CarL1 Myrtle Beach Pelicans

Myrtle Beach Pelicans Game Notes: August 25 at Salem

Published on August 25, 2019 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Myrtle Beach Pelicans News Release


Today, the Myrtle Beach Pelicans continue their final road trip of the season and conclude a three-game set against the Salem Red Sox (a Boston Red Sox affiliate) with the finale of the series beginning at 2:05 p.m. This afternoon, RHP Alexander Vargas (2-4, 5.03 ERA) starts for Myrtle Beach against RHP Andrew Politi (5-2, 3.76 ERA). Coverage begins at 1:50 p.m. on MyrtleBeachPelicans.com/Broadcast, TuneIn and the MiLB First Pitch app.

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BIRDS DROP A PAIR OF GAMES ON SATURDAY IN SALEM

The Myrtle Beach Pelicans fell in a suspended game 6-5 in 12 innings on Saturday before dropping the finale of the day 5-1 from Haley Toyota Field. On Friday, rain suspended the game, tied at 4-4 before the 11th. After a scoreless 11th, the Pelicans scored on a bases-loaded walk in the 12th drawn by Kevonte Mitchell, but the Red Sox plated a run to tie the game on an RBI single in the home half and then won it on a walk-off error. In the second game, the Pelicans fell behind 2-0 before finding the scoreboard in the eighth on a Carlos Sepulveda RBI ground out to make it 2-1. Salem countered with three runs of their own in the eighth and put the game away. Javier Assad (L, 4-10) allowed just one unearned run over his 5.1 innings for the Birds.

MY OH AMAYA

Miguel Amaya has been a hot hitter for the Pelicans over the last couple months. After hitting just .217/.353/.361 with five homers in the first half of the season (49 games), he is hitting a strong .264/.370/.459 with six home runs in the second half of the season (46 games). His second half OPS (.829) is 115 points higher than his first-half OPS (.714). Since July 4, Amaya is hitting .299/.411/.513 with 10 doubles, five home runs, 24 RBIs and 20 BB compared to 18 strikeouts in a span of 34 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). Defensively, Amaya also has the MiLB lead with caught-stealings (45).

LEAVING THE FRIENDLY CONFINES

Inside the pitcher-friendly TicketReturn.Com Field at Pelicans Ballpark, the Birds have been an entirely different team than when they are on the road. At home, the Pelicans own the third-best ERA in the league (3.42), while they are last (10th) in road ERA (4.71) in the Carolina League. Their road slashline of .236/.323/.354 is also much better than home games: .220/.314/.323. The Birds hit 33 home runs at home and allowed 41 while they have hit 38 homers on the road in 12 fewer games and allowed a league-worst 48 road blasts.

KINGS OF THE HILL

Over their last 12 games, the Pelicans are 8-4 in large part due to their dominant pitching staff. In that span, the Pelicans pitching has stifled offenses, owning the second-best ERA in the league (2.37), allowing the second-fewest home runs (4), walking the fewest batters (21) and owning the best WHIP (1.06). Over that stretch, their overall ERA has lowered to 3.99 ERA from 4.13.

THE PEN IS MIGHTIER THAN THE SWORD

Another key has been the bullpen, which has just walked 10 batters over their last 14 games. When the bullpen is on, so are the Pelicans, as they are 33-16 when the bullpen does not allow any runs. The bullpen has been dominant in general, allowing four earned runs over their last 35 innings (spanning their last nine games) and over their last 13 games, the 'pen has a 1.06 ERA (5 ER over 42.1 IP). Ethan Roberts has thrown 19.2 consecutive-scoreless innings out of the backend of the bullpen. Over that stretch, he has whiffed 21 batters and only walked one. Opponents are just hitting .191 against him while he owns a 0.75 WHIP in those games.

SEE YOU IN SEPTEMBER?

The Pelicans are just 1.5 games back of the Fayetteville Woodpeckers for second place in the Southern Division as of Sunday. 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 1.5 games back of the Pelicans and 3.0 back of the Woodpeckers. The Pelicans have captured the season series against the Dash while Winston-Salem lost the season series with Fayetteville. Fayetteville, which was Buies Creek last season, won the Mills Cup title in 2018 in a one-game, hurricane-shortened series.

THE RETURN OF THE JEDI

Luke Reynolds has been an offensive force since returning to the Pelicans. Reynolds played the first 55 games of the season with Myrtle Beach, hitting just .190/.296/.288 before being sent down to Low-A South Bend for 22 games. Since coming back to the Grand Strand, Reynolds is hitting .297/.392/.547 with five doubles, three home runs and 15 RBIs in 18 games. He has raised his average with the Birds all the way up to .218 and his OPS from .584 to .675 in those 18 games. Additionally, he has played errorless baseball at first base.

PELICAN POINTS

The Pelicans finish the season with an 11-game road trip, featuring three games against Salem, four at Potomac and a season-finishing series at Wilmington...The Pelicans have had some big performances against Salem this season. Grant Fennell is hitting .359 (23-for-64) over his 17 games against the Red Sox while Luke Reynolds is batting .310 (9-for-29) in nine games. As a team, the Pelicans are hitting .251/.326/.378 in their 17 games against Salem. They are just 1-7 at Haley Toyota Field.

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Carolina League Stories from August 25, 2019


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