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CarL1 Myrtle Beach Pelicans

Myrtle Beach Pelicans: Game Notes, July 6 at Buies Creek

July 6, 2018 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Myrtle Beach Pelicans News Release


The Myrtle Beach Pelicans battle the Buies Creek Astros in Friday's 6 p.m. contest from Jim Perry Stadium. RHP Erich Uelmen (2-0, 2.38 ERA) starts for the Birds against Buies Creek RHP Brady Rodgers (0-0, 1.29 ERA). Coverage begins at 5:45 p.m. on MyrtleBeachPelicans.com/Broadcast, TuneIn and the MiLB First Pitch app.

MYRTLE BEACH FALLS 6-1

Buies Creek starter Patrick Sandoval struck out nine over five dominant innings to help the Astros to a 6-1 win Thursday over the Myrtle Beach Pelicans. The southpaw did not yield a hit until the fifth inning, and wound up facing the minimum in his five shutout frames. Abraham Toro smacked an RBI double in the first inning to back Sandoval immediately, and the Astros scored twice in the second on an RBI double by Chuckie Robinson and RBI single by Cody Bohanek. D.J. Wilson's RBI ground out got the Birds on the board in the sixth, but a double play ground ball scored a Buies Creek run in the bottom of the sixth to make it 4-1. Toro and Osvaldo Duarte launched solo home runs in the eighth to pad the lead to 6-1. Wladimir Galindo notched two hits in the loss.

POWER OUTAGE

From the 2014 through 2017 seasons, Myrtle Beach finished every campaign in the top half of the Carolina League in home runs. In fact, the Pelicans clubbed a total of 368 long balls, an average of 92 per year. However, with just 34 homers on their ledger through 85 games, the Birds are on pace for just 56 bombs in 2018, which would be the fewest in a single season in Pelicans history (64 home runs, 2013). Entering play on Friday, Myrtle Beach has gone 16 games in a row without hitting a dinger, their longest drought of the season. D.J. Wilson's leadoff homer in the bottom of the first inning in game two of a doubleheader on June 16 was the Birds' last roundtripper, meaning the club's homerless drought extends 135 innings and 20 days.

WHEN THE REGRESSION MONSTER BITES

Following a 4-3 win over Salem on June 10, Myrtle Beach boasted a 10-3 record in one-run games, the best such mark in the Carolina League. However, records in one-run games are mostly correlated with luck and timing, and it is extremely rare for squads to sustain success in these narrow contests over the course of a season. Thus, in nearly every single level across the history of baseball, almost every club posts records in one-run contests at or near .500. Sure enough, the regression monster has come back to bite the Birds. The Pelicans have played five games decided by one run since June 10 and lost all of them, dropping their record to 10-8 in one-run affairs.

HOUSTON, WE HAVE A PROBLEM

A fairly common opponent for Myrtle Beach, the Houston Astros-affiliated Buies Creek Astros had battled the Birds to a draw through the first 36 meetings in the clubs' all-time series. However, after Thursday's 6-1 win by Buies Creek, the Astros have now taken seven consecutive games against the Pelicans, outscoring the Birds 34-9 in the process. In Myrtle Beach's recorded history, which dates back through the 2005 season, the Pelicans had never suffered a seven-game skid against one opponent until this run against Buies Creek.

LESS IS MORE

Cory Abbott pitched five solid innings on Thursday against Buies Creek, continuing a sudden trend of outstanding starting pitching for Myrtle Beach. Over the last seven games, Pelicans starters have worked 38.2 innings, yielding only four runs, all earned, on 23 hits for a 0.93 ERA. At one point during this stretch, the Birds' starting rotation went 27.2 innings in a row without surrendering a run.

FOUR IS A MAGIC NUMBER

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 30-8 (.789) record. This success has been exemplified of late; In the 61 games since May 11, the Pelicans have pitched well, posting a collective 3.23 ERA (429.1 IP, 353 H, 7.4 H/9, 183 R, 154 ER). Myrtle Beach has scored at least four runs in 21 of those contests, and the Birds are 20-1 (.952) in those games.

PELICAN POINTS

Over the last seven games, Myrtle Beach has posted a defensive efficiency of .747 (215 AB, 45 H, 5 HR, 54 K, 2 SF). To put things in perspective, the Tampa Bay Rays lead Major League Baseball in defensive efficiency this season at .734... P.J. Higgins has reached base in eight of his last 12 plate appearances, going 6-for-10 with two doubles and three RBIs during that span... Though the Birds surrendered a pair of home runs last night, the 43 bombs the club has yielded this year is the fewest by three in the league... Ryan Kellogg has pitched at least 2.1 innings in five straight outings.

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