolina RHP Dylan File (4-4, 3.73)
TUE, 5/28: Off
TONIGHT: After last night's last at bat loss to the Wood Ducks, the second place Mudcats continue an eight game home stand tonight with game three of a four game series versus first place Down East at Five County Stadium. Yesterday's 6-4 loss dropped the Mudcats to 3.5 games back of the Southern Division leading Wood Ducks in the Carolina League first half standings. Carolina enters tonight's game in a 1-1 tie in the current series and a 3-3 tie in the overall 20-game season series between the two teams. The two teams last faced off during the first series of the season (4/4-4/7) where they split a four game set 2-2 at Grainger Stadium in Kinston.
ICYMI: Mario Feliciano crushed a go-ahead three-run home run in the sixth and Tristen Lutz hit a tie-breaking solo home run in the eighth, but Clayton Andrews allowed a three-run homer to Down East's JP Martinez in the ninth as the Wood Ducks escaped with a 6-4 series tying victory on Saturday night at Five County Stadium.
ABOUT THE LAST ONE: Carolina scored all of its runs via home run in yesterday's 6-4 loss to the Wood Ducks. It was the fifth time this season that home runs had accounted for all of Carolina's runs in a game (4/7 at DE, 4/15 vs. FAY, 4/20 at FAY, 4/21 at FAY, 5/25 vs. DE).
TONIGHT'S CAROLINA MUDCATS STARTING PITCHER...
Braden Webb: 0-0, 2.45 ERA, 3 GS, 14.2 IP, 12 BB, 11 SO, 1.30 WHIP
Last outing: 5/21 vs. LYN, 5.0 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 3 SO, 90 pitches
Making fourth 2019 start with Carolina after originally beginning the 2019 season in Double-A with Biloxi.
WHERE THEY RANK: Ryan Aguilar is currently 7th in the CL in OBP (.401), tied for 2nd in walks (30) and tied for 4th in runs (30)... Mario Feliciano is currently tied for 1st in the CL in home runs (9), 3rd in RBI (35), 8th in slugging (.444) and tied for 4th in total bases (76)... Payton Henry is currently 9th in the CL in RBI (30)... Matt Hardy leads the CL in wins (6) and is tied for the league lead games (17)... Rodrigo Benoit is tied for 2nd in the CL in wins (5), tied for 1st in the CL in games (17) and 2nd in the CL in saves (8)... Noah Zavolas currently 6th in the CL in ERA (3.25), 1st in innings pitched (61.0), tied for 9th in average against (.271) and 3rd in WHIP (1.16)... Dylan File is currently tied for 9th in the CL in earned run average (3.73), tied for 1st in WHIP (1.14), 7th in average against (.269), 5th in strikeouts (51) and tied for 5th in innings pitched (50.2). 
CAROLINA LEAGUE LEADERS - TWO-OUTS: RBI
Player Team RBI HR AVG OPS
Henry, P CAR 18 4 .227 .741
Gonzalez, O LYN 16 3 .439 1.142
Corredor, A POT 16 1 .271 .679
Henry, R CAR 14 3 .250 .925
Adams, J FAY 14 4 .322 .931
WHAT IF: Having totaled just 127 plate appearances, Rob Henry is currently just shy of qualifying for the CL leader board in various categories this season. Henry, however, is 10th in slugging (.467), 12th in OPS (.822) and 4th in ISO (.234) among CL players with at least 120 PA this season. He is also tied for 9th in the CL in homers (6).
ALL THE Ks: Carolina batters have combined to total a Carolina League and MiLB high 546 strikeouts this season. The Mudcats are on pace for 1,549 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 currently owns the second largest difference between strikeouts and hits (189 more strikeouts than hits) in MiLB.
BACK STOP SPLITS: Payton Henry and Mario Feliciano have split catching duties this season with Henry totaling 25 games behind the plate and Feliciano catching 24 games... The Carolina pitching staff is 16-9 and has totaled a 3.26 ERA (2.9 BB/9, 8.8 SO/9) in games caught by Henry... Carolina's pitchers are 13-11 with a 4.46 ERA (2.9 BB/9, 7.9 SO/9) in games caught by Feliciano.
GOT HEEM: Payton Henry is currently tied for the Carolina League in most caught steals (20). Henry has caught 21 of 50 (42.0%) would-be base stealers over 25 games and 220 innings behind the plate this season. Henry is also tied for second in all of MiLB in most caught steals (21) this season.
WALK IT OFF: The Mudcats have begun the 2019 season at 13-9 at home, with nearly half of those victories coming in walk-off fashion as Carolina has won in its last at bat six times already this season (4/11, 4/28, 5/11, 5/20, 5/21, 5/24)... Seven of Carolina's final 12 home wins last season also occurred in walk-off fashion (7/19, 7/24, 7/25, 8/4, 8/8, 8/17, 8/28). Those seven walk-off wins additionally occurred over Carolina's last 22 home games of 2018.
BACK END BRILLIANCE: Reliever Rodrigo Benoit has allowed just one earned run this season (4/21 at FAY, Colton Shaver HR) and has pitched through 10 straight outings without allowing an earned run. He has, however, allowed five runs over his last four appearances with three of those last four games coming in extra-innings. All five of those runs were unearned with those particular frames beginning with a runner at second per MiLB's new extra-innings rules (Rule 9.16).
PEAKING: At 29-20, the Mudcats are currently nine games above .500 and just 3.5 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. 
ON TO THE NEXT ONE: The Brewers promoted OF Joantgel Segovia to Double-A Biloxi today. Before the promotion, Segovia was 8th in the Carolina League in average (.302), 10th in on-base (.389), 9th in slugging (.444), 7th in OPS (.832), tied for 8th in hits (51) and tied for 7th in runs (28).
THE SKIPPER: Manager Joe Ayrault will be away from the team this weekend while away with organization provided time off. Coach Fidel Pena will serve as acting manager for this weekend's series. Pena is in his first season as a coach with the Mudcats and his third overall as a coach in the Brewers system. He previously spent the last two seasons as a coach with the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers. Pena is also a former catcher, infielder and outfielder who last played in Brewers system in 2016 (Brevard County Manatees, FSL).
ON THIS DATE: May 26, 1998... In just his third game with the Mudcats, C Jose Reyes knocked in seven runs on the strength of two three-run homers and an RBI ground out in a 16-12 loss to Birmingham at Five County Stadium. His first three-run shot was a game tying blast in the second and his second was a three-run shot that gave the Mudcats a 10-9 lead in the fifth.
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.