Sports stats



CarL1 Lynchburg Hillcats

Lynchburg Hillcats Game Notes

July 23, 2011 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Lynchburg Hillcats News Release


LYNCHBURG HILLCATS (9-19, 39-59) vs SALEM RED SOX (13-15, 44-53) July 23rd, 2011 -- 6:05 PM LewisGale Field at Salem Memorial Ballpark

LHP Chris Masters (5-5, 3.33) vs LHP Stolmy Pimentel (0-2, 18.69)

THE HILLCATS: Friday, the 'Cats lost to the Salem Red Sox 6-4...For the second straight night, the Hillcats struck in the top of the first, when Joe Leonard drove in a pair with a two-out RBI single...the Red Sox came right back with three in the bottom of the first and led the rest of the way...Lynchburg matched Salem with nine hits but came up two runs short, stranding the tying run at second base in the top of the ninth...The Hillcats currently sit in fourth place in the Northern Division at 9-19, 8.5 games back of the Frederick Keys in first place...

VS. SALEM: The Hillcats are 4-12 against the Red Sox this season...This will be the last trip for Lynchburg to Salem Memorial Ballpark this year...The Red Sox have won seven of nine so far when hosting the Hillcats...Last season, the Red Sox took the season series 11-8 over Lynchburg...Myrtle Beach (2010 Braves Advanced-A affiliate) fared worse against Salem, winning just five of the 20 match-ups...

A NEW LOW: With the loss last night, the Hillcats have dropped to 20 games under .500, a new low point this season...The 'Cats have won just four of their last 17 games and are 9-19, 10 games under .500 already in the second half...Still seven games from the midway point of this second half, Lynchburg finds themselves 7.5 games out of a playoff spot...The Potomac Nationals currently sit in second place in the Northern Division a game back of the Frederick Keys who already clinched a playoff spot, winning the first half...

SCORING ISSUES: For the first time since August 2 and 3, 2001, the Hillcats were shut out in consecutive games, losing Monday and Tuesday 1-0...In 2011, the 'Cats have now been held scoreless 11 times...They have been shut out more times than any other team in the league and hold a league-worst shutout record of 6-11...Through just 27 second half games the 'Cats have been held scoreless six times, already surpassing their first half total...They've only given up 11 runs in their shutout losses this half, losing 2-0, 4-0, 1-0, 2-0, 1-0, and 1-0...Wednesday night, a two-run homer for Phil Gosselin in the top of the frist snapped a streak of 20 innings without a run for the 'Cats...Besides the shut outs the Hillcats have been held to three or less runs 16 times since the All-Star break and are averaging just 3.18 runs per game...

BEST OF THE BRAVOS: Eight members of the Hillcats are ranked amongst the top 30 prospects in the Atlanta Braves organization according to Baseball America...That list includes C Christian Bethancourt (12), SS Andrelton Simmons (15), RHP David Hale (17), RHP Dimasther Delgado (18), OF Todd Cunningham (20), OF Adam Milligan (22), INF Joe Leonard (23) and 2B Phil Gosselin (25)...

SIMMERING HOT JULY: After posting his worst statistics of the season in June, SS Andrelton Simmons has been on fire so far in July...He has hit safely in 18 of 20 July contests with eight multi-hit games...He went 0-for-3 last night snapping a 12-game hit-streak, his third double-digit streak of the season...He did draw a walk in the first inning, and has now reached base in 21 consecutive contests...He's hitting .347 with 12 runs scored and three runs driven in this month after posting a season-worst .258 clip in the month of June...He leads the league in hits with 107, and ranks tied for third in average at .303...

SAVE THOSE ARMS: RHP Zeke Spruill was skipped in the rotation Wednesday due to how many innings he's thrown this season...It was the first start he's missed all year...Leading the league with 123.2 innings pitched, Spruill has nearly doubled his innings count from last season already...He missed two months with a broken hand in 2010...

SLUMPING STATS: OF L.V. Ware went 2-for-4 last night, his first multi-hit game since July 9...He was just 1-for-29 in nine games from July 10-22...OF Geraldo Rodriguez pinch-hit in the ninth last night and flew out to right...His only hit since July 11 was a pinch-hit two-run double on July 16...He is just 1-for-25 over his last nine games (seven starts, two pinch-hit chances)...INF Phil Gosselin in a similar slump is 2-for-30 in his last nine games...He does have five RBI in that span though...His two hits, a two-run single on July 16 and a two-run homer on July 20...He also has a sacrifice fly during the slide and currently leads the Hillcats with 51 RBI...

TONIGHT'S OPPOSING PITCHER:RHP Stolmy Pimentel was signed by the Red Sox as a non-drafted free agent on July 2, 2006 out of San Cristobol, Dominican Republic...Rated as the sixth best prospect in the Red Sox system by Baseball America coming into the 2011 season...Selected to play in the Futures Game in 2010...Spent all of 2010 in Salem...Went 9-11 with a 4.06 ERA...Struck out 102 batters in 128.2 innings pitched...Started 2011 season in Double-A Portland...Went 0-9 with a 9.12 ERA in 15 starts...Has made two starts for Salem this season...Currently 0-2 with an 18.69 ERA...He has a total of 54.2 innings pitched this season, and 28 walks...Combined 0-11 with a 9.88 ERA...

Check out the Lynchburg Hillcats Statistics

• Discuss this story on the Carolina League message board...

Carolina League Stories from July 23, 2011


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.

Other Recent Lynchburg Hillcats Stories



Sports Statistics from the Stats Crew
OurSports Central