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Today's Preview: The Intimidators (A, White Sox) look to match their longest winning streak of the season as they play for a fourth straight win when taking on the Rome Braves (A, Atlanta Braves) on Sunday afternoon at State Mutual Stadium. Kannapolis, which won four straight April 17-20, is coming
Today's Preview: The Intimidators (A, White Sox) look to match their longest winning streak of the season as they play for a fourth straight win when taking on the Rome Braves (A, Atlanta Braves) on Sunday afternoon at State Mutual Stadium. Kannapolis, which won four straight April 17-20, is coming off an offensive eruption in a 11-2 win over the Braves to open a 4-game series. The Intimidators is now within 2.0 games of first place in the SAL Northern Division standings, still in fourth place.
Intimidating Starter: Jimmy Lambert, 22, makes his seventh start of this season and his second career start at Rome. Lambert is coming off a home loss on May 8 to Asheville, allowing six runs (three earned) on eight hits over 6.0 innings. The loss snapped Lambert's streak of four straight wins from April 15 to May 3. In two road starts this season, Lambert is 2-0 with a 1.38 ERA (2 ER/13.0 IP) and eight strikeouts. In his lone career start against a Braves affiliate, he took a loss on Aug. 24, 2016, allowing five runs on six hits in 2.0 innings. Lambert ranks second in the SAL with 40.0 innings pitched this season. This season, Lambert spun a career-best 8.0 scoreless innings in a win vs. Hickory on April 20. He finished last season with Kannapolis, going 0-5 with a 5.76 ERA (19 ER/29.2 IP) in 11 games (11 starts) on a tight inning limit after being selected in the fifth round (146th overall) in the 2016 draft. In his final season at Fresno State in 2016, Lambert went 10-2 with a 3.13 ERA (34 ER/97.2 IP) and 78 strikeouts in 15 games (15 starts) in 2016 to help the Bulldogs secure their first Mountain West Conference regular season championship. Fresno State went 36-22 in 2016, amassing its highest win total since 2011, and Lambert earned Mountain West Co-Pitcher of the Year honors.
Brave on the Bump: Joey Wentz, 21, makes his seventh start of the season and second against Kannapolis. He is coming off consecutive road losses at Hagerstown and Greensboro. In two home starts, Wentz has posted a 0.82 ERA (1 ER/11.0 IP) and 12 strikeouts in two starts compared to going 1-3 with a 6.00 ERA (12 ER/18 IP) in four road starts. His best start of the season came in his last home outing April 27 with six scoreless innings, striking out seven while allowing three hits and two walks against West Virginia. Atlanta selected him in the first round (40th overall) of the June 2016 First-Year Player Draft out of Shawnee Mission East in Shawnee Mission, KS. The former Lancer went 1-4 with a 5.06 ERA in eight games (eight starts) with Advanced Rookie Danville in the Appalachian League in 2016 after four appearances with the GCL Braves.
About Last Night: One night after the Intimidators' game was cancelled due to a power outage in Augusta, the offense was lights out in an 11-2 win at Rome on Saturday. All nine batters hit safely for Kannapolis (18-15), which collected 17 hits on the night. Seby Zavala paced the offense, going 4-for-5 at the plate for his second career 4-hit game. The Kannapolis catcher also collected four hits for the Intimidators on May 19, 2016, at Asheville. Tyler Sullivan and Brandon Dulin added three hits, and Mitch Roman drove in three. Starting pitcher Bernardo Flores (5-2) struck out six while limiting the Braves to four hits and a walk to earn the win. Kannapolis took advantage of Rome (19-16) errors throughout the game to batter the Braves as five of the Intimidators first eight runs were unearned.
Flores Flourishes: Bernardo Flores improved to 4-0 on the road, lowering his ERA away from Kannapolis to 1.40 (4 ER/25.2 IP) in four road outings. He struck out six, matching his season-high, while working his first scoreless outing of the season.
Rev the Engines: Kannapolis scored 11 runs on Saturday, the second-most by the team this season, just shy of the mark set in a 12-5 win over Augusta on May 2. The team's 17 hits are the second-most by the Intimidators in 2017, behind only the 19-game performance on April 22 in a 10-9 win (12) vs. Hickory. Kannapolis' 9-run margin-of-victory matches the largest for the team in 2017, equaling a 10-1 win April 28 at Lakewood. The 5-run sixth inning also equals the highest-scoring inning for the Intimidators in 2017 as Kannapolis has now had four 5-run innings in 2017, with the most recent coming on May 8 in the third inning against Asheville.
Adolfo's Streak Still Stands:Micker Adolfo doubled in the sixth inning to drive in two runs while running his career-best hitting streak to 14 games. The outfielder has the second-longest active and second-longest overall hitting streak in the SAL this season, trailing Hagerstown's Nick Banks, who has hit safely in 17 straight games since April 26. Adolfo is batting .362 (21-58) with seven doubles, a triple, a home run, and 12 RBI in 14 games since April 27. The 14-game hitting streak is the longest since Cody Daily hit safely in 14 straight (August 12-26, 2016) as part of a 25-game on-base streak August 7-Sept. 3, 2016. If Adolfo collects a hit in his next game, he will be the first Intimidators player with a 15-game hit streak since Michael Suiter hit safely in 23 straight games July 19-August 14, 2015.
When In Rome: Kannapolis earned its first win at State Mutual Stadium since April 26, 2014, as the team took three of four games in a series April 24-27, 2014. The Intimidators, who did not play in Rome in 2015, were swept in a 3-game series Aug. 23-25, 2016, in their lone visit to Rome last season.
Lucky Number 7: The Intimidators improved to 7-0 in 2017 when scoring at least seven runs. Kannapolis is also 3-0 on the road when plating at least seven runs. The I's are 9-1 when scoring at least six runs this season.
League Leaders: Three Kannapolis hitters rank in the top 15 in batting average at Joel Booker (.319) is 10th, Mitch Roman (.315) is 12th, and Micker Adolfo (.307) ranks 15th. Zach Remillard ranks tied for sixth with 33 games played, leading the Intimidators. Antonio Rodriguez still ranks tied for second in the SAL in triples (3). Pitchers Jimmy Lambert (40.0 IP) and Bernardo Flores (39.2 IP) rank second and third, respectively, in innings pitched. Flores is tied for second in wins (5) while Mike Morrison is tied for third in saves (6).
Broadcast Information: All games will be broadcast live on the Kannapolis Intimidators Baseball Network online at IntimidatorsBaseball.com and via the TuneIn Radio App with Josh Feldman, now in his seventh season as the "Voice of the Intimidators." Phil Constantino will handle play-by-play during weekend home games.
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White Sox Purchase Contract of Legends LHP Kaleb Sophy
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