SAL Hudson Valley Renegades

HVR Game Notes - April 22, 2023

Published on April 22, 2023 under South Atlantic League (SAL)
Hudson Valley Renegades News Release


Hudson Valley Renegades (8-5) at Rome Braves (5-7)

RHP Juan Carela (0-0, 2.35 ERA) vs. RHP A.J. Smith-Shawver (0-0, 0.00 ERA)

| Game 14 | Road Game 5 | AdventHealth Stadium | Rome, GA | April 22, 2023 | First Pitch 5 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 Saturday 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 times 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 was shut out for the first time in the 2023 season on Friday night, falling 8-0 to Rome. MLB Rehabber Collin McHugh started the shutout for the Braves, tossing 3.0 innings, while Zach Messinger countered with 5.1 innings of three-run ball while striking out seven. Rome plated five runs off the Renegades bullpen, including a four-run seventh inning to break the game open.

NIGHT WALKERS: Friday's loss at Rome was the first night game loss for the Renegades this season. They had started the year 7-0 in night games.

GÓMEZ GOING STREAKING: With a 1-for-2 performance on Friday, Antonio Gómez is riding an eight-game hitting streak for Hudson Valley. In 2022, the Renegades only had four hitting streaks of eight-or-more games, with T.J. Rumfield's nine-game streak from Aug. 20-31 serving as the longest of the year. In the Yankees Era (2021-Present), the Renegades have only had one 10+ game hitting streak, Josh Breaux's 11-game spurt from July 3-16, 2021.

WALK THIS WAY: The Renegades tied a franchise record in Thursday's 10-4 win over the Rome Braves. Hudson Valley worked 14 walks against the Braves pitching, tying a franchise single-game high. The only other time this feat happened was on July 10, 2011 at the Lowell Spinners.

ALL ABOUT THE RUN DIFFERENTIAL: With a +36 run differential in 13 games, the Renegades are tied for the best run differential among all minor league teams in Double-A or below (Triple-A began a week early in 2023). The Rocket City Trash Pandas (LAA, AA) also sport a +36 differential.

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), third OBP (.550), fifth in OPS (1.279), and ninth in SLG (.696) 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.

PITCHING LEADING THE WAY AGAIN: The Renegades rank first in ERA (3.08) among South Atlantic League teams and all High-A teams. The 'Gades rank seventh 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 2.96 ERA through 54.2 innings, the 13th-best mark in MiLB.

GAS STATION: Through 13 games this season the Renegades pitching staff has registered 153 strikeouts, the second-most in the SAL (Aberdeen, 156), third-most among all High-A teams, and seventh-most among all non-Triple-A teams in the minor leagues. The Hudson Valley pitching staff has struck out a tremendous 31.0% of batters faced this season, a strikeout rate just better than the career rate of Jose Fernandez, and better than any single season of Nolan Ryan's career.

RISP AVERSION: Over the past seven games, the Renegades pitching staff has left 53 runners on base with opponents hitting a mere .120 (9-for-75) with runners in scoring position over this stretch. This season, opponents are hitting just .137 with RISP against Renegades pitching, the second-lowest mark in all of MiLB. The Akron RubberDucks (CLE, AA) are 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 29-for-32 in stolen base attempts this season. They rank second in the South Atlantic League in steals, and have the third 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 44 through 13 games. Caleb Durbin leads the team with eight steals so far, tied for the most in the South Atlantic League.

DURBIN MOTORING AROUND: In the top of the fourth on Tuesday, 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.

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South Atlantic League Stories from April 22, 2023


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