Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp: Game Notes, August 21 at Birmingham
August 21, 2019 - Southern League (SL1)
Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp News Release
The Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp play at the Birmingham Barons in Wednesday's 8:05 p.m. contest. LHP Daniel Castano (6-1, 2.97 ERA) starts for the Jumbo Shrimp against Barons RHP Blake Battenfield (5-5, 4.24 ERA). Coverage begins at 7:50 p.m. ET on MiLB.tv, Sunny 102.3 FM, TuneIn and JaxShrimp.com.
BARONS ROLL BY JUMBO SHRIMP FOR 9-3 WIN
Despite J.C. Millan's home run, the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp fell 9-3 on Tuesday to the Birmingham Barons. Jacksonville opened up the scoring on Stone Garrett's RBI single in the fourth. Brian Miller added an RBI base hit in the fifth to make it 2-0. However, in the bottom of the fifth, Laz Rivera bashed a two-run shot to tie the score. Luis Valenzuela's RBI ground out put the Barons ahead in the sixth. Later in the frame, Alfredo Gonzalez and Rivera collected RBI singles before Rivera scored on an error. Luis Gonzalez capped the five-run frame with an RBI double to make it 7-2. Birmingham added a run in both the seventh and eighth on a Damek Tomscha RBI single and Rivera home run. Millan's shot came in the ninth to cut the Shrimp deficit to 9-3.
CRAZY. STUPID. GLOVE.
Jacksonville's season-best nine-game errorless streak ended on August 13, but the club has still boasted a strong defense through virtually the entirety of the 2019 season. Because errors are subjective in nature and only penalize fielders who actually reach balls in play, perhaps the best introspection of a club's defense in the minor leagues is its defensive efficiency, a simple measure of how often a team turns batted balls put into play against it into outs. Jacksonville boasts a .725 defensive efficiency that not only leads the Southern League, but it would also place third in the major leagues.
IT'S NOT A TRASH COMPACTOR, IT'S A BAYLOR
After one spot start and six appearances out of the bullpen, Jacksonville left-hander Daniel Castano joined the club's starting rotation for good on June 26. The former Baylor Bear struggled in his first three turns, going 1-1 with a 7.53 ERA (14.1 IP, 25 H, 13 R, 12 ER, 4 BB, 10 K). However, the Austin, Texas native has turned things around over his last six starts; Castano, who takes the ball on Wednesday at Birmingham, is 5-0 during that stretch with a 1.73 ERA (41.2 IP, 26 H, 9 R, 8 ER, 3 BB, 41 K). On August 8 against Mississippi, Castano fanned a career-high 13 to match a Marlins Era club record (2009-present). In that effort, he also became the first Jacksonville hurler to log a nine-inning complete game since Justin Nicolino did so on July 29, 2014 at Montgomery.
HIT THEM WITH YOUR BEST SHOT
Jacksonville has surrendered just 116 runs in their last 38 games (3.1 per game), and the club's starting pitching has been a huge culprit behind those run-prevention efforts. During this span, Jumbo Shrimp starters have combined for a 2.68 ERA (61 ER in 205.0 IP). The club's starting pitchers have posted 206 strikeouts (9.0 K/9) against 61 walks (2.7 BB/9) and 155 hits allowed (6.8 H/9) in the process.
THE AMAZING RACE
Jacksonville heads into play on Wednesday trailing Biloxi by 2.0 games for the second half South Division crown. The Shuckers, who won the division's first half title, are 35-22 (.614) in the second half with 12 games to play. Thus, even if Biloxi were to finish the season at .500 with a 6-6, the Jumbo Shrimp, who have 13 games remaining in their slate, would need to go 9-4 (.692) to surpass the Shuckers. Should Biloxi repeat as division champions, Pensacola would likely clinch the South Division Wild Card spot by virtue of an 8.0-game lead over Jacksonville in the overall standings. The Blue Wahoos also trail the Jumbo Shrimp by just 1.0 game in the second-half standings.
POWER RANGERS
Jacksonville had mustered just 41 home runs in 109 games all season going into play on August 1, tied with Tennessee for the second-fewest such total out of the 120 full-season teams in Minor League Baseball. Since then, however, the Jumbo Shrimp have bashed 17 home runs in 18 games, a figure that ranks fourth in the Southern League and tied for 12th in Double-A. Of those 17 long balls, seven have been struck by Lewin Diaz, four have been hit by Stone Garrett and Jazz Chisholm has smacked three. Bryson Brigman, Joe Dunand and J.C. Millan have collected the other three Jacksonville bombs.
CONNECT FOUR
Buoyed by strong pitching throughout the season, the Jumbo Shrimp offense has been given a bigger margin of error by not needing to score huge quantities of runs to win games. In fact, Jacksonville has won each of its last 26 of its last 27 contests when hitting the four-run marker. On the season, when the Jumbo Shrimp tally at least four scores, the club is a sterling 46-7 (.868).
Southern League Stories from August 21, 2019
- Hot Start Helps BayBears Win Third Straight Game - Mobile BayBears
- Early Lead Slips as Shuckers Fall Again in Montgomery - Biloxi Shuckers
- Smokies Swept in Wednesday's Double-Header - Knoxville Smokies
- Lookouts Lose Game Four Early - Chattanooga Lookouts
- Biscuits Slip Past Shuckers, 6-5 - Montgomery Biscuits
- Big Bats, Ober Lead Blue Wahoos to 8-2 Victory - Pensacola Blue Wahoos
- Generals Gameday: August 21 vs. Tennessee (DH) - Jackson Generals
- Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp: Game Notes, August 21 at Birmingham - Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp
- Jeffers Comes up Big in the 10th - Pensacola Blue Wahoos
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