May 11 - Mudcats vs. Pelicans - Game Notes

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MYRTLE BEACH PELICANS (CHICAGO CUBS) at CAROLINA MUDCATS (MILWAUKEE BREWERS)
Saturday, May 11, 2019 | 5:00 PM | Game 35, Home Game 15 | 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: 20-14; MB: 12-23
Streaks: CAR: W1; MB: L2
Last 10 Games: CAR: 6-4, MB: 5-5
Home Record: CAR: 8-6; MB: 7-14
Road Record: CAR: 12-8; MB: 5-9
Division Record: CAR: 11-7; MB: 4-14
Current Series: CAR leads 1-0 (of 3)
Season Series: CAR leads 3-1 (of 15)
CAR v. OPP: 1-0 @CAR (6), 2-1 @OPP (9)

UPCOMING PROBABLE STARTERS:
SAT, 5/11 vs. MB, 5:00 PM: Myrtle Beach LHP Luis Lugo (1-1, 3.38) at Carolina RHP Braden Webb (0-0, -.--)
SUN, 5/12 vs. MB, 2:00 PM: Myrtle Beach TBA at Carolina RHP Dylan File (2-3, 3,48)
MON, 5/13 at LYN, 6:30 PM: Carolina RHP Nelson Hernandez (4-0, 4.79) at Lynchburg TBA
TONIGHT: After last night's series opening victory, the Mudcats take on the Pelicans in game two of a three game series and game five of a six game home stand at Five County Stadium. Carolina's 5-1 victory last night put them up 1-0 in the series and up 3-1 in the overall 15 game season series. The Mudcats also took two of three in Myrtle Beach between 4/23 and 4/25... Carolina enters tonight's game versus Myrtle Beach at 4-1 in the current home stand after opening it by winning two of three versus Fayetteville from 5/7 - 5/9. The Mudcats are currently 6-2-2 in series played so far this season.
ICYMI: Noah Zavolas turned in an absolute gem as he pitched through eight complete innings with six strikeouts and Joantgel Segovia went 3-for-4 with his second lead off home run of the season as the Mudcats earned a 5-1 series opening win versus Myrtle Beach in front of a Friday night crowd of 5,636 at Five County Stadium. Zavolas' near "Maddux" saw him pitch through a career high eight complete innings while reaching a career high 90 pitches. Those 90 pitches also included 71 strikes as Zavolas (2-2, 2.36) efficiently worked his way through the Pelicans lineup while earning second win of the season. In all, Zavolas allowed one run, scattered five hits, walked one and struck out six in Saturday's series opening victory for the Mudcats.
TONIGHT'S CAROLINA MUDCATS STARTER...
Braden Webb: w/BIL: 1-4, 9.00 ERA, 6/5 G/GS, 15.0 IP, 15 BB, 13 SO
Last outing - 5/3 at PEN: L, 0.2 IP, 2 H, 5 ER, 3 BB, 2 SO, 39 pitches
Making first 2019 start with Carolina after beginning the 2019 season in Double-A with Biloxi.
ABOUT THE LAST ONE: Joantgel Segovia hit his second lead off home run of the 2019 season last night after homering on the third pitch of the Carolina first. He also hit a lead off homer on 4/9 in game two of a doubleheader in Potomac... Rob Henry had a two-out, two-run double in the seventh last night and is now batting .318/.375/.818 with a 1.193 OPS (7 H, 3 HR, 12 RBI) when batting with two outs this season.
STREAKING: Ryan Aguilar has reached base safely in a team best 23 straight games (4/14-Present) and is batting .291/.429/.380 with a .808 OPS during the streak (23-for-79, 17 R, 4 2B, 1 HR, 7 RBI, 16 BB, 3 HBP, 25 SO). Frederick's Mason McCoy owns the CL's longest consecutive games on base streak after he reached safely in 24 straight between 4/4/19 and 5/1/19.
LIGHTS OUT: The Carolina bullpen has gone 3-1-5 with a 1.54 ERA and 38 SO against 11 BB since 4/28 (41.0 IP, 25 H, 10 R, 7 ER, 0.88 WHIP, .176 AVG)... Rodrigo Benoit is 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA over his last five games (5.1 IP, 0 H, 2 BB, 4 SO).
WHERE THEY RANK: Ryan Aguilar is currently 4th in the CL in OBP (.423), 3rd in runs (24) and 3rd in walks (23)... Rob Henry is currently tied for 4th in the CL in homers (6)... Payton Henry is currently tied for 6th in the CL in homers (5) and tied for 4th in RBI (24)... Matt Hardy leads the CL in both wins (5) and games (13)... Rodrigo Benoit is tied for 2nd in the CL in both saves (7) and games (12)... Noah Zavolas is currently 2nd in the CL in ERA (2.36), 1st in innings (42.0), 4th in average against (.248) and 2nd in WHIP (1.10)... Dylan File is 9th in the CL in strikeouts (37). File is also 2nd in the CL in FIP (2.62) and 1st in xFIP (2.68) per fangraphs.com.
MEN OF STEAL: The Mudcats totaled a season high three stolen bases on May 7 vs. Fayetteville and have additionally totaled 13 steals over their last 15 games. Carolina had totaled just six steals over the first 19 games of the 2019.
ON THE EIGHTS: The Carolina offense is currently 8th in the Carolina League in batting (.225), 8th in slugging (.345), 8th in OPS (.657), 8th in hits (244) and 8th in walks (109) this season.
BACK STOP SPLITS: Payton Henry and Mario Feliciano have split catching duties this season with Henry totaling 18 games behind the plate and Feliciano catching 16 games... The Carolina pitching staff is 10-8 and has totaled a 3.46 ERA (155 SO, 53 BB) in games caught by Henry and 10-6 with a 4.23 ERA (134 SO, 46 BB) in games caught by Feliciano.
AN APRIL TO REMEMBER: Carolina's 16-10 record in April was the club's best since 2008 when the then-Southern League and Florida Marlins affiliated Mudcats opened the year with a record of 17-10. Just three years earlier, the 2005 Marlins affiliated Mudcats opened the season going 18-4 in April. The 2005 and 2008 Mudcats both went on to reach the Southern League playoffs in their respective seasons... Carolina's 25 home runs hit in April were a new franchise high for most home runs hit by a Mudcats team in April since the 2004 squad hit 24 homers in the first month of their season. *Some historical data unavailable for the '91-'03 seasons.
THE SKIPPER: Manager Joe Ayrault is back for 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 SEASONS
David Bell 176 239 .424 415 2009-11 (3)
Joe Ayrault 158 152 .510 310 2017-Present (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.