June 15: Mudcats vs. Dash Game Notes

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WINSTON-SALEM DASH (CHICAGO WHITE SOX) at CAROLINA MUDCATS (MILWAUKEE BREWERS)
Saturday, June 15, 2019 | 5:00 PM | Game 68, Home Game 34 | 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: 38-29; WS: 37-25
Streaks: CAR: L1; WS: W1
Last 10 Games: CAR: 6-4, WS: 8-2
Home Record: CAR: 19-14; WS: 18-13
Road Record: CAR: 19-15; WS: 19-12
Division Record: CAR: 18-15; WS: 14-10
Current Series: Tied 1-1 (of 4)
Season Series: WS leads 4-2 (of 14)
CAR v. OPP: 1-1 @CAR (7), 1-3 @OPP (7)

UPCOMING PROBABLE STARTING PITCHERS...
SAT, 6/15 vs. WS, 5:00 PM: Winston-Salem LHP Konnor Pilkington (1-1, 6.16) at Carolina RHP Christian Taugner (2-4, 5.88)
SUN, 6/16 vs. WS, 2:00 PM: Winston-Salem RHP Jorgan Cavanerio (2-0, 3.90) at Carolina RHP Matt Smith (2-5, 3.66)
MON, 6/17: Off, All-Star Break
TONIGHT: Following last night's loss, the Mudcats continue their final home stand of the first half with game three of a four game home series versus the Winston-Salem Dash at Five County Stadium. Carolina lost last night's last night's game 6-2 and fell into a 1-1 series tie in the game set with the visiting Dash... Tonight's game is the penultimate meeting of eight first half games this season and seventh of 14 total games between the two teams this season. The Dash lead the overall season series 4-2 having earlier taken three of four versus the Mudcats in Winston-Salem between May 29 and June 1.
ICYMI: Eddie Silva had two doubles and two runs, but Winston-Salem's Steele Walker hit for the cycle, All-Star starter John Parke allowed just two runs over six quality innings and Codi Heuer worked a three inning save as the Dash defeated the Mudcats 6-2 on Friday night at Five County Stadium. The Dash victory evened the series at a game apiece as it came in the second game of the four game set. Silva went 2-for-4 with two doubles and two runs in the loss for Carolina. He also had three hits in the first game of the series on Thursday night, giving him five hits over his last two games.
ABOUT LAST NIGHT: Winston's Salem's Steele Walker hit for the cycle last night while going 4-for-5 with a home run in the fourth, a RBI triple in the sixth, a double in the eighth and a RBI single in the ninth. Before Walker, the last opposing player to hit for the cycle against the Mudcats was Chattanooga's Alfredo Silverio on August 18, 2011. Silverio went 5-for-7 in that game for the Lookouts in what was a 12-inning game in Zebulon.
TONIGHT'S CAROLINA MUDCATS STARTING PITCHER...
Christian Taugner: 2-4, 5.88 ERA, 12 G, 5 GS, 41.1 IP, 23 BB, 23 SO
Last outing... 6/9 at FRE: 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO, 9 pitches
Making 6th start of the season; first since 5/1 at Salem.
Has gone 1-0 with a 3.50 ERA over last seven games (all in relief).
HEY NOW: The Carolina League announced rosters on 6/11 for the 2019 Carolina League All-Star Classic and the Mudcats placed seven players to the Southern Division team with C Mario Feliciano, C Payton Henry, RHP Dylan File, RHP Noah Zavolas, RHP Rodrigo Benoit, RHP Matt Hardy and recently promoted OF Joantgel Segovia all receiving nominations to the upcoming All-Star event hosted by the Frederick Keys on June 18, 2019 at Nymeo Field at Harry Grove Stadium.
JUNE BATS: Through 14 games in June, the Mudcats are currently leading the Carolina League in nearly all team batting categories, including average (.272), OBP (.369), SLG (.442), OPS (.812), hits (113), home runs (14) and runs scored (71).
