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SAL Hudson Valley Renegades

HVR Game Notes - April 20, 2023

April 20, 2023 - South Atlantic League (SAL)
Hudson Valley Renegades News Release


Hudson Valley Renegades (7-4) at Rome Braves (4-6)

RHP Tyrone Yulie (0-0, 4.15 ERA) vs. RHP J.J. Niekro (0-1, 2.25 ERA)

| Game 12 | Road Game 3 | AdventHealth Stadium | Rome, GA | April 20, 2023 | First Pitch: 7 p.m. |

SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO SAY, 'WHEN IN ROME': The Hudson Valley Renegades continue their second-ever series in the state of Georgia on Wednesday as they take on the Rome Braves, the High-A affiliate of the Atlanta Braves at AdventHealth Stadium. In 2022, the Renegades played their first six-game series of the season in Rome, dropping four of six to the R-Braves to close out a season-opening road trip. The set was highlighted by a five-hit game by T.J. Rumfield, and a mammoth 467-foot home run by Everson Pereira.

GO ON...: The Renegades and Rome Braves face each other 12 times this season, with each team hosting the other for a six-game series. The 'Gades play more games with the R-Braves than against any SAL South opponent this year, and also more time than SAL North foe Greensboro (3 games). Incredibly, Hudson Valley has been scheduled to play Rome 24 times in 2022 and 2023, while Greensboro, a division rival, has been slated for just nine contests.

ABOUT LAST NIGHT: Hudson Valley used a four-run sixth inning to propel themselves to an 8-4 win over the Rome Braves on Education Day. Rafael Flores mustered a career-high three hits and drove in three runs to lead the way. Ben Rice homered for the second straight day, a two-run blast in the sixth. Rice would also draw three walks and steal a base in the victory. Harold Cortijo earned his third win of the season out of the bullpen after striking out five of the eight batters he faced in two scoreless frames.

ALL ABOUT THE RUN DIFFERENTIAL: With a +38 run differential in 11 games, the Renegades boast the second-best run differential among all minor league teams in Double-A or below (Triple-A began a week early in 2023). The Fayetteville Woodpeckers (+40 -- HOU, A) are the only team to have posted a better scoring margin than Hudson Valley this season.

DURBIN MOTORING AROUND: In the top of the fourth, Caleb Durbin stole second base, third base and home in succession to produce a run. He became the first Renegades player to steal second, third and home in the same inning since Anthony Seigler did so on July 6, 2022 at Jersey Shore. That rare feat is more common in the minor leagues, but has only been accomplished 54 times in the AL or NL, with 40 instances happening before World War II.

BENNY AND THE JETS: Renegades C Ben Rice is off to stellar start at the plate this season. The Dartmouth grad currently ranks first in HBP (5) & OBP (.583), 3rd in SLG (.696) & OPS (1.279), t-8th in R (9), and 13th in AVG (.348) in the South Atlantic League. He is also tied for the second most HR on the team, after hammering his first two of the season in back-to-back games vs Rome on Tuesday and Wednesday.

STAY IN THE YARD: Marcos Cabrera's inside-the-park home run in the bottom of the sixth last Thursday against Aberdeen was the first inside-the-park home run for the Renegades since Eric Wagaman circled the bases against Jersey Shore on June 9, 2022 at Heritage Financial Park. Wagaman's inside-the-parker was part of a 10-run inning for Hudson Valley in a 15-1 rout of the BlueClaws.

PITCHING LEADING THE WAY AGAIN: The Renegades rank first in ERA (2.52) among South Atlantic League teams and all High-A teams. The 'Gades rank fifth among all MiLB teams in ERA this season. This comes after Hudson Valley paced the SAL in ERA in 2022 (3.62), and finished with the second-best ERA among all High-A teams. The Hudson Valley bullpen has been even better, sporting a collective 1.84 ERA through 49.0 innings, the second-best mark in MiLB only trailing the Harrisburg Senators (1.57 --WAS, AA).

GAS STATION: Through 11 games this season the Renegades pitching staff has registered 132 strikeouts, the second-most in the SAL (Aberdeen, 135), third-most among all High-A teams, and sixth-most among all non-Triple-A teams in the minor leagues. The Hudson Valley pitching staff has struck out a tremendous 31.7% of batters faced this season, a strikeout rate equal to the career rate of Corey Knebel, and better than any single season of Nolan Ryan's career.

RISPY BUSINESS: Over the past five games, the Renegades pitching staff has left 39 runners on base with opponents hitting a mere .074 (4-for-54) with runners in scoring position over this stretch. This season, opponents are hitting just .117 with RISP against Renegades pitching, the lowest mark in all of MiLB. The Akron RubberDucks (CLE, AA) are second-best with opponents hitting .125 with RISP.

MR. STEAL YOUR BASE: After going 6-for-6 on stolen base attempts in Tuesday's series opener with Rome, the Renegades are now 27-for-30 in stolen base attempts this season. They rank first in the South Atlantic League in steals, and are tied for the second most in all of High-A. The Lynchburg Hillcats (CLE, A) went 11-for-11 in steal attempts on Tuesday to rocket to the top of the MiLB steals leaderboard with 39 through 11 games. Caleb Durbin leads the team with eight steals so far, tied for the most in the South Atlantic League.

CAREER DAY FOR AARON: In Wednesday's 12-5 win over Aberdeen, Aaron Palensky drove in four runs and collected four hits, while falling just a double shy of the cycle. The four hits set a new career-high while the four RBIs tied his career best. The former Nebraska Cornhusker tallied 4 RBIs last year, on August 21 against the Brooklyn Cyclones, when he connected for a grand slam.

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