CarL1 Down East Wood Ducks

May 30 Game Information

May 30, 2019 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Down East Wood Ducks News Release


The Wood Ducks (36-17) and Red Sox (18-32) play game two of their four game series tonight at 7 p.m. when lefty John King (0-0, 2.00) makes his fourth start for the Woodies, opposite fellow lefty Jhonathan Diaz (2-4, 7.52) for Salem. It's Thirsty Thursday at Grainger Stadium, with $1 Natural Light and Busch Light cans, presented by Budweiser. The pregame show will begin at 6:50 p.m. on 960AM The Bull, and online on 960thebull.com as well as on the MiLB First Pitch and TuneIn Radio Apps. For tickets and more information visit woodducksbaseball.com or call (252) 686-5172.

LAST TIME OUT: The Wood Ducks got a strong start from Jason Bahr who earned his fourth win of the season, striking out seven over 6.1 innings to earn his fourth win of the year, in a 7-2 victory over Salem. Sam Huff led the offense with three hits, including his third home run of the year for the Woodies, and 18th overall this season. Salem stranded 14 men on base and went 0-12 with men in scoring position despite out-hitting the Woodies in the game.

FIRST THINGS FIRST: With the win the Wood Ducks are now 6.5 games ahead of Carolina in the Southern Division standings, giving them a magic number of 11. Down East is now 13-2 when a starting pitcher goes six innings or more this season.

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 20 innings of work, and winning his last three starts. He has lowered his ERA from 10.38 to 2.86 over that stretch, and has struck out 27 while walking just 7 in his las four outings. The Woodies are 5-2 overall in his 7 starts.

ROAD WARRIORS: The Wood Ducks 21 road wins this season are second most in all of minor league baseball. They are 21-4 on the road, but just 15-13 at Grainger Stadium. At home the Woodies are batting .246, with an OPS of .684, and an ERA of 3.11, and scoring an average of 4.5 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 11 straight ballgames, batting .295, and sporting an OBP of .380 over that span. Taveras also had an 11-game on base streak for the Woodies from April 23-May 7.

HOME RUN HAPPY: After starting the year slowly in the power depart-ment, the Wood Ducks have now hit ten home runs in their last nine games, including three games with multiple home runs. Down East now is tied for fourth in the Carolina League in home runs with 33.

HUFF KEEPS HITTING: Sam Huff hit his third home run of the season for the Wood Ducks Wednesday, and his 18th overall this season, third most in all of minor league baseball. Eight of Huff's 19 games with Down East this year have been multi-hit affairs, and his combined OPS in 2019 is 1.088. He has now matched his 2018 home run total, which came over 118 games, in just 49 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.

STRENGTH VERSUS STRENGTH: The Salem Red Sox come in with the best batting average in the Carolina League at .260 on the season. Mean-while Wood Ducks pitching has held opponents to a .210 batting average this season, second lowest in the Carolina League.

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 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



Carolina League Stories from May 30, 2019


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