June 25: Mudcats vs. Wood Ducks Game Notes

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DOWN EAST WOOD DUCKS (TEXAS RANGERS) at CAROLINA MUDCATS (MILWAUKEE BREWERS)
Tuesday, June 25, 2019 | 7:00 PM | Game 75, Home Game 37 | 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: 42-32; DE: 52-23
Streaks: CAR: L1; DE: W1
Last 10 Games: CAR: 6-4, DE: 6-4
Home Record: CAR: 20-16; DE: 23-16
Road Record: CAR: 22-16; DE: 29-7
Division Record: CAR: 19-17; DE: 27-8
Current Series: DE leads 1-0 (of 3)
Season Series: DE leads 6-3 (of 20)
CAR v. OPP: 1-4 @CAR (10), 2-2 @OPP (10)

UPCOMING PROBABLE STARTING PITCHERS...
TUE, 6/25 vs. DE, 7:00 PM: Down East RHP Alex Eubanks (5-2, 2.98) at Carolina RHP Matt Smith (2-6, 4.12)
WED, 6/26 vs. DE, 11:00 AM: Down East LHP John King (1-0, 1.22) at Carolina LHP Aaron Ashby (1-0, 0.00)
THU, 6/27 vs. POT, 7:00 PM: Potomac TBA at Carolina RHP Nelson Hernandez (7-5, 5.09)
TONIGHT: Following last night's series opening loss, the Mudcats continue a seven game home stand tonight with game two of a three game series against the Southern Division's first half champs, the Down East Wood Ducks at Five County Stadium. Tonight's game is the second of three in the series and the second of 12 second half meetings between the two teams. The Wood Ducks lead the overall season series 6-3 having split a four game set against Carolina to start the season (4/4-4/7) in Kinston and taking three of four in Zebulon (5/24-5/27) in May.
ICYMI: Mario Feliciano went 2-for-4 and drove in two runs while extending his league leading RBI total to 52 on the season, but the Mudcats failed to overcome a five run deficit in the second while falling to the visiting Wood Ducks 5-4 on Monday night at Five County Stadium. Down East (2-3, 52-23) jumped out to an early 5-0 lead in the game after scoring three runs in the first and two runs in the second off Carolina starter Christian Taugner. All five early runs were scored with two outs and were allowed on five against Taugner who ended up with the loss in Monday's series opening game.
TONIGHT'S CAROLINA MUDCATS STARTING PITCHER...
Matt Smith: 2-6, 4.12 ERA, 15 G, 9 GS, 54.2 IP, 9 HR, 18 BB, 43 SO
Last start - 6/16 vs. WS: L, 3.0 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 1 HR, 2 BB, 2 SO, 56 pitches
Starter: 1-4, 3.93 ERA, 9 GS, 36.2 IP, 9 BB, 26 SO, 1.36 WHIP
NOAH NO-RUNS: Noah Zavolas was named the Carolina League Pitcher of the Week for the week ending on June 23. He earned the weekly honor after pitching through a complete-game, two-hit shutout with a career best 11 strikeouts on 6/3 in Potomac. Zavolas was the first CL pitcher to turn in a nine-inning complete-game shutout and the seventh in MiLB this season. He is also the first Mudcat to spin a nine-inning complete-game shutout since 2010 when LHP Matt Fairel (9.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 SO), of the then-Southern League Mudcats, went the distance in a 5-0 Carolina victory in Montgomery on 7/23/10.
TRENDING: Rob Henry is batting .333/.452/.400 with a .852 OPS over 17 games in June (20-for-60, 13 R, 4 2B, 7 RBI, 11 BB, 20 SO)... Payton Henry has hit safely in seven of his last nine and is batting .270/.270/.351 with a .622 OPS over his last nine games (10-for-37, 2 R, 3 2B, 1 RBI)... Ryan Aguilar is batting .302/.458/.509 with a .968 OPS over his last 17 games (16-for-53, 16 R, 5 2B, 2 HR, 9 RBI, 14 BB).
