Florida Fire Frogs Game Notes: July 5, 2018
Published on July 5, 2018 under Florida State League (FSL1)
Florida Fire Frogs News Release
TODAY'S GAMES: Continuation of game one, and the finale 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 Miguel Jerez makes his team debut in the night cap on Thursday night...The native of the Domincan Republic went 2-0 with a 1.29 ERA (2er/14ip) with the GCL Braves in 2018, and holds a career mark of 5-1 with a 1.39 ERA, with 81 strikeouts through 84 innings...The southpaw allowed two run in two innings on three hits, a walk and three strikeouts against the GCL Blue Jays on June 30...Thursday will be Jerez's first career start against the Stone Crabs.
WEDNESDAY'S CONTEST SUSPENDED IN THE FIFTH: The Florida Fire Frogs and Charlotte Stone Crabs were suspended in the bottom of the fifth inning on Wednesday night, with the home team trailing 4-2. The two clubs will continue the contest on Thursday afternoon starting at 4 p.m., and wrap up the series with a seven-inning game 30 minutes after the conclusion of the series opener.
Florida opened the scoring with back-to-back doubles from Cristian Pache and Jared James for the 1-0 lead, but two run frames in the fourth and fifth pushed the visitors out in front.
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.
SETTLING 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 5, 2018
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- Marauders Power Past Mets 9-2 - St. Lucie Mets
- Fire Frogs Split Thursday's Contests with Stone Crabs - Florida Fire Frogs
- Tampa Tarpons Postpone Tonight's Game vs. Clearwater - Tampa Tarpons
- Flying Tigers vs. Hammerheads Game Cancelled Tonight - Lakeland Flying Tigers
- Tampa Tarpons Game Notes: vs. Clearwater - Tampa Tarpons
- First Responders Night & Fireworks on July 20 - Charlotte Stone Crabs
- Christmas in July Headed to Charlotte Sports Park - Charlotte Stone Crabs
- Take Advantage of a $2 Tuesday and Thirsty Thursday - Charlotte Stone Crabs
- Florida Fire Frogs Game Notes: July 5, 2018 - Florida Fire Frogs
- Pitch for Pink Returns on July 20 - Clearwater Threshers
- Blue Jays to Honor Dunedin with Specialty Orange Jerseys - Dunedin Blue Jays
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