Todays lineup
Josh Hart CF
Jeff Kemp 2B
Chance Sisco C
Tucker Nathans LF
Austin Wynns
Adrian Marin SS
Wynston Sawyer 1B
Anthony Caronia 3B
Gregory Lorenzo RF
5/19 Game Notes
MILLS GEM ELIMINATES KEYS FROM PLAYOFF RACE: Wynston Sawyer came up just short of a game-tying home run in the bottom of the ninth, while Alec Mills turned in 8.1 innings of shutout baseball to give the Wilmington Blue Rocks a 2-0 win over Frederick Keys on Thursday night at Nymeo Field. The loss knocks the Keys out of playoff contention and trims the Blue Crew’s magic number to one. Mills allowed only three hits over a career-high 8.1 innings, extending his scoreless inning streak to 16.1 frames. Mills got a quick lift from his offense after Frederick starter Mikey O’Brien retired the first two batters he faced. Mauricio Ramos kept the inning alive with an infield single, to send up Cody Stubbs. An at-bat that lasted 10 pitches, Wilmington’s cleanup man capped it off with a two-run homer to right-center. Frederick’s two best opportunities came in the fourth and fifth, as the orange and black advanced runners to third in both innings, but Mills stranded both men. In the ninth, Mills retired Jeff Kemp, prompting Blue Rocks manager Brian Buchanan to go to his bullpen. Luis Rico retired Chance Sisco for the second out, but walked Tucker Nathans to send up Sawyer. Swinging first pitch, Sawyer hit a ball well to the warning track in left, but it came up several feet short to end the game.
A TOUGH FINISH: The Keys suffered their fourth straight loss on Thursday, eliminating the team from CL North playoff contention. Since ending April a season-best five games over .500 (13-8) the Keys have gone 18-28 since. Frederick’s 31-36 record marks the most number of games the Keys have been below sea-level this year. In spite of Alec Mills’ performance, Wilmington was not able to clinch the division on Thursday, as Lynchburg was rained out in Myrtle Beach. Given that the scheduled doubleheader has been set for Saturday rather than Friday, Wilmington can wrap up the first-half title with a win or a Hillcats loss on Friday.
BLANKED: Thursday marked the fourth time this season that Frederick had been shutout and the first time it had occurred since May 1 at Carolina. On the season, the Keys shutout record is 3-4, a mark that is fourth in the Carolina League. Meanwhile the four shutout defeats are tied for the second-fewest in the Carolina League. This season, the orange and black have been blanked at home on only two occasions with the other instance taking place on opening night (13-0 loss to Winston-Salem).
THE BATS GO QUIET: In the series opener the Keys were limited to three hits, the third-fewest number of hits the Keys have recorded in a game this year. Previously, Frederick had been two-hit on April 22 at Lynchburg and on April 9 against Winston-Salem at Nymeo Field. Most of Frederick’s frustrations came against Alec Mills who tossed 8.1 shutout innings, the longest start by an opponent against the Keys this year. Entering Thursday Mills had gone 0-1 against the Keys with a 6.52 ERA over two starts. Friday also ended a string of six games for the Keys with nine hits or more. Frederick finished 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position. The team is 2-for-19 with men at second and third over the last two days.
VICTIMIZED BY THE BIG INNING: Over the last three weeks, the Keys have been victimized by the big inning. In the last 19 games, an opponent has batted around nine times. During those bat-arounds, an opponent has posted four six-run innings, three five-run innings and two four-run innings. For the season, the Keys staff ERA is 4.88, 45 points higher than the next-closest team, while in the month of June, the team has a 5.01 staff ERA.
ALL GOOD THINGS MUST COME TO AN END: Johnny Ruettiger saw his six-game hitting streak come to a close on Thursday, going 0-for-3 with two strikeouts. It was tied for his second-longest stretch of the season (his season-high is seven games from May 5-11). During the streak, Ruettiger hit .480 (12-for-25) with three doubles, two RBIs and five runs scored. That included four multi-hit games, while Ruettiger has seen his average climb from .243 to .277. Coming off a terrific May at the plate where he hit .309 in 24 games, the former Arizona State Sun Devil is still batting .350 over 12 June contests.
CHEN TO MAKE SATURDAY START: Orioles left-hander Wei-Yen Chen was optioned to Frederick on Tuesday and is scheduled to start for the Keys on Saturday night against Wilmington. One of the top pitchers in the American League this season, Chen is 3-4 with a 2.89 ERA in 13 starts. His most recent outing came on Monday night against the Phillies. Earning the win, the Taiwan native tossed eight shutout innings of four-hit baseball and struck out nine.
