CarL1 Myrtle Beach Pelicans

Pelicans Game Notes: 7:00 p.m. at Winston-Salem - July 7, 2014

Published on July 7, 2014 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Myrtle Beach Pelicans News Release


LAST TIME OUT: The Pelicans shut out the Potomac Nationals the series finale at Pfitzner Stadium 2-0 on Sunday night...ANDREW FAULKNER led the charge with five scoreless innings, and JUSTIN SPRENGER and JOSE LECLERC finished off of the team's sixth shutout win of the year...Faulkner has not allowed a run in 11 innings and allowed only one run over his last 19 frames...Neither team scored over the first four innings. The Pelicans got a runner in scoring position in the first and loaded the bases in the second and fourth but failed to score...In the fifth, NICK WILLIAMS led off with a six-pitch walk. JORGE ALFARO then doubled to center field on a ball that was nearly caught by center fielder Mike McQuillan but hit his glove and allowed Williams to third base with no outs...With the infield back, PRESTON BECK grounded a ball to second base, bringing Williams home on the fielder's choice to put his team ahead 1-0...Faulkner dominated once again on Sunday night. The southpaw, who entered second in the league in ERA, scattered four runners over five shutout frames on two doubles, a single, and a walk. He completed the night by retiring the final five hitters and struck out four on the night. He lowered his ERA to 2.22...Sprenger allowed just two baserunners in ten faced, a leadoff single in the seventh and a two-out double to Tony Renda in the eighth that ended his night...With Renda in scoring position, the Birds went to Jose Leclerc who struck out Shawn Pleffner to end the inning and the threat...Myrtle Beach added an insurance run in the ninth off of Sam Runion. After Chris Garia's season-high fourth hit of the contest and a steal of second base, Nick Williams plated the second Pelicans run with a single...The Nationals did not get a baserunner off of Leclerc in the ninth. Faulkner (7-1) earned up the win, while Potomac starter Matthew Spann (5-4) suffered the defeat, allowing a run on seven hits and four walks in six innings. Leclerc picked up his ninth save.

THREE'S COMPANY: Myrtle Beach has squared off against the Dash in three series this season, winning all three sets. The club has a 7-2 record against Winston-Salem this season. The last series was a meeting of first and second place squads in the second half, but now the Dash are in last, despite their .500 second half record.

LOOK MOM! NO WALKS!: For the first time this season, the Pelicans did not walk a single batter on Friday-and did so again in game two of the semi-doubleheader on Saturday. The club walked only one on Sunday and have handed out only one free pass in the last 26 innings.

21! I'LL HOLD: Including the final five innings of the rain-suspended game that was completed on Saturday, the Pelicans did not score a run in 21 innings until a fifth-inning marker to go ahead 1-0 against the Nationals yesterday. It was the longest such stretch by the club this year, yet the team went 2-2 over the stretch.

LIGHTS OUT LECLERC: Flamethrower JOSE LECLERC picked up two saves in the series at Potomac, retiring all seven batters he faced over two outings, including five on strikes. He has retired 12 batters in a row and Carolina Leaguers are 0-for-their-last-15 against him with three walks. If he retires the next two batters he faces, he will match KEONE KELA for the longest stretch of consecutive batters faced by a Pelicans reliever this season. ANDREW FAULKNER has the longest such overall streak, 15 batters retired straight, set in his May 31 start against the Carolina Mudcats.

THE RETURN OF THE KNUCKLEBALL: Promoted today from Hickory, KEVIN PUCETAS makes his return to the Birds. The newly minted Knuckleballer is in his first season after fully converting to the pitch late last year. After a modest stint in Double-A in his first year with the Rangers, Pucetas came down to the Pelicans to work on the pitch, posting 1-3 record and a 4.78 ERA in six outings a year ago. This season, he went 1-1 with a 3.32 ERA in 13 outings, 12 of which came out of the bullpen before the call up.

THE AIKEN ACE: Speaking of Faulkner, the southpaw tossed another five scoreless frames on Sunday en route to his seventh win.

He is one of just two Carolina Leaguers to qualify for the ERA title with only one loss (Frederick's Mark Blackmar, 4-1, is the other). Faulkner is second in the league in ERA (2.22) trailing only Ryan Merritt (1.65), and has still yet to allow a home run, now in 89 1/3 innings.

TRIPLE-THREAT: Pelicans outfielder CHRIS GARIA is in the midst of a breakout season, picked up a season-high four hits on Sunday and is now hitting .304, good for seventh in the league and the highest mark of his career outside of his All-Star Season in the Dominican Summer League in 2011 when he hit .315. With his triple on Monday night, he now has the most triples in the Carolina League since Alex Presley knocked 11 triples in 2009 for the Lynchburg Hillcats. The ten triples is also a career-high for Curaçao native. He is now just three stolen bases shy of his career-high in steals as well and is only two steals back of the active leader in the league, former Coastal Carolina Chanticleer Jacob May of Winston-Salem.

(ONE OF) THE BEST AROUND: The Birds now possess the sixth- best record in full-season MiLB. They trail the South Atlantic League's Savannah Sand Gnats (58-26) and Greensboro Grasshoppers (57-31), the Midwest League's Kane County Cougars (57-29), the Eastern League's Portland Sea Dogs (59-29), and now also the California League's Bakersfield Blaze (56-31), the former Rangers Advanced A affiliate who have won seven in a row. The Pelicans have been as high as second overall, when they trailed only the Dunedin Blue Jays of the Florida State League.

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 (and former Hillcat) 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 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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