June 6: Mudcats vs. Red Sox Game Notes

DOWNLOAD THE FULL GAME NOTES PACKET HERE
SALEM RED SOX (BOSTON RED SOX) at CAROLINA MUDCATS (MILWAUKEE BREWERS)
Wednesday, June 5, 2019 | 7:00 PM | Game 59, Home Game 27 | 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: 33-25; SAL: 18-38
Streaks: CAR: W3; SAL: L10
Last 10 Games: CAR: 4-6, SAL: 0-10
Home Record: CAR: 16-11; SAL: 9-18
Road Record: CAR: 17-14; SAL: 9-20
Division Record: CAR: 17-14; SAL: 12-19
Current Series: First game (of 4)
Season Series: CAR leads 3-1 (of 15)
CAR v. OPP: 0-0 @CAR (7), 3-1 @OPP (8)

UPCOMING PROBABLE STARTING PITCHERS...
THU, 6/6 vs. SAL, 7:00 PM: Salem RHP Daniel Gonzalez (1-6, 4.31) at Carolina RHP Noah Zavolas (3-2, 3.39)
FRI, 6/7 vs. SAL, 7:00 PM: Salem TBA at Carolina RHP Braden Webb (0-2, 4.01)
SAT, 6/8 vs. SAL, 5:00 PM: Salem TBA at Carolina RHP Dylan File (5-4, 3.94)
TONIGHT: Winners of three straight and coming off a home sweep versus Frederick, the Mudcats continue a seven game, eight day, home stand tonight with the opener of a four game series versus the Salem Red Sox at Five County Stadium. The Mudcats last played on Tuesday night where they homered four times while defeating the visiting Frederick Keys 10-3 to clinch their third series sweep of the season. Tonight's game is the first of four versus Salem and the fifth of 15 overall games between the two teams this season. It is also the fifth of eight first half meetings between Salem and Carolina. The Mudcats are currently 3-0 in the current home stand; it began with three games versus the Keys (Sunday - Tuesday) and concludes with a four game set versus the Salem Red Sox (Thursday - Sunday). 
ICYMI: The Mudcats were off last night and last played on Tuesday night where Tristen Lutz hit two, two-run home runs, Payton Henry hit a two-out, two-run home run in the first and Mario Feliciano went back-to-back with Lutz in the eighth with his league leading 12th homer of the season as the Mudcats ran away with a 10-3, sweep clinching victory versus Frederick at Five County Stadium. Lutz, Feliciano and Henry combined to total five hits, seven runs, eight RBI and four home runs while leading the Mudcats (33-25) to their third straight victory. All of that production, meanwhile, came with Lutz, Feliciano and Henry each batting third, fourth and fifth respectively in the heart of the Carolina lineup on Tuesday night.
ABOUT THE LAST ONE: Carolina totaled a season high four home runs on Tuesday night with Tristen Lutz hitting two, two-run blasts, Payton Henry with a two-run shot of his own and Mario Feliciano connecting on his Carolina League leading 12th of the season. Lutz and Feliciano additionally went back-to-back with home runs in the eighth; marking the first time Carolina had gone back-to-back this season.
TONIGHT'S CAROLINA MUDCATS STARTING PITCHER...
Noah Zavolas: 3-2, 3.39 ERA, 11 GS, 66.1 IP, 5 HR, 9 BB, 49 SO, 1.21 WHIP
Last outing... 6/1 at WS (G1): 5.1 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 5 SO, 78 pitches
CL Ranks: 8th in ERA (3.39), 1st in IP (66.1), 4th in WHIP (1.21)
CL Rnaks: 7th in FIP (3.39), 5th in xFIP (3.41), 2nd in K/BB (5.44)
WHERE THEY RANK: Mario Feliciano is currently 1st in the CL in home runs (12), tied for 1st in RBI (40), 2nd in slugging (.520), 4th in OPS (.846), 2nd in extra-base hits (24) and 3rd in total bases (99)... Ryan Aguilar is currently tied for 8th in the CL in OBP (.388), 4th in walks (35) and tied for 4th in runs (37)... Matt Hardy is tied for 1st in the CL in wins (6) and tied for 1st in games (19)... Rodrigo Benoit is tied for 2nd in the CL in wins (5), tied for 1st in the CL in games (19) and tied for 2nd in the CL in saves (9)... Noah Zavolas is currently 8th in the CL in earned run average (3.39), 1st in innings pitched (66.1) and 4th in WHIP (1.21). Zavolas is additionally 7th in the CL in FIP (3.39), 5th in xFIP (3.09) and 2nd in K/BB (5.44) per fangraphs.com... Dylan File is currently 3rd in the CL in strikeouts (57) and 7th in innings (59.1). His also tied for 4th in the CL in FIP (2.94), 2nd in xFIP (3.10), 1st in BB/9 (1.06), and 1st in K/BB (8.14) per fangraphs.com.
CAROLINA LEAGUE LEADERS - TWO-OUT RBI
Player Team RBI HR AVG OPS
Henry, P CAR 22 5 .256 .822
Corredor, A POT 19 2 .260 .682
Gonzalez, O LYN 16 3 .380 .975
Feliciano, M CAR 15 4 .279 .920
Henry, R CAR 15 3 .273 .941
BACK STOP SPLITS: Payton Henry and Mario Feliciano have split catching duties this season with Henry totaling 30 games behind the plate and Feliciano catching 28 games... The Carolina pitching staff is 19-11 and has totaled a 3.36 ERA (3.1 BB/9, 8.8 SO/9) in games caught by Henry... Carolina's pitchers are 14-14 with a 4.73 ERA (3.2 BB/9, 7.9 SO/9) in games caught by Feliciano.
THE LONG BALL: The Mudcats have totaled 51 home runs this season, including seven over their last two games, and are on pace for 122 homers this season. The franchise record for homers in a season is 131 by the 2004 Mudcats. The franchise low is 39 and was set by the 1991 Mudcats; more recently the 2016 Mudcats totaled just 56 homers as a team (3rd lowest in franchise history).
SUPER MARIO: Mario 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 is batting .432/.432/.919 with a 1.351 OPS over his last nine games (16-for-37, 10 R, 4 2B, 1 3B, 4 HR, 8 RBI, 0 BB, 9 SO). Feliciano is also slashing .328/.339/.724 with a 1.063 OPS over his last 14 games (19 H, 14 R, 6 2B, 5 HR, 10 RBI, 0 BB, 15 SO).
SILVA BULLETS: Eddie Silva is batting .355/.444/.645 with a 1.090 OPS (11 H, 3 R, 3 2B, 2 HR, 8 RBI, 2 BB, 4 SO) over his last nine games. Silva has also raised his average from .203 on 5/22 to .228 entering tonight's game while slashing .311/.415/.556 over his last 13 games (.971 OPS, 14-for-45, 7 R, 5 2B, 2 HR, 8 RBI, 3 BB, 6 SO). The Brewers signed Silva as a non-drafted free agent last year on 6/27/18; Silva attended Florida International University.
PEAKING: At 33-25, the Mudcats are currently eight games above .500 and 7.5 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 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 second on Carolina's all-time managerial wins list and second all-time in games managed in Carolina...
MANAGER W L PCT G SEASON
David Bell 176 239 .424 415 2009-11 (3)
Joe Ayrault 171 163 .512 334 2017-Present (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.