MOVING ON UP: Just before Tuesday’s game, Drew Dosch was promoted to the Double-A Bowie Baysox. It marked the first time that the Ohio native had received a Double-A promotion, while he became the seventh member of the team to receive a call-up. Recently named a Carolina League All-Star, Dosch hit .275 over 55 games with the Keys to go with two home runs, 34 RBIs, three triples and eight doubles. At the time of the promotion Dosch was tied for fifth in the league in RBIs. Besides receiving an all-star nod, the third baseman was also named the Orioles Minor League “Player of the Month” for April. Taking Dosch’s place is the Orioles Minor League “Pitcher of the Month” for May, Donnie Hart. In 19 games with Delmarva, the Texan went 1-1 with a 2.12 ERA with 10 saves, tied for second-most in the league.
HEY NOW YOU’RE AN ALL-STAR: Last Thursday, four members of the Keys were named to the Carolina League All-Star team. Drew Dosch and Jeff Kemp were selected as reserve infielders, Tucker Nathans got the nod as a reserve outfielder and starting pitcher Mitch Horacek was named to the nine-man pitching staff. It marks the second time Dosch has been named to an all-star team, while Kemp, Nathans and Horacek make their first all-star appearances. The four all-star selections are the most the Keys have had since 2009, when Brian Matusz, Zach Britton, Caleb Joseph, Pedro Florimon, Brandon Waring and Luis Lebron were all selected. Additionally the four all-star selections are tied for the most in the Carolina League (Wilmington and Winston-Salem also have four representatives). This year’s group will take on the California League all-stars on Tuesday, June 23 in Rancho Cucamonga, Ca.
TODAY’S STARTING PITCHER: Right-hander Yender Caramo makes his 14th appearance of the season and his ninth start on Friday. He is currently 10th in the Carolina League in ERA (3.49) and is one of four Wilmington pitchers in the CL’s top 10 in that category. Loser of back-to-back starts (and three of his last four) Caramo last pitched on Sunday Salem. Tossing four innings, the righty allowed two runs on six hits. He walked one, struck out one and threw two wild pitches (he had only one through his first 12 games). Caramo has split the season between starting and relieving, working mostly in a piggyback role with Luis Rico. As a starter he is 2-4 with a 3.43 ERA and 1-1 with a 3.68 ERA as a relief pitcher. In two games against the Keys this year, Caramo is 0-0 with a 2.79 ERA (9.2 IP/4R/3ER/12H). In his fifth professional season and second with the Blue Rocks, Caramo went 3-4 with a 3.42 ERA in 2014 logging 52.2 innings. A pitcher who relies on outstanding command, Caramo has a career BB/9IP ratio of 1.0, while in 2014 he had the lowest BB/9IP ratio (1.01) of any CL reliever. Originally from San Felix, Bolivar, Venezuela, Caramo notes that Josh Beckett was a big influence on him. He throws a fastball, curveball and changeup.
The full game notes packet is attached.
The Mudcats continue their final road trip of the first half tonight in Potomac with game two of a four game series against the Nationals. Carolina took the series opener last night 5-3 and has won four straight games. LHP Yean Carlos Gil gets the game two start tonight for the Mudcats. He is currently 1-8 with a 6.47 ERA over 12 starts this season. Gil allowed just two runs on five hits over five and 2/3 innings his last time out on 6/14 at Five County Stadium against the visiting Dash. Gil has faced the Nationals twice this season and is 0-1 with a 28.93 ERA against them. The P-Nats scored 10 runs and collected 10 hits against Gil the first time they faced him in Potomac on 5/21. They also scored seven runs (five earned) with six hits over one and 2/3 innings against him on 6/9 in Zebulon. Gil’s start on 6/9 was the shortest of his career.
Tonight’s game begins at 7:05 p.m. at G. Richard Pfitzner Stadium and will air on the Mudcats Radio Network with the pre game show beginning at 6:50 p.m.
All games air on the Mudcats Radio Network, The Big Dawg 98.5 FM, Rock City 99.3 FM and Sports 1490 AM. Games are also streamed online at http://www.carolinamudcats.com via TuneIn Radio and the TuneIn Radio app. TuneIn Radio is the official digital audio partner of MiLB.com. Home games are streamed live in high definition video and game audio via MiLB.tv.
]]>#1 Eddy Alvarez SS
#9 Hunter Jones CF
#37 Nick Delmonico 3B
#21 Louie Lechnich RF
#23 Alexander Simon 1B
#14 Nick Basto LF
#10 Mason Robbins DH
#11 Ryan Leonards 2B
#28 Ryan Plourde C
#17 Yency Almonte RHP (5-3, 4.50 ERA, 11th start)
Greensboro Grasshoppers (29-38)
#7 Mason Davis CF
#43 Brian Schales 3B
#54 Arturo Rodriguez C
#32 K.J. Woods 1B
#18 Austen Smith LF
#1 Justin Twine SS
#17 Roy Morales DH
#2 Rony Cabrera 2B
#24 Zach Sullivan CF
#20 Drew Steckenrider RHP (1-3, 2.97 ERA, sixth start)
Umpires:
Home Plate – Reid Joyner
Bases – Ryan Barneycastle
Pregame show rolls live five minutes early at 6:45 p.m. featuring my Friday chat with Intimidators manager Tommy Thompson, who’s got a buddy from the nearby Winston-Salem Dash in town to serve as the team’s Bench Coach for today’s game. Links are below for your listening pleasure:
PC/Droid: http://bit.ly/16WINds
iOS: http://bit.ly/ZqLOx9
TuneIn: http://bit.ly/1rouCcl
-JF
@BigTexJosh
7:00 PM, BB&T Ballpark, Winston-Salem, N.C.
