June 23 - Mudcats Game Notes

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BUIES CREEK ASTROS (HOUSTON ASTROS) at CAROLINA MUDCATS (MILWAUKEE BREWERS)
Saturday, June 23, 2018 | 5:00 PM | Game 73, Home Game 35 | at Five County Stadium | Zebulon, NC
RADIO: WDWG, The Big Dawg 98.5 FM
STREAMING AUDIO: www.carolinamudcats.com, TuneIn Radio
STREAMING VIDEO: MiLB.tv
Overall Record: CAR: 35-37; BC: 38-33
Streaks: CAR: W1; BC: L1
Last 10 Games: CAR: 6-4, BC: 4-6
Home Record: CAR: 19-15; BC: 21-15
Road Record: CAR: 16-22; BC: 17-18
Division Record: CAR: 26-33; BC: 25-22
Current Series: Tied 1-1 (of 4)
Season Series: BC leads 8-7 (of 28)
CAR v. OPP: 1-3 @CAR (11), 6-5 @OPP (17)

UPCOMING PROBABLE STARTERS:
SAT, 6/23, 5:00 PM: Carolina RHP Victor Diaz (3-4, 4.38) at Buies Creek RHP Abdiel Saldana (5-0, 2.97)
SUN, 6/24, 2:00 PM: Carolina LHP Cam Roegner (6-3, 1.65) at Buies Creek RHP Brandon Bailey (2-7, 3.36)
MON, 6/25: Off
TONIGHT: The Mudcats begin a two game home stand with game three of a four game, away/home, series vs. the Buies Creek Astros at Five County Stadium. Tonight's game is the 16th of 28 total meetings between the two this season. Carolina is 7-8 overall, 1-3 at home and 6-5 on road against the Astros this season. The current series is tied at 1-1.
ICYMI: Braden Webb struck out nine while pitching through a career high seven innings, Joangtel Segovia went 3-for-5 with two RBI and both Ryan Aguilar and Nathan Rodriguez had two hits while leading the Mudcats to a 7-2 victory on Friday night at Buies Creek.
ABOUT THE LAST ONE: The bottom third of Carolina's lineup combined for seven hits and four runs last night against the Astros... Joangtel Segovia led the way for Carolina last night after going 3-for-5 with two RBI. Segovia hit ninth in last night's lineup and was preceded by seventh place hitter Ryan Aguilar and eighth place hitter Nathan Rodriguez who both went 2-for-4 with two runs in last night's game.
STARTING OFF: RHP Victor Diaz has the start for the Mudcats in tonight's home game versus the Buies Creek Astros. Diaz is currently 3-4 with a 4.38 ERA over 13 games and two starts this season with Carolina. He has also totaled 53 strikeouts, 27 walks and a .265 average against over 63.2 innings this season. Diaz has made two starts so far this season and is 1-1 with a 5.40 ERA (11.2 IP, 7 ER, 4 BB, 9 SO) as a starter this year. He last started on 6/15 in Myrtle Beach where he pitched through his first quality start of the season after allowing just two runs over 7.0 innings pitched. He also finished with five strikeouts, two walks and two runs on four hits in the road victory.
WHERE THEY RANK: LHP Cam Roegner is currently 1st in the Carolina League in earned run average (1.65), 4th in innings pitched (76.1), 3rd in WHIP (1.05) and 3rd among starters in fewest baserunners/9ip (9.79)… RHP Braden Webb is currently 4th among CL starters in lowest batting average against (.225) and 4th in highest SO/9ip ratio (9.74)… INF Tucker Neuhaus (90) leads CL hitters in most strikeouts… RHP Luke Barker is 2nd in the CL in games (23). Barker is also 2nd among relievers in lowest against (.156) and 1st among CL relievers in fewest baserunners/9ip (7.13).
MUDDIES ON THE POND: Carolina is batting a CL low .235 (.667 OPS) with runners on base. The Mudcats are also 9th in the CL when batting with runners in scoring position (.242, .707 OPS) and 8th in the CL when batting with RISP/2-outs (.221, .671 OPS) this season.
OF LATE: Since June 3, the Carolina bullpen has combined to go 4-1-4 with a 2.35 ERA and 56 strikeouts over 57.1 innings pitched. The Carolina starting rotation is 4-8 with a 4.00 ERA over their last 18 games (since June 3) and 87.2 innings pitched (82 strikeouts, 31 walks).
HITS AND Ks: The Carolina offense has totaled 148 more strikeouts than hits (685 SO, 537 H) so far this season. Carolina's difference in strikeouts over hits is currently the 3rd largest in MiLB. Since 1991, only the 2017 and 2007 Mudcats have finished a season with more strikeouts than hits. Carolina totaled 164 more strikeouts than hits in 2017 (1,245 SO [franchise record], 1,081 H) and 70 more strikeouts than hits in 2007 (1,219 SO, 1,149 H).
STINGY MAY: Carolina pitchers combined to pitch to a Carolina League best 2.65 ERA in May (258.1 IP, 105 BB, 255 SO, .225 AVG). They also went 16-13 in May, while the offense totaled 20 home runs, 4.48 runs/game and a .245 average (.702 OPS).
JUNE GLOOM: Carolina is collectively batting a Carolina League worst .193 in June. They also own a -8 run differential and have averaged just 3.47 runs per game since June 1 and since Keston Hiura was promoted to Double-A... Carolina's .193 average in June is the lowest for a full-season MiLB team between 6/1 and 6/22 according to MLBfarm.com.
ON THE LISTS: The Mudcats roster currently features several of the Brewers top 30 prospects as ranked by Baseball America; including RHP Phil Bickford (No. 17), C Mario Feliciano (No. 20) and LHP Nathan Kirby (No. 27)... Mario Feliciano is also currently rated as the No. 14 prospect in the Brewers system by MLBPipeline.com.
THE MUDCATS HAVE…
... Stranded the 3rd most base runners in the CL (510).
... Averaged the 3rd fewest runs per game in the CL (4.00).
... Totaled the 3rd fewest runs (288) in the CL this season.
... Allowed the 2nd fewest runs (274) in the CL this season.
... Totaled the worst K% in the CL this season (25.9%).
... Converted 55% of save opp. (17 SV, 31 SVO); 10th in CL.
... Totaled a CL leading 42 caught steals (.433 - 2nd in CL).
... Averaged the longest 9-inn. game times in the CL; 3:02 (h:mm)
... Not made the playoffs since the 2008 season.
... Not made the playoffs during their Carolina League era.
... Been in Zebulon, NC since 1991 (28th season).
... Been in the Carolina League since 2012 (7th season).
ALUMNI REPORT: Recently promoted catcher Max McDowell went 2-for-3 with two RBI for the Southern League's Biloxi Shuckers in his Double-A debut last night.