Columbia Fireflies Roster Moves and 7.3 Game Notes
July 3, 2023 - Carolina League (CarL)
Columbia Fireflies News Release
The Kansas City Royals have made the following roster moves affecting the Columbia Fireflies active roster:
* RHP Andres Diaz has been placed on the Fireflies active roster
Diaz will wear jersey #18.
The Fireflies active roster now sits at 29.
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The Fireflies close out their series with an Independence Day Celebration game against the Augusta GreenJackets tonight at Segra Park at 6:05 pm. RHP Samuel Valerio (1-3, 4.12 ERA) gets the nod for Columbia and Augusta tosses RHP Adam Shoemaker (0-3, 7.05 ERA).
The Fireflies are opening the gates early with a happy hour beginning at 4:30 at Segra Park! If that weren't enough, we'll have an amazing double fireworks show following the game. Limited tickets remain. Buy now starting at $7 at FirefliesTickets.com.
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FOUR FIREFLIES ERRORS LEAD TO 8-5 LOSS: A Brett Squires homer and two more scoreless innings in relief from Cooper McKeehan weren't enough for the Fireflies as they fell 8-5 to the Augusta GreenJackets Sunday night at Segra Park. McKeehan spun a scoreless seventh and eighth to increase his scoreless innings streak to 14.2. The Fireflies longest scoreless inning streak belongs to Adonis Uceta who went 29.1 innings without allowing an earned run in 2017. Brett Squires rocked his fifth homer of the season to left field in the fifth to bring the Fireflies within a single run, but it couldn't curb the GreenJackets. The Fireflies scored one more run in the ninth when Lizandro Rodriguez reached on a fielding error from left fielder Jair Casanova that allowed Jean Ramirez to score.
TOP THIRD CARRYING: Last night, JEan Ramirez went 3-5, Daniel Vazquez was 2-5 and Austin Charles was 0-3 with a sacrifice fly. The rest of the order went 1-20. It's the third straight night the top third didn't receive support from the bottom 2/3 of the lineup. Friday, the top third of the order was 7-12 and the bottom six went 2-24. Over the stretch the start of the order is 19-36 (.528) while the bottom is 5-66 (.076).
CHARLES CONQUERS: Thursday, Austin Charles had his second three RBI game with the Columbia Fireflies. The infielder has 12 RBI in his first 17 games in Columbia and has nine doubles, including the one he hit Thursday night that led to Columbia's win. His heroics vs the Augusta GreenJackets have been good enough for Charles to win the Carolina League Player of the Week Award. Over the first five games of the series, Charles is 6-16 (.375) with four doubles and seven RBI. The infielder has an insane 1.101 OPS over the run.
WELCOME TO COLUMBIA: The Fireflies received a new pitcher today. Reliever Andres Diaz. Diaz has pitched in four games in the ACL this season, spinning 6.2 frames while allowing only three baserunners and one run (1.35 ERA).
MASTERING MCKEEHAN: Fireflies back-end of the bullpen reliever Cooper McKeehan continues to impress the league. Thursday he spun a scoreless ninth inning to earn his team-leading ninth save of the season to tie himself with Luis Barroso for the fifth-most saves in a single season in Fireflies history. The southpaw also paces the Carolina League with seven wins this year. The BYU product has a 0.93 ERA and is on his longest scoreless stretch of the season. McKeehan has not allowed a run in his last nine appearances (beginning June 4). In that time, he has worked 14.2 innings, allowing six hits and two walks while punching out 11 hitters. The streak is only a few innings behind Johnny Magliozzi for the fifth-longest stretch without allowing an earned run in franchise history. Magliozzi worked 17.1-consecutive scoreless innings from August 3-September 3, 2016.
ZANY ZOBAC: The Fireflies righty is on another strong stretch as he has allowed only one earned run in his last five outings, spanning 20.2 innings. Zobac set a career-high, spinning 5.0 innings Tuesday in a 4-3 win over the Fayetteville Woodpeckers to set the tone for the last road trip of the first half for Columbia. Zobac now has a 1.56 ERA across his first 10 outings and he has punched out 39 hitters in 34.2 innings.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AMERICA: The fun continues at Segra Park this week. The Fireflies host their Independence Day game with a double fireworks show tomorrow at 6:05 pm and Fireworks with the Phil Tuesday evening.
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Carolina League Stories from July 3, 2023
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