CarL1 Myrtle Beach Pelicans

Myrtle Beach Pelicans: Game Notes, July 16 at Down East

Published on July 16, 2018 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Myrtle Beach Pelicans News Release


The Myrtle Beach Pelicans vie for the sweep of the Down East Wood Ducks in Monday's 7 p.m. contest. RHP Alex Lange (5-6, 3.52 ERA) pitches against Wood Ducks RHP Steven Bruce (3-5, 3.86 ERA). Coverage begins at 6:45 p.m. on MyrtleBeachPelicans.com/Broadcast, TuneIn and the MiLB First Pitch app.

OFFENSE ERUPTS IN 9-2 VICTORY AT DOWN EAST

The Myrtle Beach Pelicans blasted three home runs Sunday in a 9-2 rout of the Down East Wood Ducks. The Woodies opened up the scoring with a run in the third inning before Wladimir Galindo's solo shot in the fifth tied the game. After a Down East tally in the bottom of the fifth, Jared Young smashed a two-run homer in the sixth to put the Birds in front. Myrtle Beach plated four runs in the seventh inning, three of which came on Jhonny Pereda's dinger, to make it 7-2. An Andruw Monasterio RBI single and Aramis Ademan walk with the bases loaded in the eighth extended the advantage to 9-2. Tyson Miller matched a career-high with eight strikeouts in five strong innings.

FIVE FOR FIGHTING

Myrtle Beach is just 1-9 against Buies Creek in the second half of the season, but the Pelicans have handled the rest of their slate nicely since the All-Star Break. The Birds are 10-4 against Lynchburg, Potomac, Carolina and Down East in the second half, and Myrtle Beach has rattled off five straight victories for the first time since the club's nine-game winning streak from June 1-10. Over these five games, the Pelicans have outscored opponents 33-11. The club's starters have yielded just seven runs, six earned, on 18 hits in 26.1 innings for a 2.05 ERA. Meanwhile, as a team, the Pelicans are hitting .293/.379/.420 (174 AB, 51 H, 7 2B, 0 3B, 5 HR, 20 BB, 4 HBP). Before this five-game winning streak, the Birds were batting just .234/.311/.327.

EYE OF THE TIGER

Over his last nine starts dating back to May 17, Alex Lange has pitched to a 2.79 ERA in 48.1 innings. During that span, the Lee's Summit, Mo., native has struck out 46 against 10 walks. This extended hot streak has pushed Lange's FIP, an ERA estimator based on factors most within a pitcher's control like strikeouts, walks and home runs, down to a Carolina League-best 3.05. The former LSU Tiger is second in the circuit in WHIP (1.13) thanks to his impeccable control; Lange has walked only 5.3 percent of batters this season, the fourth-lowest in the league. Also backing his 3.52 ERA, the eighth-best in the CL, is his 21.9 percent strikeout rate, which ranks seventh. Lange's 43.5 percent ground ball rate is the 11th-highest in the circuit, which helps offset a 17.5 percent line drive rate that places 20th.

START SPREADING THE NEWS...

Tyson Miller tossed 5.0 innings with just two runs against in Sunday's 9-2 victory over Down East, continuing a sudden trend of strong starting pitching for Myrtle Beach. Over the last 16 games, Pelicans starters have worked 80.2 innings, yielding only 21 runs, 20 earned, on 56 hits (6.2 H/9) for a 2.23 ERA (72 K, 34 BB). In the seven games prior to this run, Myrtle Beach starters had posted an ugly 7.62 ERA thanks to 27 runs, 24 earned, on 39 hits (12.4 H/9) in 28.1 innings (30 K, 13 BB).

...WE'RE LEAVING TODAY

Thanks to a staff that ranks at or near the top of the Carolina League in nearly every single pitching category, the Pelicans do not necessarily need to score a plethora of runs to win games. Sure enough, when Myrtle Beach plates at least four tallies in a game, the Birds have a 35-9 (.795) record. This success has been exemplified of late; In the 69 games since May 11, the Pelicans have pitched well, posting a collective 3.27 ERA (509.1 IP, 420 H, 7.4 H/9, 218 R, 185 ER). Myrtle Beach has scored at least four runs in 27 of those contests, and the Birds are 25-2 (.926) in those games.

WE WANT TO BE A PART OF IT, IN KINSTON, KINSTON

The only Southern Division club Myrtle Beach has a winning record against this season is Down East. The Pelicans are 12-5 against their division rivals, but a remarkable amount of the clubs' battles have been nail-biters. Of the 17 meetings between the Birds and Wood Ducks this season, 11 have been decided by three runs or less, including seven of their last nine games. Myrtle Beach owns a slim 6-5 advantage in these narrowly-decided contests. Thus, the five Wood Ducks wins against the Pelicans have come by a combined nine runs. The Birds have outscored Down East 103-63 so far in the season series.

PELICAN POINTS

If Myrtle Beach can beat Down East on Monday, the Birds would execute their fifth sweep of the season... Aramis Ademan has reached base in eight consecutive games, batting 8-for-29 (.276/.432/.345) with two doubles, four RBIs, seven walks and a hit-by-pitch over this stretch... Jhonny Pereda is 13-for-36 (.361/.378/.556) with a double, two homers and eight RBIs over the last eight games.

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