THE SERIES ... Lakeland returns home from an eight-game road trip to host Charlotte for four games. The first two games are at 6:30 pm with Saturday’s game at 6 pm and the finale on Sunday at 1 pm. The Stone Crabs won the first meeting between these two clubs on June 16 by a 3-2 score in game one of a doubleheader. The Flying Tigers came back to take the next three games, 2-1, 7-6 (10 inn.), and 7-3. Francisco Martinez had six hits in the four games for Lakeland while Jiwan James and Raph Rhymes each had five hits. Kean Wong collected eight hits for Charlotte.
THE FLYING TIGERS (7-24, 6th North, 13.5 GB; 40-60-1 overall) ... Lakeland snapped a 14-game losing streak in game two of Monday’s doubleheader at Fort Myers, but have since lost back-to-back games, including a 6-0 loss with just three hits last night. With that loss, Lakeland has now lost 18 of its last 20 games. The Flying Tigers are tied with Jupiter for the second lowest team batting average (.236) in the FSL while the 336 runs is fewest amongst league teams. The pitching staff’s 3.56 ERA is fourth highest in the league.
THE STONE CRABS (15-17, 5th South, 8.0 GM, 60-42 overall) ... Charlotte is coming off a four-game sweep at home against Dunedin, outscoring the Blue Jays, 21-8 in the series. With the sweep, the Stone Crabs are 8-3 since July 20. It’s a tale of two halves for Charlotte. The Stone Crabs breezed to the first half Division title with a 45-25 record, outpacing Fort Myers by 7.0 games. However, in the second half, the team is in fifth place with a 15-17 record, 8.0 games behind Palm Beach. One reason for the difference may be the promotions of starter Jacob Farina, who had league highs with a 10-1 record and a 1.33 ERA, and closer Brad Schreiber, who had a FSL-leading 18 saves. Willy Adames, who was part of the trade that brought David Price to Detroit, is tied with Lakeland’s Jiwan James and one other for the FSL lead with six triples. Adames is also fifth in the league with 43 walks. Buddy Borden has an 8-4 record and an ERA of 2.65 which is fifth best in the league. Charlotte is third in the league with a .264 team batting average while the offense has scored 429 runs, second most in the league. The staff ERA of 2.66 is third lowest.
LAKELAND PROBABLE STARTERS
THU., JULY 30 - LHP Kevin Ziomek (5-8, 4.06 ERA) ... Ziomek, who ranks third in the FSL with 100 strikeouts, held Palm Beach to two runs—one earned—on seven hits and four strikeouts in 6.0 innings in his last start on July 24 but did factor into the decision. He has struck out 20 batters over his last five starts and has a 3.00 ERA In that stretch, but is 0-3 for his efforts. Ziomek started against Charlotte on June 16 and shutout the Stone Crabs over 4.0 innings of two-hit ball with a pair of strikeouts and two walks.
FRI., JULY 31 - RHP Endrys Briceno (0-1, 6.00 ERA) ... Bricenco pitched in three games in 2014 before going on the DL where he spent the rest of that season and the first half of the 2015 campaign. In his first start off the DL on July 24, he faced Palm Beach and gave up a pair of runs on three hits in 3.0 innings of work, taking the loss. He walked three and hit four batters in that game. Briceno was not active with the Flying Tigers when they played Charlotte earlier.
SAT., AUG. 1 - LHP Locke St. John (2-10, 5.00 ERA) ... St. John gave up a season-high 10 hits in his last start on July 27 against Fort Myers and has now allowed 25 hits in his last three outings. In that outing, he allowed five runs—four earned—in 4.2 innings of work with one walk and zero strikeouts. He is 0-8 in his last 12 starts and has not tasted victory since beating Dunedin on May 17. St. John did not pitch against Charlotte in the first series.
SUN., AUG. 2 - RHP Jonathan Maciel (4-8, 5.19 ERA) ... Maciel beat Fort Myers on July 27 after limited the Miracle to one run on five hits with two walks and two strikeouts in 6.0 of work. He is 2-2 his last six starts with a 2.81 ERA in that stretch. Maciel started against the Stone Crabs on June 17 and limited Charlotte to a pair of earned runs—four overall—on six hits over 5.0 innings with three strikeouts and one walk.
ROSTER MOVES ... Jared Reaves was activated off the Disabled List on Tuesday with Keaton Jones being sent to Connecticut.
THE DL EFFECT ... Catcher Grayson Greiner was throwing out 40.4 percent of would-be base stealers from the start of the season to early June. He had gunned down 23 of 57 opponents on the base paths before being placed on DL on June 11 after being hit with a foul ball. Greiner spent 11 days on the Disabled List and was activated on June 22. Since then, opponents have been successful on 34 of 42 stolen base attempts as Greiner’s percentage is 19.0 percent over the last month plus.
HEATING UP ... Javier Betancourt has hits in six of his last eight games, going 20x31 during that streak for a .323 average. He has had four games with two hits in each during that stretch. He is fourth in the FSL with 391 at bats and is the third toughest batter in the FSL to strikeout with one strikeout per 11.75 plate appearances. Jiwan James was 5x12 (.417) in each of his last three games and is now 16x56 (.287) in his last 13 games. He is tied with two others for the league lead with six triples and is third with 398 at bats.
HANGING TOUGH ... Francisco Martinez saw a nine-game hit streak snapped last night. He was 12x33 during the streak for a .364 clip with six runs scored. Martinez is third in the FSL with 156 total bases and fifth with a .419 slugging percentage and 33 extra-base hits.
LIGHTS OUT IN THE PEN ... Will Clinard has tossed back-to-back games with 3.0 shutout innings in each and has allowed just two runs over his last 14.0 innings and six relief appearances. Calvin Drummond did not allow a run in either of his last three outings with 5.1 innings of work. Tyler Ford is perfect over seven relief outings, having tossed 14.0 shutout innings with 16 strikeouts and just two walks. Whit Mayberry has given up just one earned run as a Flying Tiger over seven relief appearances and 16.2 innings while striking out 16 and walking five. Scott Sitz has not given up a run in his five outings since returning to Lakeland. He has tossed 10.1 shutout innings with seven hits allowed and nine strikeouts and three walks (two of them intentional).
THE SKIPPER (thru 7/29) ... Dave Huppert ranks 17th among minor league manager in terms of wins with an 1,894-1,758-1 record entering this series. Next up for Huppert is Cal Ermer who is in 16th place with a 1,906-1,728 record from 1947-1984. A 2012 FSL Hall of Fame honoree, Huppert is in his 28th season as a minor league manager. This is his fifth season with the Flying Tigers and he has a 286-297-1 record at Lakeland, including a FSL championship in 2012.
ALUMNI REPORT ... Steven Moya, now playing at Toledo, leads the organization with 17 homers and 62 runs batted in. Erie’s Paul Voelker leads all Detroit minor leaguers with 15 saves while Lakeland’s own Kevin Ziomek is tops with 100 strikeouts. Ziomek is the 34th Lakeland pitcher since 1978 to reach the century mark in strikeouts.
FORMER FLYING TIGER HITS FOUR HOMERS IN TWO GAMES ... Former Flying Tiger, Curt Casali, had impressive back-to-back games for the Rays, going 3x4, with two homers and three RBI on July 27 and then following that with an identical night on July 28. In the two games against Detroit, Casali was 6x8 with four homers and six RBI.
UP NEXT ... After a day off on Aug. 3, Lakeland heads to Clearwater for three games on Aug. 4-6 before returning home Aug. 7 to open a six-game homestand against Daytona and Clearwater.
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