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CarL1 Myrtle Beach Pelicans

Myrtle Beach Pelicans: Game Notes, April 29 at Salem

April 29, 2018 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Myrtle Beach Pelicans News Release


The Myrtle Beach Pelicans wrap up their three-game series at Salem with Sunday's 2:05 p.m. rubber match. RHP Matt Swarmer (1-2, 1.72 ERA) takes the bump for the Birds against Red Sox RHP Hildemaro Requena (0-3, 3.21 ERA). Coverage begins at 1:50 p.m. on MyrtleBeachPelicans.com/Broadcast, the MiLB First Pitch app and TuneIn.

LANGE DOMINATES AS BIRDS ROLL 5-1

Myrtle Beach starter Alex Lange fired seven dominant innings and Connor Myers and Tyler Alamo each homered Saturday to lead the Pelicans to a 5-1 victory over the Salem Red Sox. Lange ceded just one run on three hits in his seven commanding frames. The right-hander struck out five and did not walk a batter, retired the final 13 Salem batters he faced to earn his first career win. The Birds got on the board in the second with a Myers RBI single and pair of Salem errors on the same play to make it 2-0. The Red Sox answered by scoring on a wild pitch in the bottom of the second. In the fifth inning, Alamo bashed a two-run homer to left. Myers launched a solo shot in the eighth to widen the margin to 5-1.

WHAT'S LUCK GOT TO DO WITH IT?

Myrtle Beach's staff has gotten off to a slow start, as the club ranks at or near the bottom of the Carolina League in several pitching categories including ERA (4.89, 10th), hits allowed (204, second-most) and runs allowed (128, 10th). However, there may be a sign for optimism through a tough first month of the year. The Pelicans' Fielding Independent Pitching, or FIP, an ERA estimator based on the factors most within a pitcher's control like walks, strikeouts and home runs, is a strong 3.27. The huge gulf in the Birds' FIP and ERA can partially be explained by poor luck: Opposing hitters are posting a .338 batting average on balls in play (BABIP) against Myrtle Beach, far above the baseball-wide mark of .300. Therefore, as the club's BABIP regresses towards the mean, the Pelicans should see their ERA fall down towards their FIP.

GO THE DISTANCE

Another bright sign for Myrtle Beach has been seeing the club's starting pitching work deeper into games. Pelicans starting pitchers have tossed at least five innings in 10 of their last 12 games, yielding 36 runs, 29 earned, on 64 hits in a total of 64.0 frames for a 4.08 ERA (9.0 H/9, 16 BB, 2.3 BB/9, 63 K, 8.9 K/9). In comparison, over the season's first 11 contests, Myrtle Beach starting pitchers recorded five innings in a start just five times, capping out at those five frames. Over that span, they surrendered 42 runs, 31 earned, on 60 hits in 48.0 frames for a 5.81 ERA (10.4 H/9, 18 BB, 3.4 BB/9, 46 K, 8.6 K/9).

QUALITY CONTROL

Myrtle Beach starter Alex Lange recorded the Pelicans' third quality start of the season in Saturday's win over Salem. By retiring the final 13 Red Sox he faced, the former LSU right-hander became the first Birds starting pitcher to work into the seventh inning this season. Lange wound up completing a full seven frames, marking the earliest in a season a Myrtle Beach lid-lifter has pitched at least seven frames since Zach Hedges pitched seven innings on April 20, 2016 at Winston-Salem.

MAN OR MACHIN?

Pelicans infielder Vimael Machin got off to slow start on the season, posting just one hit in his first six games (1-for-23, .043). However, the San Lorenzo, Puerto Rico native has reached base in each of his 13 games since, including nine contests with multiple trips on the basepaths. Over this 13-game stretch Machin is for 15-for-42 with seven doubles, two home runs, nine RBIs and 16 walks, slashing .357/.534/.667 (1.201 OPS). Impressive considering his batting average on balls in play (BABIP) is just .275, far below the baseball-wide average of .300, Machin leads the Pelicans in both wRC+ (146) and wOBA (.402). He has walked 17 times this season against only 12 strikeouts. Behind this contact-oriented approach is a 6.9 percent swinging strike rate, the ninth-lowest in the Carolina League, with a 28.0 line drive percentage that places as the 10th-highest in the circuit.

FREE AS A BIRD

Salem did not steal a base against the Pelicans on Saturday, but Myrtle Beach's batteries have still struggled to hold on runners this season. Opponents are still 28-for-32 (87.5 percent) in swiping bases against the Birds this season, the worst such mark in the Carolina League. In fact, that 12.5 percent caught stealing rate is the worst in the circuit since at least the 2005 season. Opponents are 24-for-their-last-25 in stolen base attempts against Myrtle Beach, including a run of 20 consecutive successful swipes at one point.

PELICAN POINTS

With a victory in Sunday's rubber match in Salem, the Birds would earn their second series win of the season... Connor Myers has driven in seven runs over his last four games.

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