CarL1 Myrtle Beach Pelicans

Pelicans Game Notes: 6:05 at Lynchburg - June 29, 2014

Published on June 29, 2014 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Myrtle Beach Pelicans News Release


LAST TIME OUT: The Pelicans remained undefeated at Lynchburg this season with an 8-3 win over the Hillcats on Saturday night at Calvin Falwell Field at City Stadium. JORGE ALFARO blasted his tenth homer, while CHRIS GRAYSON hit his first High-A long ball of the year...The Hillcats had not allowed a hit in 20 2/3 consecutive innings entering Saturday's game...Daniel Watts recorded two outs before NICK WILLIAMS ended that streak with an infield single to second baseman Levi Hyams. JORGE ALFARO followed with a two-run blast down the left field line, his tenth home run, to put the Birds ahead 2-0...LUIS PARRA allowed a solo home run to Jose Martinez...The Pelicans southpaw then set down eight of the next nine batters before Lynchburg tied it in the fourth. With one out Kevin Ahrens doubled on a ground ball down the left field line and came across to score two batters later on a single from Emerson Landoni, tying the score at 2-2...Myrtle Beach pulled right back into the lead in the following half inning. Watts surrendered a leadoff home run to Grayson that flew over the outfield fence just to the right of center field...The Birds led the rest of the way. They added two unearned runs later in the fifth, one on an error by Watts and a third of the inning on an RBI double from PRESTON BECK...Parra finished his night after five strong innings.

He allowed two runs, both earned on just three hits and a walk. He struck out a season-high six batters....David Nick opened the home half of the sixth with a solo home run off of reliever Ryan Bores, cutting the deficit to two runs at 5-3...The Pelicans bullpen did not allow a run the rest of the way, as Bores, Justin Sprenger, and Jose Leclerc scattered three hits, three walks, and a hit batter over the final four innings...The Pelicans tacked on three more runs in eighth...Parra (6-4) earned his first win of June, while Watts (0-1) lost his first Hillcats decision.

LEAVING NO DOUBT: Entering the series, the Lynchburg Hillcats had not given up a hit since Wednesday. The club threw back-to- back no-hitters on Thursday and Friday against the Wilmington Blue Rocks with a hitless streak of 20 2/3 innings when the game began on Saturday. Three batters into the game, the Pelicans collected their first hit, coming from NICK WILLIAMS, and four batters deep, the team scored, as JORGE ALFARO blasted his tenth home run. Myrtle Beach is hitting .280 against the Hillcats and have scored an average of 6.3 runs per game, going 6-1 in the seven contests thus far and 4-0 at Calvin Falwell Field. Furthermore, they have never trailed at Lynchburg this season. The Pelicans have double-digit hits in three of the seven games and at least eight hits in all but one contest between the two clubs.

THE HOME RUN RECIPE: Myrtle Beach leads the Carolina League in homers with 70 and have hit multiple home runs in a game 17 times this season, most recently on Saturday. The club is 16-1 in those games with the only loss coming in a 5-4 defeat at Frederick on May 21. DAVID LYON and CHRISTOPHER BOSTICK both homered in that game, and the difference in the game was an uneared run off of ALEXANDER CLAUDIO, now in Double-A, in the seventh inning.

THE BROTHERS CAFE: Lynchburg outfielder Jose Martinez hit a long ball off of the Pelicans yesterday, his first as an affiliated player this season. The 25-year-old is the older brother of 2012 Pelicans outfielder TEODORO MARTINEZ, who is now with the Frisco RoughRiders. Teodoro also hit a home run last night for the 'Riders.

Both nicknamed "Cafe" after their father and grandfather, they hit home runs on the same day last year as well on two occassions, once on August 11 and also on May 15, 2013-Teo hit two home runs that day, his first multi-homer game of his career. Saturday marked the fourth time that the brothers have hit homers on the same day; they also did so on May 12, 2012 when Teodoro was a Pelican, coming in a 9-4 win over the Frederick Keys. Combined, the two have 65 MiLB homers spread out over 14 combined seasons.

BACK TO THEIR WINNING ROAD WAYS: The Pelicans once again won a road game and posses the second-best road record in the minors. Only the fellow Rangers farm team, the Class-A Hickory Crawdads (27-10 road), have a better road winning percentage. The Crawdads have a current seven-game road winning streak and have won 12 of their last 13 road contests. Myrtle Beach was one of the final teams in full-season minor league baseball to suffer a road defeat, opening the year with eight straight road wins, but the club went on longest road losing streak of the year recently, four games. That streak was snapped on Monday at Carolina; the club also won on Tuesday in the road series finale and have won three straight road games with last night's win.

SHUFFLE UP AND DEAL: Counting the announcement of the initial roster as a transaction, the Pelicans had just 23 total transactions through the end of May. The club has had 31 moves this month alone, most recently on Wednesday. Left-handed pitcher ALEXANDER CLAUDIO was promoted to Double-A Frisco, while righty JOSE MONEGRO was transferred down to Class-A Hickory. Right-handed pitcher RYAN BORES returns from Frisco. He spent part of April with the team.

(ONE OF) THE BEST AROUND: The Birds possess the sixth-best record in full-season MiLB, jumping up two spots with their win on Tuesday. They trail the South Atlantic League's Savannah Sand Gnats (50-26) and Hagerstown Suns (52-28), the Midwest League's Kane County Cougars (52-27), the Eastern League's Portland Sea Dogs (53- 27), and the Southern League's Hunstville Stars (52-26). All six teams won yesterday.

THE BEST CATCHER IN THE WORLD?: Just like 2013, Rangers farmhands JORGE ALFARO and JOEY GALLO were named to the SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game. Neither participated last year due to injury but are both currently on their respective active rosters at the moment. Alfaro and Braves minor leaguer Christian Bethancourt are the two catchers on the World Team. The game will be played before the on Sunday, July 13 at Target Field at 5:00 p.m. and will air on MLB Network.

STRUTTING THEIR FEATHERS: The Pelicans roster currently features four players highlighted in Baseball America's list of the Rangers' Top 30 prospects, including two of the top 5, and two in the overall top 100 in MiLB. Catcher JORGE ALFARO (ranked No. 2 in the Rangers Top 30, No. 54 in the overall Top 100) and NICK WILLIAMS (3, 97) rank in the top 100. The other two players in the Texas Top 30 are RHP JOSE LECLERC (16) and LHP ALEXANDER CLAUDIO (27).

Unranked in the top 30, CHRIS GARIA is the "Fastest Baserunner" and PRESTON BECK has the "Best Outfield Arm." CHRISTOPHER BOSTICK, traded from Oakland in December, was ranked No. 18 in the Athletics' top 30 by BA. Third baseman JOEY GALLO (4, 60) and RHPs ALEX "CHI CHI" GONZALEZ (5) and KEONE KELA (18) were all on the Pelicans' Opening Day Roster and are now with the Double-A Frisco RoughRiders.

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Carolina League Stories from June 29, 2014


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