SERIES AT A GLANCE –Second of a four-game series, Salem leads series 1-0, Salem leads season series 8-5
LAST NIGHT – Salem 8, Winston-Salem 2 | WP: Ty Buttrey (5-0), LP: Jordan Guerrero (0-1) |Recap| Infographic | Box Score
STARTING PITCHERS – LHP Trey Ball (5-5, 3.73) vs. RHP Robinson Leyer (2-5, 4.91)
RADIO – 1240 ESPN AM Roanoke | salemsox.com | TuneIn Radio App
SOCIAL MEDIA – Twitter | Facebook | Instagram
GAME NOTES:
SERIES AT A GLANCE: The Red Sox wrap up the first half ot the 2015 season with five games in four days against the Winston-Salem Dash. Salem enters the set three games back of Myrtle Beach, putting the Red Sox elimination number at 2. The Sox and Dash have already played 13 times against one another this season with Salem holding an 8-5 lead in the season series, including a 3-3 mark at BB&T Ballpark.
LAST TIME OUT: The Red Sox put up eight runs on nine hits and never trailed in a 8-2 thumping of the Winston-Salem Dash on Thursday night at BB&T Ballpark. Ty Buttrey went seven innings with four strikeouts while allowing only one run on four hits. Deiner Lopez was 2-for-4 with two runs and an RBI, Tzu-Wei Lin drove in a pair while going 2-for-5 and Manuel Margot scored twice and tallied an RBI with a 2-for-4 effort. Salem never trailed and won for the sixth time in its last seven games.
SO YOU’RE SAYING THERE’S A CHANCE: Salem enters this evening’s contest 2.5 games behind the first place Myrtle Beach Pelicans. With four games left in the half, the Red Sox elimination number sits at 2. Salem has made up 4.5 games since June 2, when they trailed by 7.0 games. Yesterday’s win, combined with Myrtle Beach’s rainout moved the Sox to within 2.5 games of first place for the first time since a win in game two of a doubleheader against Carolina on May 9, when they were 2.0 games back. The Red Sox are looking to make history as the Salem franchise has gone since 1988, a span of 27 years, without winning a first half division title.
BALL…DEALING: Trey Ball limited Wilmington to just four hits over four-plus shutout innings in Salem’s 7-0 win on Sunday. It was the fourth time in his last five outings that Ball did not allow a run and he now owns a streak of 15.2 consecutive scoreless innings, the longest for a Salem pitcher this year. Tuesday’s effort lowered his ERA to 3.73 with that mark dropping considerably since Ball was skipped in the rotation from May 9-May 19. In six starts since being skipped, he has surrendered only five earned runs over 31 innings for an ERA of 1.46.
ROAMING THE BASES: Jake Romanski has reached base in 18 consecutive games for the Red Sox, setting a new team season-high. During his current stretch, which dates back to May 22, Romanski is hitting .290 (18-62, 2B, 8 R, 8 RBI, 10 BB, 9 K) while posting a .413 OBP. Since the streak started, Salem’s backstop has had just seven off days in 25 total games. After a solid start to the season in which he hit .341 in April, Romanski struggled to a .210 clip in May. In June, though, he has gotten back into the swing of things with a .278 (10-36) average in 11 games. The 18-game on-base streak is the longest active stretch in the league and four shy of tying the overall league lead.
SHUT IT DOWN: Wednesday’s 7-0 victory over Wilmington served as the 10th shutout win for the Red Sox in 2015. Salem’s 10 shutouts are the most in the league and they have been shut out the fewest times, only once on May 22, a 4-0 loss at home to the Dash. It was the fourth shutout in the last 11 games for the Sox, three of which came in a five-game stretch against Wilmington. Salem’s staff ERA over the last 11 contests sits at 2.37 (25 ER/95 IP) with 14 of the earned runs coming in two games against Lynchburg. The Sox have not allowed more than four runs in a game since June 11 in a 10-4 loss to Lynchburg. In addition, Salem has the second-best ERA in the league in June at 3.24.
WHICH SERIES IS THIS?: The stretch of five games in four days between the Red Sox and Dash will include the continuation of a suspended game from the previous trip to BB&T Ballpark. The series finale on June 2 was suspended in the bottom of the second inning with two outs and Salem trailing 3-0. The 52nd game of the year will be resumed at 4:30 on Saturday, followed by the third game of the current series and 69th game of the season in an unorthodox twinbill. The delay will have lasted 17 days, 20 hours and 26 minutes when the game resumes. The back end of the doubleheader will be a seven-inning game.
LINEUP: