UPCOMING PROBABLE STARTING PITCHERS...
SUN, 6/9 vs. SAL, 2:00 PM: Salem RHP Kutter Crawford (3-5, 3.30) at Carolina RHP Nelson Hernandez (6-3, 5.18)
MON, 6/10 at FRE, 7:00 PM: Carolina RHP Matt Smith (1-5, 4.05) at Frederick TBA
TUE, 6/11 at FRE, 7:00 PM: Carolina RHP Noah Zavolas (3-2, 3.47) at Frederick TBA

TODAY: Winners of two straight, the Mudcats conclude a seven game, eight day, home stand today with the finale of a four game series versus the Salem Red Sox at Five County Stadium. Carolina took a 2-1 series lead with last night's 7-3 victory while also taking a 5-2 lead in the overall season series between the two teams. Tonight's game is the finale of four straight versus Salem and the eighth of 15 overall games between the two teams this season. It is also the final game of eight first half meetings between Salem and Carolina... The Mudcats are currently 5-1 in the current home stand; having swept the Frederick Keys in three straight earlier this week.

ICYMI: Dylan File struck out six over seven solid innings, Payton Henry drove in three while going 2-for-3 with a two-run double, Ryan Aguilar went 2-for-3 with three runs and Tristen Lutz had a run scoring double as Carolina won its second straight 7-3 versus Salem on Saturday night at Five County Stadium. File won his second straight game while holding the visiting Red Sox to two runs on six hits over seven complete innings.

ABOUT THE LAST ONE: The Mudcats improved to 6-2 this month with last night's victory. The Carolina offense has combined to hit .283 with a league high 12 home runs and a league best .502 slugging percentage over eight games in June. The Mudcats have also scored a league high 50 runs and have average 6.25 runs per game this month.

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 homered in four straight games between 6/3 and 6/7 while hitting five homers and bringing his league leading homer total to 14 on the season. Feliciano is batting .404/.440/.915 with a 1.355 OPS over his last 12 games (19-for-47, 14 R, 4 2B, 1 3B, 6 HR, 14 RBI, 2 BB, 11 SO). 

MOST HR BY A MUDCAT BEFORE THE ALL-STAR BREAK (SINCE 2005)
YEAR PLAYER HR G
2007 Mitchell, Lee 16 87
2005 Hermida, Jeremey 14 80
2019 Feliciano, Mario 14 56

INVEST IN SILVA: Eddie Silva has raised his average from .203 on 5/22 to .235 entering tonight's game while slashing .321/.415/.536 with a .951 OPS over his last 16 games (18-for-56, 8 R, 6 2B, 2 HR, 10 RBI, 4 BB, 9 SO). The Brewers signed Silva as a non-drafted free agent last year on 6/27/18; Silva attended Florida International University.

OH HENRY!: Rob Henry has hit safely in five straight games and has totaled at least two hits three of those same five. Henry is batting .471/.550/.529 with a 1.079 OPS over his last five games (8-for-17, 5 R, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 4 SB)... Payton Henry has hit safely in six straight games and is batting .476/.500/.857 with a 1.357 OPS during the streak (10-for-21, 7 R, 5 2B, 1 HR, 9 RBI).

SPELLS RELIEF: Matt Hardy is 1-0 with a 0.61 ERA with a 0.75 WHIP and 11.7 K/9 over his last six appearances (14.2 IP, 1 ER, 4 BB, 19 SO)... J.T. Hintzen owns a 2.00 ERA and 11.0 K/9 over his last five appearances (9.0 IP, 2 ER, 5 BB, 11 SO).

ALL THE Ks: Carolina batters have combined to total a Carolina League high 658 (3rd in MiLB) strikeouts this season. The Mudcats are on pace to set a league and franchise record for strikeouts again as they are on pace for 1,499 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.

THE LONG BALL: The Mudcats have totaled 54 home runs (2nd in the CL behind Fayetteville's 55 HR) this season. They've also combined to total 10 homers over their last five games (five of which from Mario Feliciano) and are on pace for 123 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).

WHERE THEY RANK: Mario Feliciano is currently 1st in the CL in home runs (14), 1st in RBI (46), 2nd in slugging (.537), 2nd in OPS (.871), 2nd in extra-base hits (26) and 1st in total bases (115)... Ryan Aguilar is currently 6th in the CL in OBP (.398), tied for 3rd in walks (37) and tied for 2nd in runs (42)... Matt Hardy is tied with Dylan File and Nelson Hernandez for 1st in the CL in wins (6). Hardy is also tied for 1st in games (20) with Rodrigo Benoit and Cody Beckman... Benoit is also tied for 3rd in the CL in saves (9) with Clayton Andrews (9)... Noah Zavolas is currently 8th in the CL in earned run average (3.47), 1st in innings pitched (70.0) and 6th in WHIP (1.24). Zavolas is additionally 8th in the CL in FIP (3.33), 4th in xFIP (3.33) and 2nd in K/BB (5.20) per fangraphs.com... Dylan File is currently 2nd in the CL in strikeouts (63), 4th in WHIP (1.18) and 7th in innings pitched (66.1). His also 1st in the CL in FIP (2.89), tied for 1st in xFIP (3.08), 1st in BB/9 (0.95), and 1st in K/BB (9.00) per Fangraphs.

CAROLINA LEAGUE LEADERS - TWO-OUT RBI
Player Team RBI HR AVG OPS
Henry, P CAR 22 5 .256 .827
Corredor, A POT 22 3 .260 .712
Feliciano, M CAR 19 6 .297 1.015
Gonzalez, O LYN 17 3 .378 .970

BACK STOP SPLITS: Payton Henry and Mario Feliciano have split catching duties this season with Henry totaling 32 games behind the plate and Feliciano catching 29 games. Henry, meanwhile, has caught back-to-back games twice this season on 4/14 & 4/15 and 6/3 & 6/4.... The Carolina pitching staff is 20-12 and has totaled a 3.34 ERA (3.0 BB/9, 8.8 SO/9) in games caught by Henry... Carolina's pitchers are 15-14 with a 4.70 ERA (3.3 BB/9, 8.0 SO/9) in games caught by Feliciano.

PEAKING: At 35-26, the Mudcats are currently nine games above .500 and 8.5 games back of first place 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 affiliated 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 SEASONS
David Bell 176 239 .424 415 2009-11 (3)
Joe Ayrault 173 164 .513 337 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.