WHERE THEY RANK: Mario Feliciano is currently 1st in the CL in home runs (14), 1st in RBI (52), 2nd in slugging (.481), 10th in OPS (.799), 3rd in extra-base hits (27) and 2nd in total bases (125)... Ryan Aguilar is currently 6th in the CL in OBP (.403), 2nd in walks (49) and 1st in runs (51)... Matt Hardy is currently tied for 1st in the CL in wins (7) and is tied for 3rd in the CL in games (23)... Rodrigo Benoit is currently tied for 3rd in the CL in games (23), tied for 3rd in the CL in saves (10) and tied for 2nd in wins (6)... Clayton Andrews is currently tied for 3rd in the CL in saves (10)... Noah Zavolas is currently 3rd in the CL in ERA (3.21), 1st in the CL in innings pitched (84.0) and tied for 3rd in WHIP (1.18). Zavolas is also 3rd in the CL in FIP (3.13), 3rd in xFIP (3.25), 2nd in BB/9 (1.29) and 2nd in K/BB (5.33).
CAROLINA LEAGUE LEADERS - TWO-OUT RBI
Player Team RBI HR AVG OPS
Henry, P CAR 24 5 .255 .799
Corredor, A POT 22 3 .232 .649
Feliciano, M CAR 20 6 .274 .953
Adams, J FAY 19 5 .253 .746
Henry, R CAR 18 3 .250 .858
ALL THE Ks: Carolina batters have combined to total a Carolina League high 776 (3rd most 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 1,458 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.
POWER OUTAGE: The Mudcats had gone eight straight games without hitting a home run (6/12-6/22) before Ryan Aguilar's solo blast in Potomac on 6/23. The homerless streak matched Carolina's longest such streak this season; they also went without a home run in eight straight between 4/30 and 5/9. Despite the recent power outage, the Mudcats are currently second in the Carolina League in home runs with 57 (2nd behind Fayetteville's 72 HR)... Mario Feliciano has totaled a CL best 14 homers this season, but has not homered since 6/7 vs. SAL. Tristen Lutz is 2nd on the Mudcats in home runs with eight, but has not homered since 6/11 at FRE. Payton Henry (7 HR) last homered on 6/4 vs. FRE and Rob Henry (6 HR) last homered on 4/29 at SAL.
BEANBALLS: The Carolina offense has combined to total a professional baseball high (MLB & MiLB) 65 hit-by-pitches this season. The Mudcats have also totaled a Carolina League high 19 HBP in June.
BACK STOP SPLITS: Payton Henry and Mario Feliciano have split catching duties this season with Henry totaling 38 games behind the plate and Feliciano catching 35 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 24-14 and has totaled a 3.53 ERA (3.0 BB/9, 8.9 SO/9) in games caught by Henry... Carolina's pitchers are 17-18 with a 4.56 ERA (3.3 BB/9, 8.1 SO/9) in games caught by Feliciano. 
DUAL THREAT: Clayton Andrews has recently begun playing as a two-way player having appeared in 19 games as a reliever and seven games as Carolina's starting center fielder this season. As a pitcher, Andrews is currently 2-2 with a 3.09 ERA, seven walks, 38 strikeouts and 10 saves (3rd most in the CL). As a position player, Andrews is batting .304/.333/.304 (7-for-23) and has hit safely in four straight games; including a 3-for-5 & 1 RBI performance in his last start in center on 6/16 vs. Winston-Salem. His first start in center this season came on 5/20 vs Lynchburg. Andrews hit .302/.382/.377 over 57 games (6 2B, 5 3B, 25 BB, 6 SO) at Long Beach St. in 2018 before going to the Brewers in the 17th round of the 2018 Draft.
THE SKIPPER: Manager Joe Ayrault became the winningest manager in Carolina Mudcats team history after collecting his 177th victory as skipper in Carolina on 6/15/19 vs. Winston-Salem. Ayrault is in his third season as Manager of the Mudcats and his eighth season overall as Manager of Milwaukee's High-A affiliate...
MANAGER W L PCT G SEASONS
Joe Ayrault 180 170 .514 350 2017-Present (3)
David Bell 176 239 .424 415 2009-11 (3)
Ron Gideon 126 151 .455 277 2000-01 (2)
IN MUDCATS HISTORY: June 25, 2006... RHP Aníbal Sánchez goes 3-6 with a 3.15 ERA, two complete games, one shutout and 92 strikeouts over 15 starts and 85.2 innings for the Mudcats before earning a promotion to the Florida Marlins and making his MLB debut on June 25, 2006 in New York against the Yankees. Sanchez went on to go 10-3 with a 2.83 ERA and 72 strikeouts over 18 games (17 starts) and 114.1 innings with the Marlins in 2006.
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.