Columbia Fireflies Game Notes July 17 at Down East
July 17, 2022 - Carolina League (CarL)
Columbia Fireflies News Release
The Fireflies close out their series with the Down East Wood Ducks today at Grainger Stadium at 1 pm. RHP Ben Hernandez (0-4, 4.27 ERA) toes the rubber for Columbia and RHP Winston Santos (4-3, 3.78 ERA) counters for Down East.
Columbia heads home July 22-24 after the All-Star Break for a weekend series. The Fireflies will have a t-shirt giveaway, a fireworks show and will host Night Under the Big Top, bringing the circus lifestyle to Segra Park. Saturday's game caps off with the Fireflies shooting a man out of a cannon on the field prior to a Fireworks show! For tickets, visit FirefliesTickets.com.
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FIREFLIES DROP THIRD STRAIGHT TO DOWN EAST: The Columbia Fireflies got on the board in the top of the first, but were unable to generate much more offense, as they fell 5-2 to the Down East Wood Ducks Saturday night at Grainger Stadium. Down East swung the tide of the game in the fourth inning. Yosy Galan put Down East in front with a two-run homer, plating Cameron Cauley to make the score 2-1. The next inning, Alejandro Osuna singled to score Cauley a second time before Galan struck again with a base knock of his own to put the Wood Ducks in front 4-1. The Wood Ducks added one additional run in the bottom of the seventh on Cauley's second homer of the season. Columbia broke the scoreless tie in the top of the first inning. Jean Ramirez led the contest off with a triple and he came around on an Omar Hernandez grounder. The Fireflies second run took until the eighth to score. On River Town's third hit of the game, he slugged his team-leading 12th homer of the season to right field. Frank Mozzicato (L, 0-4) spun 4.2 innings, tossing a career-most 89 pitches while setting aside six batters via the strikeout. After that, the bullpen cruised through the next 3.1 innings, allowing just one run.
MAKING MY WAY DOWN TOWN: Fireflies outfielder River Town is on a roll. When he singled in the first inning of Saturday's game, Town reached base safely in his 30th-consecutive game, which is the longest active streak in Class-A baseball. He owns the fifth-longest active streak in Minor League Baseball. Colson Montgomery has reached safely in 49 games dating back to April 24 and owns the longest streak. The longest on-base streak in A-ball this season belonged to Denzel Clarke of the Stockton Ports. The outfielder reached safely in 37 games from April 14-June 11. Town now owns the Fireflies franchise record on-base streak. He passed Jeremy Vasquez who had a 28-game mark in 2018.
VICTORY VALDEZ: Third baseman Enrique Valdez is hitting his own hot streak for the Columbia Fireflies. The second-year player has hits in seven of his last eight games and has reached safely in all eight of those contests. During the run, which began July 8, he has brought his batting average up six points, and now leads the team at a .261 clip. It's all been a part of a scorching hot July for Valdez, who is slashing .304/.354/.419 in 12 games across the period. He has added six extra-base hits out of his 14 total hits in the month and has driven in eight RBI.
HEADING TO THE BREAK: This year, Major League Baseball has synced their All-Star break with each Minor Leagues' breaks. As a result, Fireflies fans will be able to watch former Fireflies shortstop Andres Gimenez play in the All-Star game. Gimenez is the first former Fireflies player to earn the honor. In 78 games this season, the 23-year-old is hitting .299 with a career-high 10 homers in his third year in the big league circuit. Gimenez was traded from the Mets to the Guardians for Francisco Lindor and Carlos Carrasco in 2021. Coming up, the Venezuelan was a top-100 prospect and finished seventh in NL Rookie of the Year voting in the 2020 campaign.
AMAZING AVILA: Righty Luinder Avila is the only qualifying pitcher for the Columbia Fireflies this season. Last week, after working six innings without allowing an earned run and punching out nine GreenJackets hitters, he earned Carolina League Pitcher of the Week honors. In Avila's last four starts, dating back to June 25, he has tallied 23 innings while only allowing three earned runs (1.17 ERA). During the run, he has punched out 23 hitters while walking only a pair.
Carolina League Stories from July 17, 2022
- Pelicans Throw Second Combined No-Hitter of the Season in 5-0 Win against Fayetteville - Myrtle Beach Pelicans
- Augusta Shut Out in Final Game Before All-Star Break - Augusta GreenJackets
- The Lynchburg Hillcats Split the Series With the Charleston Riverdogs After Dropping the Final Game of the Series, 7-4 - Lynchburg Hillcats
- RiverDogs Head into Break with 7-4 Win - Charleston RiverDogs
- Aldonis Dazzles in Debut, Frednats Shut Out Greenjackets in Series Finale - Fredericksburg Nationals
- Chirinos and Perez Homer in 10-4 Finale Loss to Delmarva - Carolina Mudcats
- 'Birds Head into All-Star Break After Earning Series Split against Mudcats - Delmarva Shorebirds
- Fireflies Hit All-Star Break on High Note - Columbia Fireflies
- Garcia Becomes First Fireflies Royal - Columbia Fireflies
- Columbia Fireflies Game Notes July 17 at Down East - Columbia Fireflies
- Avocados Clinch Series - Down East Wood Ducks
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