June 29: Mudcats vs. P-Nats Game Notes

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POTOMAC NATIONALS (WASHINGTON NATIONALS) at CAROLINA MUDCATS (MILWAUKEE BREWERS)
Saturday, June 29, 2019 | 5:00 PM | Game 79, Home Game 41 | Five County Stadium | Zebulon, NC

RADIO: WDWG 98.5 FM, The Big Dawg 98.5 FM
STREAMING AUDIO:carolinamudcats.com via TuneIn Radio
STREAMING VIDEO: MiLB.tv
Overall Record: CAR: 44-34; POT: 33-43
Streaks: CAR: W2; POT: L2
Last 10 Games: CAR: 5-5, POT: 4-6
Home Record: CAR: 22-18; POT: 16-24
Road Record: CAR: 22-16; POT: 17-19
Division Record: CAR: 19-19; POT: 13-15
Current Series: CAR leads 2-0 (of 4)
Season Series: CAR leads 10-2 (of 14)
CAR v. OPP: 4-1 @CAR (7), 6-1 @OPP (7)

UPCOMING PROBABLE STARTING PITCHERS...
SAT, 6/29 vs. POT, 5:00 PM: Potomac RHP Andrew Lee (2-5, 3.28) at Carolina RHP Christian Taugner (2-5, 5.82)
SUN, 6/30 vs. POT, 2:00 PM: Potomac RHP Malvin Pena (4-4, 6.29) at Carolina RHP Matt Smith (2-7, 4.17)
MON, 7/1 at MB, 7:05 PM: Carolina LHP Aaron Ashby (1-1, 1.80) at Myrtle Beach TBA
TONIGHT: Winners of two straight, the Mudcats continue a seven game home stand tonight with the third game of a four game home series versus the Northern Division's Potomac Nationals at Five County Stadium. Tonight's game is the third of four in the series and the seventh of eight second half meetings between the two teams. It is also the penultimate game of 14 total between the two teams this season. The Mudcats lead the current series 2-0 and lead the overall season series 10-2 having swept Potomac from 4/8-4/10 in Woodbridge, winning two of three versus the P-Nats at home from 4/26-4/28 and recently taking three of four in Potomac to begin the second half 6/20-6/23.
ICYMI: Payton Henry hit a go-ahead home run in the fourth, Tristen Lutz lined a go-ahead RBI single in the eighth and Rodrigo Benoit earned his eleventh save of the season as the Mudcats, playing as Los Pescados de Carolina, won their second straight 4-2 versus the Nationals in front of a crowd of 5,546 at Five County Stadium on Friday night. 
ABOUT THE LAST ONE: Carolina's 4-2 victory versus the Nationals last night was the club's second straight overall and fifth straight versus the Nationals this season. Carolina has won all but two games so far this season versus Potomac, including one loss at home on 4/26 and one on the road on 6/20.
TONIGHT'S CAROLINA MUDCATS STARTING PITCHER...
Christian Taugner: 2-5, 5.82 ERA, 14 G, 7 GS, 51.0 IP, 17 BB, 31 SO
Last start - 6/24 vs. DE: L, 3.2 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 2 HB, 3 BB, 4 SO, 87 pitch.
Starter: 1-5, 7.09 ERA, 7 GS, 33.0 IP, 5 HR, 11 BB, 20 SO, 1.61 WHIP
June: 1-1, 4.26 ERA, 4 G, 2 GS, 12.2 IP, 6 ER, 4 BB, 11 SO, 1.58 WHIP
GIDP GROWTH: Both Devin Hairston and Zach Clark grounded into double plays in last night's game. The Mudcats have now hit into 10 double plays over their last five games, 14 GIDPs in their last nine games and a CL high 31 GIDPs this month... The Mudcats lead the CL in most GIDPs this season having hit into 64 double plays in 2019... Devin Hairston and Payton Henry lead the CL with seven double plays grounded into so far in June. Henry also leads the CL with 12 GIDPs this season.
