Florida Fire Frogs Game Notes: July 4, 2018
July 4, 2018 - Florida State League (FSL1)
Florida Fire Frogs News Release
TODAY'S GAME: Game one of a two-game series against the Charlotte Stone Crabs at Osceola County Stadium...Florida is coming off a two-game sweep against the Jupiter Hammerheads at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium...First of four series (11 games) against the Tampa Bay Rays' affiliate, with five games at Osceola County Stadium...The Atlanta Braves' affiliate finished 3-4 against Charlotte in 2017, including 1-2 at home.
TODAY'S STARTING PITCHER: 20-year-old Kyle Muller makes his 10th start at the High-A level in the opener of the two-game series against the Charlotte Stone Crabs...The southpaw made six starts with the Rome Braves, going 3-0 with a 2.40 ERA across 30 innings of work (8er)...The Dallas native did not factor into the decision of a 4-3 loss to the Dunedin Blue Jays on June 28...The southpaw limited the Blue Jays to two runs on nine hits, a walk and five strikeouts across six frames for his third consecutive quality start...Tuesday will be Muller's first career start against the Stone Crabs.
EARLY OFFNESE, STRONG PITCHING PAVES WAY TO SERIES SWEEP: The bats woke up early and provided plenty of support for Joey Wentz , as the Florida Fire Frogs completed the two-game series sweep over the Jupiter Hammerheads with a 6-1 victory at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium on Tuesday night.
Cristian Pache took the first pitch from Josh Roeder over the wall in left to give the Fire Frogs the quick, 1-0 lead. The one run was more than enough room for Wentz to work with, as the starter held the Hammerheads off the scoreboard through his 5.2 innings of work.
Florida tacked on a run in the second, two in the third, and added one more in the fourth to take a 5-0 advantage. After Jupiter grabbed a run in the seventh, the visitors countered with another run in the eighth.
STARTERS SET THE TONE: A night after Ian Anderson rolled through Jupiter's lineup with six shutout frames, Joey Wentz followed suit by scattering three hits and issuing just one walk, while compiling a season-high, seven strikeouts in the winning effort...The Atlanta Braves' ninth-ranked prospect (MLB.com) came an out shy of recording his second consecutive quality start, finishing the night with 82 pitches (56 strikes)...Through the first 11 games of the second half, Florida's starting pitching has posted an ERA of 2.39 (16er/60.2ip), with the outlier being Jeremy Walker's 6er game on July 1...Factoring out that performance, the ERA drops to 1.63.
SETLLING IN: With 5.2 scoreless innings of work on Tuesday, Joey Wentz extended his streak to 18 innings, setting a new team record...The 20-year-old last allowed a run on June 13 against the Bradenton Marauders at Osceola County Stadium, on the fourth pitch of the game against Jared Oliva, before the lead-off man hit a home run...Since that pitch, Wentz has allowed nine hits, with only two going for extra bases...The native of Leawood, Kan. has also walked just two batters since the start of June, and set down 12 on strikes.
SLUMP BUSTER: Cristian Pache bounced back from an 0-for-4 performance with a strong night at the dish by taking the first pitch from Josh Roeder over the wall in left for the first of a four-hit night for the 19-year-old...The four-hit performance was the second of the season for the Braves' eighth-ranked prospect, matching the June 1 outing against the Clearwater Threshers, in which Pache drove in a season-high, five runs...Tuesday was the third time in 2018 the native of the Dominican Republic finished a triple shy of completing the cycle.
BREAK OUT THE LUMBER: For the first time in the second half, the Fire Frogs' offense put up more than four runs in a contest...The six total runs was more than a quarter of the amount the team had plated through the first 10 games (23)...Florida also came through with runners on base, collecting five hits with runners in scoring position, which was exactly one-third of the total amount they had gathered through the first 10 games.
Florida State League Stories from July 4, 2018
- Green Goes Seven-Strong in 4th of July Victory - Tampa Tarpons
- Haseley Homers in 5-1 Loss - Clearwater Threshers
- Tortugas Blasted on July 4th, 11-1 - Daytona Tortugas
- Mets Stay Hot, Clip Marauders 3-2 - St. Lucie Mets
- Fire Frogs and Stone Crabs Suspended on Wednesday - Florida Fire Frogs
- Miracle and Blue Jays Postponed - Fort Myers Mighty Mussels
- Florida Fire Frogs Game Notes: July 4, 2018 - Florida Fire Frogs
- Tampa Tarpons Game Notes: vs. Clearwater - Tampa Tarpons
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