Game #97 Preview
Game #97— Home Game #46
Hagerstown Suns (40–56, 10–16) vs Hickory Crawdads (59–33, 18–8)
Thursday, July 18–7:05 p.m.
Municipal Stadium (Hagerstown, MD)
PITCHING FALTERS IN 11–1 LOSS TO ‘HOPPERS
Tomas Alastre struggled in four innings against the Grasshoppers, leading to a 11–1 loss to Greensboro at First National Bank Field Wednesday afternoon. Alastre (L, 3–10) gave up five homers and eight runs in just four innings of work in Hagerstown’s (40–56, 10–16) loss. Jonah Davis and Jack Herman broke things open with solo homers in the second frame before Greensboro (58–39, 14–12) added four more runs in the third inning and two in the fourth. The Suns got on the board via Phil Caulfield’s second homer of the season. The infielder is now stroking .348 in eight games with the Suns after Wednesday’s 1-for-2 effort where he also drew two walks. Caulfield now own a five-game hitting streak, his longest mark of the season. Not to be outdone, Drew Mendoza finished 2-for-4 with a double to earn his own five-game hitting streak, his second such streak of his young career.
PITCHING MATCH-UP:
Hagerstown sends RHP Jake Irvin (5–6, 4.59 ERA) to the hill, while Hickory counters with RHP Hans Crouse (2–1, 3.71 ERA).
Irvin will make his second start of the season against Hickory. He previously allowed four earned runs on eight hits over five innings against the Crawdads June 25. Crouse will be making his second start of the season against Hagerstown. He tossed four innings and allowed one earned runs against the Suns May 20.
Suns Starters:
Jackson Cluff-SS
Justin Connell-LF
Drew Mendoza-1B
Jacob Rhinesmith-RF
Israel Pineda-C
Kyle Marinconz-3B
Cole Daily-2B
Phil Caulfield-DH
Armond Upshaw-CF
Jake Irvin-RHP
GAME NOTES:
CALL-IN CAULFIELD: 2019 marks the second-consecutive year where Phil Caulfield has joined the Suns half-way through the year. In 2018, the infielder hit .188 through 24 games, nabbing 13 hits in 69 at-bats. So far this season, he is 8-for-23 in seven games and has already driven in 10 RBI — six more than 2018.
FINDING THE ‘CLUFF’ GENE: Hagerstown’s last two extra inning games have come against the Greensboro Grasshoppers and both have ended in similar fashion. The Suns won and the bat to score the winning run, one at home and one on the road, has been shortstop Jackson Cluff. Prior to the second half — when Cluff joined the team, the Suns were 1–7 in extra inning contests, but have now won back-to-back contests in extras. The BYU-product also launched his first professional homer in the second inning last night’s game.
TUMBLING TURNER: Trey Turner had a first half to remember. The righty wrung up 24 batters in 13.1 innings and held opponents to a .111 average to compliment his 0.68 ERA in nine games. He walked just four batters in May and the first half of June before the All-Star Break. Since then though, the Missouri State-product has really struggled. After allowing one runs in the ninth Wednesday, his ERA in the second half is 9.00 and his record stands at 0–3 after eight innings of work. Control has been a major problem for Turner who has walked 10 batters while retiring just 24 in the second half.
TAP THE PEN: Ryan Tapani has bounced between starting and coming from the pen this season. The righty has now played in 18 games and started five on the bump — matching last season’s total. The Creighton-product has spun 14 innings of relief since June 29, allowing just one run and setting down 13 via the strikeout while allowing just eight hits.
PEGGING PEGUERO: Last night Francys Peguero gave up a career-high eight runs in five innings of work, increasing his total to 11 runs in 10 innings in the month of July (since coming off the injured list). Despite the tough stretch, the righty still maintains the lowest ERA on the team (2.95).
GET THEM ON, MOVE THEM OVER: After a promising start to the road trip with runners in scoring position, Hagerstown finished the trip hitting 1-for-16 with runners in scoring position in their last two games.
ON THE AIR: Suns home games and select road games can be heard at bit.ly/SunsRadio where John Kocsis Jr. and Connor Newcomb bring you the call, beginning with the Suns pre-game show at 6:50 p.m.
