CarL1 Myrtle Beach Pelicans

Myrtle Beach Pelicans: Game Notes, July 8 at Buies Creek

Published on July 8, 2018 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Myrtle Beach Pelicans News Release


The Myrtle Beach Pelicans wrap up their five-game series at the Buies Creek Astros with Sunday's 2 p.m. first pitch. RHP Tyson Miller (7-6, 3.39 ERA) starts for the Birds against Astros RHP Cristian Javier (3-1, 0.89 ERA). Coverage begins at 1:45 p.m. on MyrtleBeachPelicans.com/Broadcast, TuneIn and the MiLB First Pitch app.

THREE-RUN SIXTH BOOSTS BIRDS TO WIN

A three-run sixth inning Saturday propelled the Myrtle Beach Pelicans to a 4-2 win over the Buies Creek Astros from Jim Perry Stadium. Jacob Meyers singled in two runs for the Astros in the third inning to put Buies Creek in front. The score remained 2-0 until the sixth, when Jhonny Pereda's RBI single plated Andruw Monasterio to get the Birds on the board. Later in the frame, Aramis Ademan scampered in to score on a wild pitch to knot the score at two. P.J. Higgins then looped an RBI single to right to get Myrtle Beach in front 3-2. In the ninth inning, the Pelicans added insurance on Wladimir Galindo's solo home run. Bryan Hudson pitched 5.2 innings of two-run ball to earn the win. Manny Rondon and Jhon Romero each pitched 1.2 shutout innings out of the bullpen to seal the win.

IT FINALLY HAPPENED

In the bottom of the first inning in game two of a June 16 doubleheader, D.J. Wilson launched a leadoff home run to put the Pelicans ahead 1-0. However, that wound up being Myrtle Beach's only home run for quite awhile; finally, after exactly three weeks, Wladimir Galindo's solo dinger in the ninth inning Saturday ended a 17-game homerless drought that spanned 152 innings. Even with that bomb, the Birds rank dead last in long balls in the Carolina League, registering just 35 through 87 games. Thus, the Pelicans are on pace for just 56 bombs in 2018, which would be the fewest in a single season in club history (64 home runs, 2013). 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.

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 31-8 (.795) record. This success has been exemplified of late; In the 63 games since May 11, the Pelicans have pitched well, posting a collective 3.37 ERA (446.1 IP, 371 H, 7.5 H/9, 196 R, 167 ER). Myrtle Beach has scored at least four runs in 22 of those contests, and the Birds are 21-1 (.955) in those games.

TYSON'S CORNER

Myrtle Beach starter Tyson Miller, who pitched 6.2 shutout innings of two-hit ball in his last start, gets the nod in Sunday's series finale against Buies Creek. The La Quinta, Calif., native ranks eighth in the Carolina League in FIP, an ERA estimator based on factors most within a pitcher's control like strikeouts, walks and home runs, at 3.38, thanks to a new habit of working up in the strike zone in 2018. Only one pitcher in the Carolina League have posted a higher fly ball rate than Miller's 48.1 percent. Not coincidentally, only two pitcher in the circuit have registered a lower ground ball rate than Miller 34.6 percent mark. Opponents have struck out in 24.2 percent of plate appearances against Miller, the sixth-best mark in the league. His 6.3 walk percentage places 11th.

LESS IS MORE

Bryan Hudson pitched 5.2 strong innings on Saturday, continuing a sudden trend of outstanding starting pitching for Myrtle Beach. Over the last nine games, Pelicans starters have worked 44.1 innings, yielding only seven runs, all earned, on 27 hits (5.5 H/9) for a 1.42 ERA. At one point during this stretch, the Birds' starting rotation went 27.2 innings in a row without surrendering a run.

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.

PELICAN POINT

Myrtle Beach beat Buies Creek 4-2 on Saturday, snapping an eight-game losing streak to the Astros. That skid is the longest to a single opponent in recorded club history (through 2005).

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