8/9: Mudcats vs. Red Sox Game Notes

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SALEM RED SOX (BOSTON RED SOX) at CAROLINA MUDCATS (MILWAUKEE BREWERS)
Friday, August 9, 2019 | 7:00 PM | Game 117, Home Game 58 | Five County Stadium (6,500) | Zebulon, NC
RADIO: WDWG, 98.5 FM The Big Dawg
STREAMING AUDIO:carolinamudcats.com via TuneIn Radio
STREAMING VIDEO: MiLB.tv

Overall Record: CAR: 59-57; SAL: 51-62
Streaks: CAR: W2; SAL: W1
Last 10 Games: CAR: 4-6, SAL: 3-7
Home Record: CAR: 33-24; SAL: 28-31
Road Record: CAR: 26-33; SAL: 23-31
Division Record: CAR: 24-35; SAL: 26-27
Current Series: First game (of 3)
Season Series: CAR leads 5-3 (of 15)
CAR v. OPP: 2-2 @CAR (7), 3-1 @OPP (8)

UPCOMING PROBABLE STARTING PITCHERS...
FRI, 8/9 vs. SAL, 7:00 PM: Salem LHP Jhonathan Diaz (7-6, 4.24) at Carolina RHP Christian Taugner (5-7, 4.80)
SAT, 8/10 vs. SAL, 5:00 PM: Salem RHP Thaddeus Ward (1-2, 2.58) at Carolina RHP Matt Smith (4-9, 3.69)
SUN, 8/11 vs. SAL, 2:00 PM: Salem RHP Daniel Gonzalez (4-8, 4.38) at Carolina TBA
TONIGHT: Winners of two straight, the Mudcats begin a new six-game, seven day, home stand tonight with game one of a three game series versus the Northern Division's Salem Red Sox at Five County Stadium... Carolina leads the season series 5-3 having gone 3-1 versus the Red Sox in Salem and 2-2 so far against Salem at home... Tonight's game is the first of seven second half games and the ninth of 15 total meetings between the two teams this season.
ICYMI: Payton Henry homered twice and Mario Feliciano hit his Carolina League leading 18th home run of the season in game one and Tristen Lutz provided all of the offense with a solo home run in game two win as Carolina took both games of Thursday's doubleheader 9-5 and 1-0 versus the Wood Ducks at Grainger Stadium in Kinston. Carolina ended up leaving Kinston with a series victory after winning two of three in the series following the twin-bill sweep of the Wood Ducks. The Mudcats also finished their six-game road trip at 3-3 after dropping two of three in Winston-Salem and take two of three versus Down East.
ABOUT THE LAST ONE: Payton Henry hit two, two-run home runs across the first and second innings in game one of yesterday's doubleheader in Kinston versus the Wood Ducks. It was the second time that Henry has homered twice in a game this season as he also homered twice on 4/27 versus Potomac at Five County Stadium. Both of Henry's homers went to straightaway right in yesterday's game and accounted for his 12th and 13th homers of the year. Henry has not yet hit a home run to his pull side this season as all of his 13 homers have gone to either center field (2), right-center (3) or right (8) this season.
CAROLINA'S STARTING PITCHER(S)...
Christian Taugner: 5-7, 4.80 ERA, 21/13 G/GS, 90.0 IP, 22 BB, 56 SO, 1.42 WHIP
Last start, 8/2 at WS: W, 6.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 4 SO, 89 pitches
Starter: 4-7, 5.27 ERA, 13 GS, 68.1 IP, 16 BB, 43 SO, 1.42 WHIP
Post All-Star: 3-3, 4.22 ERA, 8 G, 7 GS, 42.2 IP, 8 BB, 29 SO
OF LATE: The Mudcats have gone just 8-19 since 7/10 and since starting the second half at 12-8 over their first 20 games following the All-Star break (6/20-7/9)... The Mudcats have also combined to hit just .210 with 2.9 R/G and a run differential of -21 runs since 7/10.
