CarL1 Myrtle Beach Pelicans

Pelicans Game Notes: 6:05 p.m. vs. Salem Red Sox - August 3, 2014

Published on August 3, 2014 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Myrtle Beach Pelicans News Release


LAST TIME OUT: The Pelicans dropped Game 2 to the Salem Red Sox 5-3 on Saturday night...Salem took the lead in the season series eight games to seven with the win...The Pelicans took a 2-0 lead in the first inning. With one out, JORGE ALFARO hit a solo shot into the Budweiser Thirst Inning deck off of the first pitch he saw from Red Sox starter Pat Light to give the Birds a 1-0 lead. With two outs, ROYCE BOLINGER and NICK WILLIAMS' hit back-to-back doubles to bring home the second run...The Red Sox cut the Pelicans' lead to 2-1 in the top of the second. On a 3-2 count with one out, Carson Blair hit a solo home run to left field off of Pelicans starter CHAD BELL...Bell pitched five innings, allowing one run while scattering four hits, striking out four and walking none...JUSTIN SPRENGER entered the game in the sixth inning, and worked around a throwing error by CHRISTOPHER BOSTICK to keep the score 2-1...Myrtle Beach scored its third run of the game in the bottom half of the inning. Williams struck out swinging to lead off the inning but advanced to second base when Carson Blair lost track of the wild pitch on the dropped third strike. Williams advanced to third base on LEWIS BRINSON's fly out and scored on a fielding error by Red Sox shortstop Jose Vinicio. The Pelicans loaded the bases in the inning, but Red Sox reliever Matty Ott came on and induced a ground out to escape the jam...The Red Sox scored three runs, two of them unearned, to take the lead in the top of the seventh.

Reed Gragnani walked to lead off and later advanced to second base when Alfaro's pickoff attempt went into right field. In the same at-bat, Blair hit a ground ball to Luis Mendez, but Mendez threw wide of first base to allow Gragnani to score and Blair to advance to second base.

Alfaro threw out Blair at third on a fielder's choice, and Aneury Tavarez reached first on the play. In the next at-bat, Matt Gedman doubled to left field to put runners at second and third with one out. Tavarez scored on an RBI fielder's choice by Vinicio to tie the game at three, and Gedman advanced to third. Matty Johnson then drove in the go- ahead run with an RBI single to right field to give the Red Sox the lead for good...Salem added their fifth run when Carlos Asuaje hit an RBI double to center field in the ninth, but he was thrown out trying to advance to third on a relay throw by Mendez to end the inning...Ott (2-1) worked around a leadoff single by Mendez to close the game and earn the win. Ott retired 10 of the 11 batters he faced, including the first seven. Sprenger (0-3) allowed only one earned run but took the loss.

KEEP THOSE BROOMS AWAY: Friday's defeat snapped a three- game winning streak for the Pelicans. The club has posted seven streaks of three wins or more this season, six of which came in the first half. Amazingly, the team has lost three or more consecutively only once, when Salem swept the Pelicans in the first four games of the season. They need a win today to avoid the sweep and a third straight defeat.

LOSING ON THE SOUTHERN FRONT: Part of the Pelicans' record setting first half was due to the club's dominance against its own division. Myrtle Beach went 17-7 against the Southern Division in the first half, the best mark in the league against its division rivals. The Pelicans are just 9-12 against Southern Division foes in the second half and have lost six of the last eight games played against those same teams.

FROM THE BEACH TO THE BIGS: 2012 and 2013 Pelicans reliever PHIL KLEIN was promoted to big leagues yesterday by the Texas Rangers. He is the 129th Pelican to play in the big leagues and the 118th to make his debut after his time in Myrtle Beach (six were MLB rehabbers, four previously played in the majors and made it back, and another, Ryan Drese, was a former big leaguer that did not make it back). Klein is the ninth former Pelican to make his MLB debut this season, joining ROUGNED ODOR, LUIS SARDINAS, NICK MARTINEZ, NEIL RAMIREZ, BEN ROWEN, ROMAN MENDEZ, KYLE HENDRICKS, and MATT WEST. Klein spent parts of two seasons with the Birds, posted a 1.50 ERA in 14 outings. He has had a breakout season this year to say the least. The former Youngstown State Penguin sports a 0.52 minor league ERA across Double-A and Triple-A and has not allowed a single extra-base hit in 51 2/3 innings.

In his major league debut last night, however, Klein allowed a leadoff home run to Cleveland's Lonnie Chisenhall. He also allowed an infield single and committed a balk, allowing one run in his only inning of work.

A PERFECT FIRST IMPRESSION: Tossing another three scoreless innings on Wednesday afternoon in extra-innings, reliever JOSH MCELWEE joins trails only JOSE MONEGRO (13.0 IP) for the most innings thrown to begin his 2014 Pelicans season without allowing a run. McElwee has allowed just five hits and four walks in his eleven shutout frames and has struck out 15 batters. He fanned 14.25 batters per nine innings while in the South Atlantic League with the Hickory Crawdads before his July 18 promotion. He is fanning 12.27/9 IP in his time in the Carolina League thus far.

RUNNING WILD: With CHRIS GARIA's 35th stolen base of the season on Friday, the outfielder is now second in the league and tied for third on the single season record list in team history in stolen bases. He is tied with J.C. HOLT (35, 2006) and trails only QUENTIN DAVIS (37, 2007) and ADAM STERN (40, 2002). The 35 steals is also career-high for the native of Willemstad, Curaçao. The Pelicans currently lead the league in stolen bases after trailing Lynchburg for most of the year.

TREADING WATER: On Monday, for the fifth time in the half, the Pelicans faced falling below a .500 record, and once again, the club avoided that fate. The Pelicans have not been below .500 in the second half and have not been under the even mark for the season since their first win in a four-game sweep at Salem on April 11 to improve to 4-4.

The Pelicans need a win today to avoid falling back to .500. 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 players in the Texas Top 30 are OF LEWIS BRINSON (15) and RHP JOSE LECLERC (16).

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), KEONE KELA (18), and LHP ALEXANDER CLAUDIO (27) were all on the Pelicans' Opening Day Roster and are now with the Double-A Frisco RoughRiders.

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