Mendez Leads Mudcats to Fourth Straight Win

Down East 1 @ Carolina 2

May 21, 2022 | Venue : Five County Stadium | First pitch : 5:38 PM | Att : 2,810 | T : 2:05 (1:57 delay)

DE: 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 6 2

CAR: 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 x 2 7 0

WP: Pablo Garabitos (1 - 0) LP: Mitch Bratt (0 - 1) SV: Brannon Jordan (1)

ZEBULON – Hendry Mendez went 1-for-3 with a run and a RBI, both Jackson Chourio and Eduardo Garcia had two hits, and Stiven Cruz worked through his second straight scoreless start as the Carolina Mudcats won their fourth straight game 2-1 versus the Down East Wood Ducks on Saturday night at Five County Stadium. The victory clinched a series win for Carolina, giving the Mudcats three straight series wins against the Wood Ducks this season.

The Mudcats (21-17) scored once in the second and once in the third while taking an early 2-0 lead on Mitch Bratt and the Wood Ducks (15-23). The lone Down East run came in the eighth when Marcus Smith connected on a solo home run off reliever Brannon Jordan.

Jordan (S, 1) followed the one run eighth with a clean ninth while earning his first career save. He was also Carolina’s fifth pitcher of the night and ended up with the save after working the final two innings with three strikeouts. Trevor Tietz tossed a scoreless seventh, Jakob Brustoski pitched a scoreless sixth and Pablo Garabitos worked a scoreless fifth. Garabitos (1-0) struck out one and worked around a hit while earning the victory.

Cruz started and worked through four scoreless with two walks and three strikeouts while reaching 65 pitches (40 strikes) in his second start of the season. His fourth and final inning was played through heavy rain, but saw Cruz pitch around a hit with two strikeouts.

The game entered a near :90 minute delay in the middle of the fourth after starting :38 minutes late due to rain. In all, Saturday’s game saw one hour and :57 minutes of delay time overall.

Mendez went 1-for-3 with a run in the second and a RBI single in the third while accounting for both of Carolina’s runs. Chourio, meanwhile, accounted for Carolina’s second and final run after reaching on a single and scoring on Mendez’s run-scoring hit.

HOME RUNS:

Down East: Smith, M (3, 8th inning off Jordan, 0 on, 2 out).

TOP PERFORMERS - BATTERS:

Mendez, RF (Carolina): 1-for-3, 1 R, 1 RBI

Chourio, CF (Carolina): 2-for-3, 1 R, 1 2B

Garcia, E, SS (Carolina): 2-for-4

Smith, M, DH (Down East): 1-for-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI

Osuna, A, CF (Down East): 2-for-4

Mateo, LF (Down East): 1-for-3

TOP PERFORMERS - PITCHERS:

Cruz (Carolina): 4 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 3 SO

Garabitos (W, 1-0) (Carolina): 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO

Brustoski (H, 2) (Carolina): 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO

Tietz (H, 1) (Carolina): 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO

Jordan (S, 1) (Carolina): 2 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 SO

Mendoza, D (Down East): 3 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 SO

MacLean (Down East): 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 SO

SCORING:

Mudcats 2nd (Mudcats 1, Wood Ducks 0) -- Hendry Mendez walks. Jeferson Quero walks, Hendry Mendez to 2nd. Hedbert Perez flies out to Alejandro Osuna, Hendry Mendez to 3rd. Jesus Chirinos strikes out swinging, Hendry Mendez scores; Jeferson Quero steals 2nd base, Hendry Mendez scores; throwing error by Efrenyer Narvaez. Jheremy Vargas strikes out swinging.

(1 Runs, 0 Hits, 1 Errors, 1 LOB)

Mudcats 3rd (Mudcats 2, Wood Ducks 0) -- Luis Silva strikes out swinging. Arbert Cipion grounds out to Tucker Mitchell. Jackson Chourio singles to shallow left field. Eduardo Garcia singles to right field, Jackson Chourio to 2nd. Hendry Mendez singles to left-center field, Jackson Chourio scores; Eduardo Garcia to 3rd; Hendry Mendez advances to 2nd on throwing error by Daniel Mateo. Jeferson Quero walks. Hedbert Perez grounds out, Jose Acosta to Tucker Mitchell.

(1 Runs, 3 Hits, 1 Errors, 3 LOB)

Wood Ducks 8th (Mudcats 2, Wood Ducks 1) -- Pitcher Change: Brannon Jordan replaces Trevor Tietz. Alejandro Osuna lines out to Luis Silva. Cameron Cauley flies out to Hendry Mendez. Marcus Smith hits a home run to right field on a 1-0 pitch. Jose Rodriguez strikes out swinging.

(1 Runs, 1 Hits, 0 Errors, 0 LOB)