Friday, July 10, 2015

Mission Notes vs. St. Lucie (July 10-13)

THE SCHEDULE ... Lakeland returns home for a four-game series with the St. Lucie Mets Friday-Monday. The series gets underway Friday at 6:30 pm followed by a 6 pm game on Saturday. Sunday is at 1 pm with the Monday finale at 6:30 pm.

THE SERIES ... The two clubs split a four-game series May 26-29 in St. Lucie with the Flying Tigers winning the middle two games 4-1 and 4-3 while the Mets won the opener and finale by identical 6-3 scores.

THE FLYING TIGERS (6-8, T-4th North, 4.5 GB; 39-44-1 overall) ... Lakeland and squeezed by the Threshers 4-3 in 13 innings last night in Clearwater. It was the Flying Tigers’ third straight extra-inning game and their fourth in the last five contests. In the last five games, Lakeland has played a combined 65 innings.

THE METS (7-8, 4th-South, 4.0 GB; 42-43 overall) ... St. Lucie beat Charlotte 7-2 last night to win its second straight game after losing four in a row. The Mets have two of the top four hitters in the FSL in Jeff McNeil who is batting .320 to lead the league and Dominic Smith who is fourth with a .300 mark. McNeil, who leads the league with a .378 on-base percentage, is also second with 97 hits and tied for second with 50 runs scored as well as fourth with 29 extra-base hits. Smith leads the FSL with 26 doubles and is third with 51 RBI. St. Lucie is the second highest scoring team in the league and has the fourth highest team batting average.

LOCAL PRODUCT ... St. Lucie catcher Jeff Glenn is a 2009 graduate of Winter Haven High School and was a ninth-round pick of the Mets that year.

LAKELAND PROBABLE STARTERS
FRI., 7/10 - LHP Trent Szkutnik (0-2, 6.00 ERA) ... Szkutnik had his best outing in his last start on July 5 at home against Dunedin, working 6.0 innings and holding the Blue Jays to one run on four hits with six strikeouts. Unfortunately, he did not get the decision as the game was not decided until the bottom of the 21st inning. He has struck out 13 batters over his last three starts and 14.1 innings while walking five. He was not with the club for the first-half Mets’ series.
SAT., 7/11 - RHP Brennan Smith (4-0, 1.93 ERA) ... Smith got the win in his last start on July 6 after holding Dunedin to one run on five hits in 6.0 innings. He struck out five for a second straight start and did not issue a free pass. Smith has won his last four decisions and is 3-0 with a 1.23 ERA in five previous starts. He came on in relief against the Mets on May 26, working 1.2 innings and allowing two runs on one hit and two walks while striking out a pair.
FRI., 7/10 - LHP Kevin Ziomek (3-0, 2.00 ERA) ... Ziomek, who is tied for third in the FSL with 86 strikeouts, gave up two runs—one earned—in 7.0 innings in his last start on July 7 at Clearwater. He surrendered seven hits in that contest and recorded only one strikeout after punching out 10 in his previous start on July 2 at Daytona. Ziomek has a 1.95 ERA over his last four starts, but has just one win for his efforts. He lost his start at St. Lucie on May 29 after being tagged for six runs—five earned—on seven hits in just 2.2 innings.
FRI., 7/10 - LHP Locke St. John (3-0, 2.00 ERA) ... St. John did not factor in the decision in his last start at Clearwater on July 8. He allowed four runs (all in the fifth inning) on five hits over 4.2 innings with four strikeouts and two walks. St. John has surrendered 11 runs in his last 15.1 innings over three starts, but has recorded 11 strikeouts during that span. He faced St. Lucie on May 28 and allowed a pair of unearned runs on three hits in 4.0 innings with two strikeouts and four walks.

TIRED BULLPEN ... All of these extra inning games may have an effect on the Flying Tigers relief pitchers who have tossed 34.1 innings over the last five contests. The staff has performed well, allowing just three earned runs with 26 strikeouts and 10 walks in that span.

RAPPIN’ RHYMES ... Raph Rhymes has reached base safely in 22 consecutive games dating back to June 14. It is the longest active streak in the Florida State League. He is 25x88 (.295) during that stretch with seven doubles and two homers while walking 13 times. He now ranks fourth in the league with 39 walks. Rhymes tops all FSL outfielders with a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage.

HANGING AROUND ... Dominic Ficociello is seventh in the FSL with a .296 batting average and is fourth with 93 base hits. His .995 fielding percentage continues to lead all league first baseman. Ficociello has been charged with four errors in 733 total chances.

FRANKLY FRANCISCO ... Francisco Martinez homered in back-to-back games in the first two battles of the Clearwater series and now leads the Flying Tigers with eight round trippers. His 133 total bases is second most in the league while his 31 extra-base hits is third most. He now has 699 hits for his eight-year career.

LAND OF THE VER ... Ben Verlander has six hits in the last four games (6x17) and has collected at least one base hit in seven of his last eight games for a .314 clip (11x35) with five runs scored.

BATTERING BETANCOURT ... Javier Betancourt is fourth in the FSL with 323 at bats. In the field, he tops all league second baseman with a .995 fielding percentage with six errors in 402 chances.

MILESTONES ... JIWAN JAMES has 331 at bats this season—second most in the league. He needs four more runs scored to reach 300 in his eight-year career and one more stolen base to reach 100 steals.

GOOD START ... Ryan Castellanos made his Lakeland debut last night and picked up the save, tossing a 1-2-3 ninth. The brother of former Flying Tiger and current Detroit Tiger Nick Castellanos got the first batter to ground out and the second to fly out before securing his first Lakeland save by ending the game with a called strikeout.

KEEPING IT REAL ... Tyler Ford worked three more shutout innings last night to run his streak to 9.2 innings as a member of the Flying Tigers. He racked up a career-high six strikeouts in last night’s game and now has 12 strikeouts while issuing just one free pass. 

INSIDE THE NUMBERS ... Lakeland is 25-0 with leading after eight innings and 1-32 when trailing after eight. The Flying Tigers have been involved in 26 games decided by one-run and are 13-13 in those outings. The last three games, each going into extra frames, give Lakeland a total of 13 extra inning games in which the club is 6-7. The Flying Tigers pitching staff has a 2.32 ERA so far in the month of July after posting a 3.80 mark in June. The two homers in the first two games of the Clearwater series by Francisco Martinez gives Lakeland 39 on the season, a mark that is second most in the FSL. Of Lakeland’s 39 dingers, 21 have come on the road.

THE SKIPPER (thru 7/09) ... Dave Huppert ranks 17th among minor league manager in terms of wins a 1,893-1,742 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 285-281 record at Lakeland, including a FSL championship in 2012. 

UP NEXT ... The Flying Tigers will have Tuesday, July 14 off for the Major League All-Star Game and return to action Wednesday, July 15 in the first of a four-game series at Bradenton. The next home series for Lakeland will be July 19-21 against Clearwater.

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