WHERE THEY RANK: Mario Feliciano is currently 1st in the CL in home runs (14), tied for 1st in RBI (53), 2nd in slugging (.469), 9th in OPS (.784), 4th in extra-base hits (27) and 2nd in total bases (127)... Ryan Aguilar is currently 5th in the CL in OBP (.399), 10th in OPS (.784), 2nd in walks (49), 1st in runs (52) and tied 5th in wRC (48)... Payton Henry is tied for 4th in the CL in home runs (9), 5th in the CL in RBI (45), 8th in SLG (.421)... Matt Hardy is currently tied for 2nd in the CL in wins (7) and tied for 3rd in the CL in games (24)... Rodrigo Benoit is currently tied for 3rd in the CL in wins (6), tied for 2nd in games (25) and 2nd in the CL in saves (11)... Clayton Andrews is currently tied for 2nd in the CL in saves (11)... Noah Zavolas is currently 3rd in the CL in ERA (3.07), 1st in the CL in innings pitched (91.0) and 3rd in WHIP (1.18). Zavolas is also 2nd in the CL in FIP (3.11), 2nd in xFIP (3.30), 2nd in BB/9 (1.29) and 2nd in K/BB (5.15) per Fangraphs.com.
CAROLINA LEAGUE LEADERS - TWO-OUT RBI
Player Team RBI HR AVG OPS
Henry, P CAR 25 6 .258 .844
Corredor, A POT 22 3 .231 .640
Feliciano, M CAR 21 6 .270 .929
Henry, R CAR 20 3 .258 .871
BEANBALLS: The Carolina offense has combined to total a professional baseball high (MLB & MiLB) 69 hit-by-pitches this season. The Mudcats have also totaled a Carolina League high 23 HBP in June.
ALL THE Ks: Carolina batters have combined to total a Carolina League high 818 (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: Payton Henry broke a stretch of 18 straight games without a home run after hitting a solo shot on 6/27 versus Potomac. He has since homered in back-to-back games while accounting for two of Carolina's three home runs hit since 6/12 (14 games). Despite the recent power outage, the Mudcats are currently second in the Carolina League in home runs with 59 (2nd behind Fayetteville's 76 HR)... Mario Feliciano has totaled a CL best 14 homers this season, but has not homered since 6/7 vs. SAL. Tristen Lutz is tied for 2nd on the Mudcats in home runs with eight, but has not homered since 6/11 at FRE. Rob Henry (6 HR) last homered on 4/29 at SAL.
TRENDING: Payton Henry has hit safely in five straight games (7-for-16, 1 2B, 2 HR, 4 RBI during the streak) and in nine of his last 10 while batting .368/.419/.632 with a 1.050 OPS in his last 10 games (14-for-38, 4 R, 4 2B, 2 HR, 2 BB, 5 RBI)... Rob Henry is batting .318/.438/.379 with a .816 OPS over 19 games in June (21-for-66, 14 R, 4 2B, 9 RBI, 12 BB)... Ryan Aguilar is batting .295/.438/.492 with a .929 OPS over his last 19 games (18-for-61, 17 R, 6 2B, 2 HR, 10 RBI, 14 BB)... Julio Garcia has hit safely in four of his last six games and is batting .318/.348/.364 (7-for-22, 2 R, 1 2B, 2 RBI) since 6/21.
BACK STOP SPLITS: Payton Henry and Mario Feliciano have split catching duties this season with Henry totaling 40 games behind the plate and Feliciano catching 37 games. Henry, meanwhile, has caught back-to-back games three times this season (4/14 & 4/15, 6/3 & 6/4, 6/26 & 6/27); Feliciano has caught back-to-back games once 6/14 & 6/15.... The Carolina pitching staff is 25-15 and has totaled a 3.45 ERA (3.0 BB/9, 8.9 SO/9) in games caught by Henry... Carolina's pitchers are 18-19 with a 4.43 ERA (3.3 BB/9, 8.0 SO/9) in games caught by Feliciano. 
DUAL THREAT: Clayton Andrews has recently begun playing as a two-way player having appeared in 21 games (27.1 IP) as a reliever and eight games as Carolina's starting center fielder this season. As a pitcher, Andrews is currently 2-2 with a 2.63 ERA (9 BB, 43 SO) and 11 saves (2nd most in CL). As a position player, Andrews is batting .333/.357/.333 (9-for-27) and has hit safely in five straight games; including back-to-back multi-hit games on 6/16 and 6/25. 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 3rd season as Manager of the Mudcats and his 8th season overall as Manager of Milwaukee's High-A affiliate...
MANAGER W L PCT G SEASONS
Joe Ayrault 182 172 .514 354 2017-Present (3)
David Bell 176 239 .424 415 2009-11 (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.