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CarL1 Myrtle Beach Pelicans

Myrtle Beach Pelicans Game Notes: August 10 vs. Wilmington

August 10, 2019 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Myrtle Beach Pelicans News Release


Today, the Myrtle Beach Pelicans continue both a six-game homestand and a three-game set against the Wilmington Blue Rocks (a Kansas City Royals affiliate) with the middle game of the series beginning at 6:05 p.m. This evening, LHP Ryan Kellogg (2-6, 4.68 ERA) starts for Myrtle Beach against LHP Austin Cox (2-3, 2.97 ERA). Television coverage starts at 6:00 on MiLB.tv and locally on the CW21. A radio broadcast begins at 5:50 p.m. on MyrtleBeachPelicans.com/Broadcast, TuneIn and the MiLB First Pitch app.

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ZOBRIST HOMERS AGAIN, PELICANS FALL TO BLUE ROCKS

Chicago Cubs rehabber Ben Zobrist hit his second home run in as many days with the Myrtle Beach Pelicans, but the Birds could not muster the offense needed in a 6-2 loss to the Wilmington Blue Rocks from TicketReturn.Com Field at Pelicans Ballpark on Friday. After Zobrist's solo shot led off the first inning, the Blue Rocks countered with a solo home run from Tyler Hill in the second inning. Hill, who went 3-for-4 with three RBIs in his Blue Rocks debut, then hit a go-ahead RBI double in the fourth inning. After another run in the eighth for Wilmington, the Pelicans came back with a run that scored on an error in the bottom of the eighth to make it a 3-2 game, but the Royal affiliate plated three in the top of the ninth to put the game out of reach. Though he took the loss, Jeffrey Passantino (L, 1-1) tossed a quality start (six innings, two runs) for the Birds.

ZOBRIST REHABS WITH MYRTLE BEACH

The Chicago Cubs announced that 2016 World Series MVP Ben Zobrist will continue his rehab assignment with the Pelicans on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Zobrist hit .357 (10-for-28) over seven World Series games in 2016 and had the go-ahead, 10th-inning RBI double for the Cubs in the finale. Over his career, the three-time All-Star is a .266/.356/.426 hitter and has played every position except pitcher and catcher at the big league level. In his fourth year with Chicago, he was hitting .241/.343/.253 in his 26 games. Zobrist played in the Carolina League with the Salem Avalanche in 2005 as a member of the Houston Astros organization. On Thursday, he went 1-for-4 with a solo home run, a walk and two runs scored and followed that up by launching a solo homer in a 1-for-3 day on Friday.

MY OH AMAYA

Miguel Amaya has been a hot hitter for the Pelicans over the last month. After hitting just .217/.353/.361 with five homers in the first half of the season (49 games), he is hitting a strong .262/.366/.459 with five home runs in the second half of the season (35 games). His second half OPS (.825) is 111 points higher than his first-half OPS (.714). Since July 4, Amaya is hitting .313/.423/.538 with six doubles, four home runs, 18 RBIs and 13 BB compared to 12 strikeouts in a span of 22 games. The Pelicans catcher is within two long balls of his career-best 12 he hit with Low-A South Bend in 2018. In 2018, his second-half OPS (.634) was much lower than his first half mark (.865).

USE THE FORCE, LUKE

Luke Reynolds has hit well in his first six games back in Myrtle Beach after playing in 22 games with Low-A South Bend. In his first 55 games of the season with the Pelicans, Reynolds hit just .190/.296/.288 and was sent down to South Bend. There, he slashed .260/.360/.390 and finished off his last six games by hitting .391 (9-for-23). He carried that success into his first six games with the Pelicans, hitting .400 (10-for-25) with three doubles, a home run, five RBIs, three runs and two walks.

IT'S BEEN CLOSE WITH THE BLUE ROCKS

The Pelicans are just 1-7 against Wilmington this season, but they have been close in nearly every single game. Of the seven head-to-head meetings, only two (a 9-5 loss on June 3 and Friday's 6-2 defeat) were not decided by one run. Because of that, the Blue Rocks are only outscoring the Pelicans by an average score of 4.5-3.0 in those eight games. The games have been pitcher-dominated contests with the Birds hitting .218 and the Blue Rocks just hitting .239. Each team's OPS in the seven games is under .630 and the Pelicans have only hit two home runs while Wilmington has three. One-run games have been common for the Blue Rocks, as they are 34-14 in one-run contests (51 percent of their wins, 43 percent of total games). The Birds are just 13-23 in games decided by a single tally (29 percent of their wins, 31 percent of total games).

SEE YOU IN SEPTEMBER?

The Pelicans are one game back of the Fayetteville Woodpeckers for second place in the Southern Division as of Wednesday. If the season were to end today, the Woodpeckers would be in the playoffs and they also hold the head-to-head lead over the Pelicans. Winston-Salem is just 1.5 games back of the Pelicans and 2.5 back of the Woodpeckers. The Pelicans have captured the season series against the Dash while Winston-Salem is tied in the season series with Fayetteville at 7-7 with two more games left in their series against the Woodpeckers looming on Saturday and Sunday.

PELICAN POINTS

The Pelicans lead the league in walks with 427 (3.7 per game). Cam Balego has been a master at drawing base on balls in the second half. Since July 9 (28 games), Balego leads all of baseball (Major and Minor Leagues) with 30 walks. After walking 19 times in 48 games in the first half, Balego has walked 33 times 46 games in the second half (1st half OBP: .347, 2nd half OBP: .405)...Today's starter, Ryan Kellogg has been good out of the bullpen (2.43 ERA over 15 app), but has struggled in a starters role (7.52 ERA in six starts).

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