CarL1 Lynchburg Hillcats

Hillcats Game Notes May 3, 2015, 2 p.m. vs. Myrtle Beach

Published on May 3, 2015 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Lynchburg Hillcats News Release


LYNCHBURG HILLCATS (9-13) vs. MYRTLE BEACH PELICANS (12-9)

Sunday, May 3, 2015 -- 2 PM

Calvin Falwell Field at City Stadium

RHP Adam Plutko (1-1, 1.14) vs. RHP Tyler Skulina (0-2, 7.07)

LAST TIME OUT: A dramatic late inning comeback fell one run short in front of a sellout crowd at City Stadium on Saturday night...The Hillcats trailed by four runs for most of the game, 5-1, but three runs in the eighth with only one out gave the 'Cats hope...The inning started with a double by 1B NELLIE RODRIGUEZ off the left field wall...DH LUIGI RODRIGUEZ followed with a double of his own, scoring NELLIE RODRIGUEZ...With the bases loaded, C ALEX MONSALVE singled through the gap between first and second, driving in LUIGI RODRIGUEZ...SS IVAN CASTILLO then singled to right to cut the deficit to one, 5-4, but the runners could only go station-to-station. With the bases still loaded, CF CLINT FRAZIER grounded into a double play to end the inning...SS IVAN CASTILLO started the game with a bang for the Hillcats, as he led off the bottom of the first with a triple...With two out and CASTILLO still at third, NELLIE RODRIGUEZ drove CASTILLO in with a double to right-center field to give Lynchburg an early 1-0 lead...Myrtle Beach answered with a run of their own in the third on a solo homer by LF MARK ZAGUNIS to left, knotting things up at 1-all...The Pelicans took the lead in the fourth by sending nine men to the plate and scoring four runs...CF TREY MARTIN had an RBI single to right, DH WES DARVILL scored on a wild pitch after he reached on a walk, and SS CARLOS PENALVER had a two RBI double to take a 5-1 lead...Lynchburg has now dropped three in a row after winning five of their previous six...

VS. MYRTLE BEACH: Myrtle Beach has taken the first two games from the Hillcats this season...Lynchburg and Myrtle Beach will square off a total of 17 times in 2015...This series marks the only time the Pelicans will visit Lynchburg in the first half...In fact, the Pelicans' only return trip is for a three-game series July 22-24...Last year, Lynchburg went 7-13 against Myrtle Beach, including 3-7 at City Stadium...Meanwhile, Carolina (the 2014 Indians affiliate) also went 7-13 against the Pelicans...Several Mudcats-turned-Hillcats had their way with Myrtle Beach last season...C ALEX MONSALVE batted .262 with three doubles, two triples, and a home run.... MONSALVE had four triples all of last season... INF JAMES ROBERTS had two home runs against the Pelicans last season, which accounted for half of his season total...ROBERTS also had two doubles against Myrtle Beach, despite the .185 average against them... RHP BEN HELLER faced the Pelicans twice last season... He went 2.0 innings total and didn't allow a hit...

TAKE THE GOOD WITH THE BAD: Lynchburg paces the Carolina League in quite a few categories, though not all of them are desired...Offensively, the 'Cats lead the league in home runs (13), stolen base percentage (86.7), and RBIs (84), but they also lead in strikeouts (171) and men left on base (155)...Pitching-wise, the Hillcats have the highest ERA and have allowed the most total runs as well...

SLOW AND STEADY WINS THE RACE: Lynchburg leads the Carolina League in RBIs with 84 despite the fact that the Hillcats have never had more than seven RBIs in a single game...Every other team in the league has had at least eight RBIs in a game at some point, and four of the teams have posted a game in which they had at least 10 runs driven in...

ICE THAT ARM QUICKLY: With a league-high three doubleheaders and four different pitchers on the Disabled List, the Hillcats have been forced to rely on the bullpen a lot...Only four pitchers in the Carolina League have made eight appearances already, and three of them are Hillcats...RHPs ROBBIE AVILES, DELVY FRANCISCO, and BEN HELLER have all pitched in eight contest this year to join Carolina's Tyler Jones...

CATCHING THEM IN THE ACT: C ALEX MONSALVE threw out another baserunner last night, giving him eight caught-stealings for the year...He and ERIC HAASE have been among the league's best for throwing out attempted base stealers...Combined, the two have caught 40.7 percent (11-of-27)...That is barely behind the Carolina Mudcats, who have caught 42.9 percent of runners...HAASE ranks second on the circuit with a 37.5 caught stealing percentage...MONSALVE does not qualify for the league leaders, though he has thrown out 8-of-19 runners for a 42.1 percent caught stealing rate...The league leader for those who qualify is JOSE BRICENO of Carolina at 41.7 percent...

A LITTLE HELP, PLEASE: RHP ADAM PLUTKO only has a 1-1 record even though he has never allowed more than one run in any of his four starts this year... PLUTKO'S 1.14 ERA ranks fourth in the Carolina League, while his WHIP of 0.63 is second-best and his .148 opponents' batting average checks in at third on the circuit...PLUTKO has logged a quality start in three of his four outings, but he is 1-1 in those games...Unfortunately for PLUTKO, the feeling is familiar...Last year with the Carolina Mudcats, PLUTKO had a 2-4 record in quality starts, including a game in which he lost to Myrtle Beach while only allowing a solo home run to NICK WILLIAMS over seven innings...Something similar occurred in his first start of this year when the right-hander lost the first game of a doubleheader after pitching a complete game and only allowing one run on a solo homer by JAYSON WERTH...

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Carolina League Stories from May 3, 2015


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