SAL1 Kannapolis Cannon Ballers

Game Notes: Kannapolis Intimidators (White Sox) vs. Lexington Legends (Royals) - August 13, 2014

Published on August 13, 2014 under South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Kannapolis Cannon Ballers News Release


KANNAPOLIS INTIMIDATORS vs LEXINGTON LEGENDS

55-64, 26-26 (Chicago White Sox) 48-74, 19-33 (Kansas City Royals)

Wednesday, August 13, 2014 - 12:05 p.m.

CMC-Northeast Stadium - Kannapolis, NC.

2nd Half Game #53 (120 of 137)

LH Chris Freudenberg (1-0, 4.50) vs. RH Matt Alvarez (5-5, 4.88)

Today's Preview: The Intimidators (A, White Sox) are looking to complete a 3-game sweep in the finale against the Legends (A, Royals) at 12:05 p.m. Left-hander Chris Freudenberg will toe the rubber for the Intimidators in his third start since a promotion from Advanced Rookie Great Falls. The Legends are countering with Matt Alvarez, who moved into Lexington's rotation in mid-July after opening the season as a reliever. On the heels of Tuesday's 5-1 win following a 10-0 shutout victory on Monday, the Intimidators are playing for their first sweep since series June 27-30 when Kannapolis took four straight home games against Charleston.

Intimidating Starter: Chris Freudenberg, 21, makes his third start with the Intimidators and 12th start of the season. Freudenberg is coming off a rough start, going 4.0 innings and allowing four runs with three strikeouts in a no decision on Aug. 8 in Hagerstown. He was promoted from Advanced Rookie Great Falls to Kannapolis on Aug. 1 after going 3-3 with a 3.17 ERA (17 ER/48.1 IP) in nine games (nine starts) for Great Falls. Overall this season, he is 4-3 with a 3.39 ERA (22 ER/ 58.1 IP) in 11 games (11 starts). He is in his second season with the White Sox after being selected in the eighth round of the June 2013 draft out of South Mountain Community College in Phoenix. Last season with Advanced Rookie Bristol, the lefty went 1-3 with a 5.40 ERA in nine games (six starts) in the Appalachian League. He graduated from Saguaro High School in Scottsdale, Ariz., in 2011.

Legendary Starter: Matt Alvarez, 23, makes his fifth start 27th appearance with the Legends after opening the season in the bullpen. The right-hander is coming off a relief appearance in his most recent outing, working 4.0 innings and allowing two runs with a strikeout against Greenville on Aug. 8. The Boston College product earned a win in his last start, striking out a career-high eight over 5.0 shutout innings while walking two in an Aug. 3 victory against West Virginia. Alvarez has been much better away from Lexington, going 4-2 with two saves and a 2.79 ERA in 12 appearances (2 starts) on the road compared 1-3 with a 6.90 ERA in 14 appearances (2 starts) at home. Alvarez spent all of 2013 in Idaho Falls going 0-0 with a 6.75 ERA (4 ER/5.1 IP) in six games. The Royals signed him out of Boston College in 2013. He graduated from Princeton (N.J.) High School in 2010.

About Last Night: Kannapolis used a wild pitch offense to score three runs in a 4-run eighth to pull away for a 5-1 win over the Legends on Tuesday. After six scoreless innings, Lexington struck first on a Chad Johnson base hit to cash Mauricio Ramos for a 1-0 lead. Eddy Alvarez, the newest Intimidator and an Olympian at the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, tied the game with his first Class A hit, driving in Toby Thomas. One frame later, Jeremy Dowdy's RBI-triple highlighted the big inning that also featured three Kevin Perez wild pitches with a man on third base. Jose Brito (3-1) worked around two no-out walks in the ninth inning to secure a win in 2.0 innings of work, and Robinson Leyer spun 7.0 strong frames, opening with six scoreless innings, while striking out seven.

Silver in Sochi; Gold in the Sally: Eddy Alvarez, who won a silver medal at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi in the 5,000-meter short-track speed-skating relay, made his Class A debut on Tuesday, going 1-3 with the game-tying RBI, a walk, and a stolen base. The White Sox signed Alvarez in June, and he opened the season with the AZL White Sox, batting .291 with two home runs and 12 RBI in 27 games before joining Kannapolis on Monday.

Leyer Looms Large: Robinson Leyer opened with six scoreless innings against the Legends on Tuesday and spun 7.0 innings while allowing just one run for his team-leading 11th quality start of the season. Leyer dropped his ERA to 3.31 (47 ER/127.2 IP), ninth-best in the South Atlantic League. His workload of 127.2 innings is the third-highest in the SAL - the only pitcher in league's top five that doesn't pitch for the Asheville Tourists - and his 23 games started ranks tied for third on the circuit.

A Baron and Back: Catcher Jeremy Dowdy made a strong return to Kannapolis after spending a week with the Double-A Birmingham Barons. He paced Kannapolis offensively, going 2-4 with an RBI-triple and a run scored while also throwing out the lone base-runner that tried to steal against him. Dowdy's triple (2) during the 4-run eighth inning was the third of his career. After batting a healthy .295 (33-112) in the first half of the season, the former App State Mountaineer has hammered the ball in the Sally League, batting .310 (18-58) in 15 games in the second half. Overall, Dowdy is batting .300 (51-170) with nine doubles, two triples, a home run, and 20 RBI.

Jose Hangs On: Kannapolis reliever Jose Brito overcame two walks to open the ninth inning to slam the door on the Legends in Tuesday's 5-1 victory and earning a win for himself. With two on and no outs, Brito (3-1) got a fly out before inducing a game-ending double-play, leaving Lexington's tying run no closer than on-deck. It's the second straight scoreless outing for Brito, who tossed a season-high 3.2 innings Thursday in Hagerstown, his longest outing since a 5-inning start in his final game of the 2013 season with Advanced Rookie Great Falls.

Wheeler Dealing Zeros: In his last three appearances (two starts), Wheeler has thrown 12.0 scoreless innings. He has given up three hits and walked five while striking out 11 since July 31. In that span, Wheeler is tied for the fourth best WHIP in the SAL (0.67) while holding opposing hitters to a league-best .075 average (3-45).

Walk This Way: Danny Hayes drew his league-leading 61st walk on Tuesday, and teammate Jacob Morris drew a pair of free passes to give him 52, the fourth-most in the South Atlantic League in 2014. Hayes ranks fifth in the league with a .386 on-base percentage. When they're not walking, the duo is collecting doubles. Morris ranks third in the SAL with 34 doubles while Hayes is tied for fifth on the circuit with 29.

Game Broadcasts: This season all 70 home games and select road games will be broadcast on the Kannapolis Intimidators Baseball Network available at IntimidatorsBaseball.com & on the TuneIn Radio App with Josh Feldman, now in his fourth season as the Voice of the Intimidators.

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South Atlantic League Stories from August 13, 2014


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