CarL1 Down East Wood Ducks

June 2 Game Information

Published on June 2, 2019 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Down East Wood Ducks News Release


Down East (39-19) hits the road today for a three game series with the Lynchburg Hillcats (27-27). Right-hander Reid Anderson (2-1, 3.77) will toe the slab for the Woodies, opposed by Lynchburg lefty Adam Scott (2-5, 3.63). First pitch is set for 3 p.m., and the broadcast will begin at 2:50 p.m. on 960AM The Bull, and online on 960thebull.com as well as the MiLB First Pitch and TuneIn Radio Apps.

LAST TIME OUT: The Wood Ducks got a great start from Jake Latz, who went seven scoreless innings, striking out nine, and earning his fourth straight win, in a 7-0 shutout of the Red Sox. JP Martinez opened the scoring with his fifth home run of the season, while Sam Huff hit his fourth. Hasuan Viera also hit a bases clearing triple for Down East in the sixth.

FIRST THINGS FIRST: The Wood Ducks are now 14-2 when a starting pitcher lasts six innings or more. They have also scored first in each of their last eight ballgames, winning the last seven. Down East now sits 8.0 games up on Winston-Salem with a magic number of 7. The Wood Ducks have the second best record in minor league baseball trailing only Delmarva (SAL, 41-12).

THE LATZ EFFECT: After struggling to start with the Wood Ducks, Jake Latz has turned it around, giving up just two earned runs over his last 27 innings of work, and winning his last four starts. He has lowered his ERA from 10.38 to 2.29 over that stretch, and has struck out 36 while walking just 9 in his las five outings. The Woodies are 6-2 overall in his 8 starts.

ROAD WARRIORS: The Wood Ducks 21 road wins this season are tied for the second most in all of minor league baseball. They are 21-4 on the road, but just 17-13 at Grainger Stadium. At home the Woodies are bat-ting .253, with an OPS of .705, and an ERA of 2.92, and scoring an aver-age of 4.7 runs-per-game. On the road the Woodies boast an average of .259 to go along with an OPS of .726, and an ERA of 2.66, while scoring 5.3 runs-per-game. By comparison, the Woodies won 12 road games in the entire first half last season, and just 11 in the second half.

BAHR NONE!: Jason Bahr has been incredibly consistent for the Wood Ducks this season, giving up two earned runs or fewer in all nine starts. He picked up his fourth win of the season on Wednesday to lead all Wood Ducks starters, and his 2.11 ERA ranks third in the Carolina League.

KING OF THE HILL: Wood Ducks lefty John King has been excellent through three starts this season. He allowed four earned runs through 18 innings, and has struck out 18, while walking just one. Against Carolina on Friday, King matched a career-high with nine strikeouts. Despite King's two quality starts, the Wood Ducks have scored a combined eight runs in three games, and as a result he has endured three no-decisions.

LEO LEADS THE WAY: Wood Ducks outfielder Leody Taveras has reached base safely in 14 straight ballgames, batting .283, and sporting an OBP of .387 over that span, dating back to May 17. Taveras also had an 11-game on base streak for the Woodies from April 23-May 7.

ARIAS ABOARD: Diosbel Arias tallied three hits Saturday, after a four-hit ballgame Monday against Carolina. He is batting .472 (17-36) over his last ten ballgames, and has raised his average from .293 to .322 over that span, which now ranks him fourth in the Carolina league. 16 of his 66 hits this year have been doubles.

HOME RUN HAPPY: After starting the year slowly in the power de-partment, the Wood Ducks have now hit 15 home runs in their last 12 games, including five games with multiple home runs. Down East now is fourth in the Carolina League in home runs with 38.

HUFF KEEPS HITTING: Sam Huff hit his fourth home run of the season for the Wood Ducks Saturday, and his 19th overall this season, third most in all of minor league baseball. Nine of Huff's 21 games with Down East this year have been multi-hit affairs, and his combined OPS in 2019 is 1.083. He eclipsed his 2018 home run total (18), which came over 118 games, in just 52 games this season.

MOVING ON UP: Joe Barlow and Demarcus Evans were promoted to Frisco Wednesday. The duo combined to strike out 84 batters in 46 in-nings of work. Barlow struck out multiple hitters in 14 of his 17 outings, while Evans had multiple strikeouts in 13 of his 17 appearances.

MAGNIFICENT MAY: The Wood Ducks finished the month 20-9, their highest win total in a month in franchise history. They wrapped up the month 21 games above .500 and with a 7.5 lead in the Southern Divi-sion. They enjoyed three win streaks of 4+ games during May, including six straight victories to close the month.

RAGS AT THE HELM: Corey Ragsdale takes over as skipper for the Wood Ducks in 2019. Ragsdale will remain the Rangers Minor League Field Coordinator, while assuming a managerial seat for the first time since 2015, when he led the Hickory Crawdads to a South Atlantic League Championship, the second of his career.

SHOWTIME: Former Wood Duck Brett Martin made his MLB debut for the Rangers April 19, firing a scoreless ninth inning in a 7-2 loss to the Astros. Martin needed just nine pitches to get through the inning, recording three ground ball outs. The left-handed reliever becomes the fourth Wood Duck in franchise history to make their Major League de-but, joining Ricardo Rodriguez, Jeffrey Springs, and C.D. Pelham. Martin pitched for the Woodies in their inaugural season in 2017, helping Down East to a share of the Carolina League Championship.

TOP-30 in Kinston: The Woodies now have seven Top-30 prospects as ranked by MLB Pipeline: 2. J.P. Martinez, 4. Anderson Tejeda, 5. Bubba Thompson, 6. Leody Taveras, 19. Diosbel Arias, 20. A.J. Alexy, and 21. Sam Huff.

Check out the Down East Wood Ducks Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Carolina League Stories from June 2, 2019


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central