CarL1 Lynchburg Hillcats

Hillcats Game Notes July 4, 2015, 6:30 P.M vs. Salem

Published on July 4, 2015 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Lynchburg Hillcats News Release


LYNCHBURG HILLCATS (4-4, 37-41) vs. SALEM RED SOX (3-6, 41-38)

Saturday, July 4, 2015 -- 6:30 p.m.

Calvin Falwell Field at City Stadium

RHP D.J. Brown (5-3, 4.57) vs. RHP Kevin McAvoy (4-6, 4.06)

LAST TIME OUT: LUIGI RODRIGUEZ had a double, a triple and scored twice, while MIKE PAPI belted his second home run of the week, but Wilmington shocked the Hillcats with eight runs in the eighth inning to claim a 9-6 victory...Trailing 6-1 entering the eighth, Wilmington sent 14 men to the plate and tallied eight runs on six hits to jump out to a 9-6 advantage...CAM GALLAGHER and DOMINIQUE TAYLOR kickstarted the offense with back-to-back walks against DELVY FRANCISCO...CAROLOS GARCIA and RAMON TORRES followed with singles, plating a run to make it 6-2...With the bases loaded, MAURICIO RAMOS cut the margin to 6-5 with a three-run double...JUSTIN BRANTLEY came out of the bullpen after FRANCISCO allowed all five batters he faced to reach base...With the tying run at second base and nobody out, BRANTLEY recorded a fly out by CODY STUBBS, but FRANK SCHWINDEL singled up the middle to drive in RAMOS and tie the game, 6-all...ALFREDO ESCALERA singled to advance SCHWINDEL to third...With two outs, BRANTLEY tried to pick ESCALERA off first base, but his throw sailed high, and SCHWINDEL scored on the error to push Wilmington ahead, 7-6...A two-run double by CARLOS GARCIA later in the frame capped off the outburst with the Blue Rocks on top, 9-6...With Lynchburg already leading 2-1 in the fourth, MIKE PAPI hit his second home run of the week, a two-run homer that also plated ERIC HAASE to give the Hillcats a 4-1 advantage...Later in the fourth, YHOXIAN MEDINA singled and eventually scored on a wild pitch to make it 5-1...In the seventh inning, BRADLEY ZIMMER lined a leadoff single to right, and ERIC HAASE doubled to left field to stretch the difference to 6-1 in favor of the Hillcats... Also lost in Wilmington's comeback was MICHAEL PEOPLES' bid for his sixth victory of the year...The right-hander held the Blue Rocks to one run and three hits in six innings and left the game with a 5-1 lead...PEOPLES has registered three consecutive quality starts, but he has only earned the victory in one.

VS. SALEM: Lynchburg is 8-2 against Salem this season and all eight wins have come on the road at LewisGale Field...Last time the Red Sox were in town, the visit was the start of a four game, two city, home-and-home series with the Red Sox...Salem won both games at City Stadium, sweeping a doubleheader at City Stadium, 12-0 in game one and 3-2 in eight innings in the second game...Lynchburg has outscored Salem 65-39 in head-to-head matchups this season...In 10 contests against the Red Sox, the Hillcats are hitting .289 as a team and have collected 10 home runs and 64 RBIs...In the eight games the teams have played on the road this season, Lynchburg has won each game by an average of more than four and a half runs, but at home against Salem this season, the Hillcats have been outscored 15-2...The teams will meet a total of 26 times this season, 19 of those meetings come in the second half.

STAGE IS SET FOR A REMATCH: Tonight's game will be a rematch of the June 29th contest between the Hilllcats and the Red Sox as D.J. BROWN will square off against KEVIN McAVOY...The last time the hurlers faced each other was just five days ago when BROWN earned his fifth win of the season as he allowed just one run on five hits over seven innings while striking out five...McAVOY also allowed just one run on six hits over six innings, but the Hillcats scored two runs in the top of the eighth inning off CHANDLER SHEPHERD to seal a 3-1 victory...It will be the third time this season the two have faced each other in a game...Back on May 21, McAVOY got the start against Lynchburg's LUIS LUGO, but BROWN pitched three innings of relief in the game the Hillcats took 10-4, handing McAVOY his first of two losses to boys in green and gold this season.

MAKING A STATEMENT: OF LUIGI RODRIGUEZ led off last night's game with a double, extending his hitting streak to 10 games, his longest of the season...During his streak, LUIGI has recorded eight multi-hit games...He is hitting 20-for-47 (.426) with a home run, three doubles, three triples, and three stolen bases in his last 10 contests...The 22-year-old leads the Carolina League with a .529 slugging percentage, 145 total basts, 11 home runs, and seven triples...He also paces the circuit with a total of 34 extra-base hits this year.

PRETTY SOLID WEEK: Outfielder MIKE PAPI and shortstop IVAN CASTILLO are both currently riding season-high six game hit streaks...PAPI is hitting 8-for-22 (.363) with two home runs, six RBIs, four runs scored during that time...CASTILLO has bested PAPI by just one hit over that span, going 9-for-22 (.409), with four runs scored and two RBIs...The two will look to continue their hit streaks against Salem...This season CASTILLO is 11-for-33 (.333) against the Red Sox and PAPI is 11-for-31 (.355) with a home run and six RBIs.

JUNE-Y BE GOOD: June proved to be a successful month for the Hillcats..As a team, Lynchburg recorded a .264 average and led the Carolina League in doubles (53) and triples (10) and ranked second in home runs with 17 (Carolina, 20) and RBIs with 110 (Salem, 123)...In June, MICHAEL PEOPLES ranked third in the Indians system with a 2.35 ERA...ANTONIO ROMERO tied for third in the Indians system with a 0.99 WHIP among bullpen pitchers...BEN HELLER ranks third in the Indians system with nine saves, four of which came in June...LUIS LUGO recorded 28 strikeouts placing him third in the Indians system in the month of June...For hitters, NELLIE RODRIGUEZ led the Indians system with a .959 OPS while MIKE PAPI was second with a .956 OPS...NELLIE also had the second highest average in the Indians farm system by hitting .341 in June...LUIGI RODRIGUEZ tallied three triples in June, placing him atop the Indians organization in June.

FIREWORKS ARE BETTER AT HOME: Lynchburg has played at home every 4th of July during the Hillcats era (1995)...Over that span, the Hillcats are 11-10 on Independence Day, which includes a pair of doubleheaders...Lynchburg has played eight of those contests against the Salem Red Sox, splitting them evenly with four wins and four losses...In 2007, Salem knocked off the 'Cats, 5-3, but Lynchburg earned revenge the following season in 2008 with a 2-1 victory, which marks the last time these two teams met on the 4th of July...The Hillcats have had two walk-off victories in the past 19 seasons on the 4th of July...Perhaps the most memorable came against the Red Sox as part of a twinbill in 2003...After falling in the first game, 6-5, the 'Cats trailed 1-0 heading into the bottom of the seventh...However, NATE MCLOUTH and BRANDON CHAVES hit back-to-back solo home runs to give the Hillcats a 2-1 victory...

THIS DATE IN BASEBALL HISTORY: On July 4, 1939, New York celebrates Lou Gehrig Appreciation Day at Yankee Stadium and 'The Iron Horse's' uniform number 4 will be the first ever to be retired. After emcee Sid Mercer informs the sell-out crowd the man of the hour is too moved to speak, Gehrig changes his mind when Skipper Joe McCarthy encourages him, and he delivers the keynote address in baseball history, describing himself as "the luckiest man on the face of this earth".

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