WHERE THEY RANK: Mario Feliciano is 1st in the CL in home runs (17), 1st in RBI (76), 1st in slugging (.469), 8th in OPS (.789), 6th in hits (109), 4th in runs (57), 1st in extra-base hits (42) and 1st in total bases (190)... Payton Henry is 4th in the CL in home runs (13) and tied for 3rd in RBI (66)... Tristen Lutz is tied for 5th in the CL in home runs (12), tied for 4th in XBH (36) and 3rd in runs (60)... Matt Hardy is currently tied for 7th in the CL in wins (7) and tied for 8th in games (33)... Michael Petersen and Cody Beckman are currently tied for 3rd in the CL in games (35)... Noah Zavolas is currently 2nd in the CL in ERA (2.98), 1st in innings pitched (133.0) and 2nd in WHIP (1.14). Zavolas is also 2nd in the CL in FIP (3.22), 2nd in xFIP (3.38), 1st in BB/9 (1.56) and 2nd in K/BB (4.43).
ROAD WOES: The Mudcats had lost nine straight road games before Friday's 2-1 victory in Winston-Salem. Carolina is, however, just 4-17 over the club's last 21 road games. They are also just 7-18 away from home since the All-Star break... Carolina started the season 16-11 over their first eight road series, but have gone 7-18 since. Overall Carolina is 26-33 on the road this season.
HEATING UP: Tristen Lutz has totaled four multi-hit games over his last seven games and is batting .483/.516/.828 with a 1.344 OPS over his those same seven games (14-for-29, 5 R, 3 HR, 5 RBI)... Mario Feliciano has hit safely in eight of his last 11 games and is batting .326/.383/.581 with a .964 OPS during that same span (14-for-43, 11 R, 2 2B, 3 HR, 7 RBI, 3 BB, 15 SO)... Pat McInerney is slugging .667 and batting .375 with a .444 OBP and 1.111 OPS over his last seven games (9-for-24, 2 R, 4 2B, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 3 BB)... Wes Rogers is batting .333/.407/.375 with a .782 OPS over his last seven games (8-for-24, 5 R, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 3 BB).
STREAKS OF NOTE: Phil Bickford has pitched through 12.0 consecutive scoreless innings (4 BB, 15 SO) and seven straight scoreless appearances... Rob Henry started the season with six home runs over his first 16 games, but has not homered since 4/19 in Salem while going 60 games without a home run... Devin Hairston has played through 47 straight games without an error.
FIRST: Carolina has scored first in both games of yesterday's twin-bill in Kinston. The Mudcats have now scored first in a game just five times since 7/15 and have gone 7-15 in that same span. They have also scored first in a game eight times since 7/10 and are 8-19 during that span of games. 
KINGS OF THE NORTH: The Mudcats are currently 35-22 versus Carolina League Northern Division teams this season. They have also gone 17-8 versus Northern Division teams since 6/11 (at FRE)... The Mudcats are, however, just 8-27 vs. Southern Division teams since 5/25 (vs. DE, 2.5 G back of first before 5/25) and had suffered nine straight losses in games versus Southern Division teams (6/16 vs. WS - 7/3 at MB) before defeating the Pelicans 3-2 on 7/19. 
BACK STOP SPLITS: Payton Henry and Mario Feliciano have split catching duties this season with Henry starting 59 games behind the plate and Feliciano starting 55 games at catcher... The Carolina pitching staff is 32-27 and has totaled a 3.51 ERA (3.0 BB/9, 8.7 SO/9, 37.0 CS%) in games started by and caught by Henry... Carolina's pitchers are 26-29 with a 4.23 ERA (3.1 BB/9, 7.9 SO/9, 31.0 CS%) in games caught by Feliciano.
ALL THE Ks: The Carolina offense has combined to total a Carolina League high 1,174 strikeouts this season (tied for 5th most in MiLB). The Mudcats are on pace to set both a CL and franchise record for most strikeouts for the third straight season. 
THE TOP 30: The Carolina roster currently features five of Milwaukee's Top 30 prospects (as rated by MLBPipeline.com) including No. 1 INF Brice Turang, No. 2 OF Tristen Lutz, No. 8 LHP Aaron Ashby, No. 9 C Mario Feliciano and No. 16 C Payton Henry.
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.