
May 26 Game Information
May 26, 2019 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Down East Wood Ducks News Release
The Wood Ducks (33-17) and Mudcats (29-20) play game three of their four game set tonight at 6 p.m. Lefty Jake Latz (2-1, 3.09) will take the hill for the Woodies, opposed by Carolina righty Braden Webb (0-0, 2.45). The broadcast will begin at 5:50 p.m. on 960AM The Bull, and online at 960thebull.com as well as on the MiLB First Pitch and TuneIn Radio Apps.
LAST TIME OUT: The Down East Wood Ducks were down to their final strike and trailed by a run in the ninth, when JP Martinez came through with a three-run home run to right field to push the Woodies to a 6-4 win over Carolina. Sal Mendez took a no-hitter into the sixth, and fin-ished with a career-high eight strikeouts in a no-decision. Wes Robertson earned his first win in relief, while Joe Barlow earned his fourth save.
FIRST THINGS FIRST: The win was the Wood Ducks first this season when trailing after eight innings, and the fourth last-at-bat victory of the year.
MASHING MARTINEZ: JP Martinez has now homered in each of the last two ballgames, giving him three with the Woodies and four overall this season. Last year Martinez homered eight times in 60 games for Short-Season Spokane. He has increased his slugging percentage from .239 to .306 over the last two games, adding in a double, Saturday.
DOROW'S DINGERS: Ryan Dorow enjoyed his first career multi-homer game Monday, to go along with a career-best six RBI. He then hit a home run again on Tuesday, and hit another long ball in Wednesday's ballgame. Dorow is now tied for second in the league in home runs, while leading the Wood Ducks. The Woodies third baseman has now hit eight homers in 45 games this season, after hitting 12 home runs in 122 games in 2018.
ROAD WARRIORS: The Wood Ducks 19 road wins this season are tied for the second most in all of minor league baseball. They are 19-4 on the road, but just 14-12 at Grainger Stadium. At home the Woodies are bat-ting .241, with an OPS of .681, and an ERA of 3.12, and scoring an aver-age of 4.4 runs-per-game. On the road the Woodies boast an average of .256 to go along with an OPS of .721, and an ERA of 2.58, 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.
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.
STRIKEOUT MACHINES: Joe Barlow has racked up the strikeouts this season for the Wood Ducks out of the bullpen. He has recorded 40 strikeouts in 22 innings, and has struck out multiple hitters in 13 of his 15 outings, including a season-high six strikeouts on Sunday. Demarcus Evans has also been on a strikeout frenzy, fanning 38 in 20.2 innings this season. He has multiple strikeouts in 13 of his 16 appearances, including a season-high six against Potomac last Wednesday, followed by five against Carolina Friday.
HOME RUN HAPPY: After starting the year slowly in the power depart-ment, the Wood Ducks have now hit nine home runs in their last six games, including three games with multiple home runs. Down East now is tied for third in the Carolina League in home runs with 32.
MORE LIKE KAROLINA: The Wood Ducks struck out a season-high 18 against the Mudcats Friday, and now have fanned 70 Carolina hitters in six games this season. The Mudcats lead the league in strikeouts with 546, after setting league records in strikeouts in each of the last two seasons.
HUFF KEEPS HITTING: Sam Huff has picked up right where he left off when he was promoted from Hickory on May 9. The slugger has blasted two home runs for the Wood Ducks to give him 17 long balls overall this season, which places him in the top five in all of minor league baseball. Huff also hit a walk-off single in a 1-0 win over the Dash on Sunday. He has six multi-hit games and he is now riding a six game hitting streak (10-22). The 21-year-old catcher posted an OPS of 1.165 in Single-A, and led all of minor league baseball with 15 home runs at the time of his promotion. The Phoenix native is the 21st ranked prospect in the Rangers organization.
AMAZING APRIL: The Woodies 18-8 record in April is their best winning percentage (.692) of any month in team history, while the 18 victories equals the best month all-time (May 2018), when the Woodies went 18-11 (.621). The 10 games above .500 is also most in team history (previous high, +8, May 27, 2018).
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 eight 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, 21. Sam Huff and 24. Demarcus Evans.
Carolina League Stories from May 26, 2019
- Carolina Drops Second Straight to Down East 3-1 on Sunday Night - Carolina Mudcats
- Latz Wins Third Straight As Woodies Top Mudcats Sunday - Down East Wood Ducks
- Dubin Strong as Fayetteville Wins Second Straight - Fayetteville Woodpeckers
- Meyers, Arauz, Lead Woodpeckers to Second Straight Win over Lynchburg - Lynchburg Hillcats
- Dash Post 19 Hits in Sunday's 8-5 Win at Salem - Winston-Salem Dash
- Blue Rocks' Walk-Off Sac Fly Spoils Birds' Comeback on Sunday - Myrtle Beach Pelicans
- Hicklen's Sac Fly Gets Wilmington Walk-Off Win - Wilmington Blue Rocks
- Keys Take Sunday's Game from P-Nats - Frederick Keys
- May 26 - Carolina Mudcats Game Information - Carolina Mudcats
- Frederick Spoils Johnston's Quality Start in P-Nats' 5-2 Loss - Potomac Nationals
- May 26 Game Information - Down East Wood Ducks
- Brewers promote OF Joantgel Segovia from Mudcats to Double-A Biloxi - Carolina Mudcats
- INF Wladimir Galindo placed on the 7-day Injured List - Myrtle Beach Pelicans
- Winston-Salem Dash Game Notes (May 26 at Salem) - Winston-Salem Dash
- Myrtle Beach Pelicans Game Notes: May 26 at Wilmington - Myrtle Beach Pelicans
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.
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