WHERE THEY RANK: Mario Feliciano is currently 1st in the CL in home runs (14), 1st in RBI (48), 2nd in slugging (.515), 2nd in OPS (.846), 2nd in extra-base hits (27), 1st in total bases (121), 10th in runs (37) and 10th in hits (65)... Ryan Aguilar is currently 5th in the CL in OBP (.399), 2nd in walks (43) and 2nd in runs (45)... Matt Hardy is currently 1st in the CL in wins (7) and tied for 2nd in games (21)... Rodrigo Benoit is currently tied with Cody Beckman for 2nd in the CL in games (21) also tied for 3rd in the CL in saves (9) with Clayton Andrews... Noah Zavolas is currently 12th in the CL in earned run average (3.60), 1st in innings pitched (75.0) and 8th in WHIP (1.29). Zavolas is additionally 7th in the CL in FIP (3.38), 8th in xFIP (3.47), 2nd in BB/9 (1.44) and 2nd in K/BB (4.42) per fangraphs.com.
CAROLINA LEAGUE LEADERS - TWO-OUT RBI
Player Team RBI HR AVG OPS
Henry, P CAR 23 5 .250 .808
Corredor, A POT 22 3 .239 .660
Feliciano, M CAR 20 6 .295 1.016
Henry, R CAR 18 3 .278 .908
ALL THE Ks: Carolina batters have combined to total a Carolina League high 702 (3rd in MiLB) strikeouts this season. The Mudcats are on pace to set a league and franchise record for strikeouts for the third straight season as they are on pace for 1,456 strikeouts this season. Carolina batters combined to total a CL and franchise record 1,311 strikeouts last season; breaking the previous CL and franchise record of 1,245 SO set by Carolina in 2017.
BACK STOP SPLITS: Payton Henry and Mario Feliciano have split catching duties this season with Henry totaling 34 games behind the plate and Feliciano catching 33 games. Henry, meanwhile, has caught back-to-back games twice this season on 4/14 & 4/15 and 6/3 & 6/4; Feliciano has caught back-to-back games once 6/14 & 6/15.... The Carolina pitching staff is 22-12 and has totaled a 3.34 ERA (2.9 BB/9, 8.9 SO/9) in games caught by Henry... Carolina's pitchers are 16-17 with a 4.55 ERA (3.3 BB/9, 8.0 SO/9) in games caught by Feliciano. 
SUPER MARIO: Mario Feliciano was named the CL Player of the Week for the week of 6/3 through 6/9 after slashing .429/.500/1.286 with a league best 1.786 OPS (9-for-21, 8 R, 2B, 3B, 5 HR, 11 RBI, 2 BB, 3 SO) during his award winning week of play. He also led the CL in home runs, RBI, slugging, OPS and total bases while taking the weekly award honor. 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 homered in four straight games between 6/3 and 6/7 while hitting five homers and bringing his league leading homer total to 14 on the season. Feliciano is batting .353/.397/.721 with a 1.118 OPS over his last 18 games (24-for-68, 16 R, 5 2B, 1 3B, 6 HR, 16 RBI, 4 BB, 19 SO). 
INVEST IN SILVA: Eddie Silva totaled a season high three hits while going 3-for-4 on 6/13 and went 2-for-4 with two doubles and two runs last night (6/14). Silva has raised his average from .203 on 5/22 to .242 entering tonight's game while slashing .320/.407/.547 with a .954 OPS over his last 22 games (24 H, 12 R, 8 2B, 3 HR, 12 RBI, 5 BB, 11 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 allowed two inherited runners to score on 6/12 in Frederick (first inherited run allowed since 4/11 2 IR - 2 IRS), but is 2-0 with a 0.54 ERA with a 0.90 WHIP and 11.3 K/9 over his last seven appearances (16.2 IP, 1 ER, 4 BB, 21 SO)... J.T. Hintzen owns a 1.04 ERA and 11.9 K/9 over his last 12 appearances (17.1 IP, 2 ER, 8 BB, 23 SO)... Michael Petersen has allowed just one earned run over his last nine appearances and owns a 0.61 ERA, .160 average against and 9.8 K/9 since 5/12 (14.2 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 9 BB, 16 SO).
PEAKING: At 38-29, the Mudcats are currently nine games above .500 and 10.5 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 five times (5/18, 5/20, 5/22, 5/24, 6/13) in 2019. 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 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 tied for most wins by a manager in club history and is second all-time in games managed...
MANAGER W L PCT G SEASONS
Joe Ayrault 176 167 .513 343 2017-Present (3)
David Bell 176 239 .424 415 2009-11 (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.