PROBABLE PITCHERS
Saturday, July 30, 7 p.m. – RHP Yunesky Maya (1-7, 5.32 ERA) vs. LHP Adam Wilk (5-5, 3.47 ERA)
Sunday, July 31, 6 p.m. – RHP Craig Stammen (0-4, 6.31 ERA) vs. LHP Ramon Garcia (0-3, 5.03 ERA)
Monday, Aug. 1, 7 p.m. – RHP Brad Peacock (2-1, 4.41 ERA) vs. LHP Andy Oliver (6-7, 4.64 ERA)
Tuesday, Aug. 2, 12 p.m. – LHP Tommy Milone (8-6, 3.62 ERA) vs. RHP Thad Weber (5-7, 5.56 ERA)
TWITTER POST: MudHens hope to continue climb to .500 -- & improve 17-8 July mark -- with 4 games vs Syracuse at 5/3 Field Saturday-Tuesday, July 30-Aug. 2
CHIEFS CHATTER: Syracuse has been the Triple-A affiliate of Washington since the 2009 season. … Their manager is Randy Knorr, who is in his first season in that position. … The Chiefs enter this series having won their last three games in Columbus but had lost the four previous contests. … Syracuse enters this series with a 47-58 record, good for fourth place in the IL’s North Division. The Chiefs trail first-place Lehigh Valley by 14 games. They are 10 full games in back of third-place Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and four in front of fifth-place Buffalo. … Offensively, the Chiefs rank 13th in the 14-team IL with a .251 team batting average. Syracuse has scored 420 runs in 105 games (4.00 runs per game) and rank last in the league in that category. … 1B Chris Marrero leads the team with a .301 average and has 10 homer runs and a team-high 53 RBIs. … Recent acquisitions IF Brian Bixler (.314 average in 25 games) and 2B Steve Lombardozzi (.318 average in 36 games) have helped the offense. … OF Michael Aubrey leads the Chiefs with 11 home runs. … OF Gregor Blanco leads the team with 15 stolen bases. … Syracuse ranks 12th in the IL with a 4.41 team ERA (Toledo is ninth with a 4.18 ERA). The Chiefs are seventh in runs allowed with 474 (4.51 runs per game). … LHP Tom Milone leads the active pitchers with a 3.62 ERA. Milone leads the IL with 120 strikeouts, and he also leads all starters with 0.77 walks per nine innings and 9.31 baserunners per nine innings. … RHP Craig Stammen has 97 whiffs in 108.2 innings. … RHP Josh Wilkie leads the team with nine saves in 11 opportunities and a 2.66 ERA.
HEN HIGHLIGHTS: Last year the Mud Hens finished with a 4-4 record against the Chiefs, including a 2-2 mark at Fifth Third Field. … Toledo entered this season with a 23-13 record against the Chiefs at Fifth Third Field. The Mud Hens began this season 41-31 versus Syracuse since Fifth Third Field opened in 2002; the only two seasons the Hens had a losing record against the Chiefs were 2003 (3-5) and ’04 (2-6). … The Hens swept four games at Alliance Bank Stadium April 26-29. In that series the Hens hit .336 against the Chiefs and has a 1.80 ERA to win by a combined margin of 23-6. … Individually, OF Timo Perez batted .400 against Syracuse with two homers and nine RBIs in four games. … 1B Ryan Strieby also hit .400 against the Chiefs with a homer and two RBIs. … On the mound, the Mud Hens got fine work from their four starters, who allowed just five runs in 24.2 innings (1.82 ERA). … As a team, the Chiefs have hit just .236 against the Hens so far this year. The only player who had consistent success against the Hens was 1B Chris Marrero, who hit .357. … On the mound, the Chiefs have a 6.75 ERA against the Hens. … The Syracuse starters struggled in that series, as witnessed by 17.18 ERA of Tom Milone and 6.75 mark of Craig Stammen.
NEWS WORTH NOTING: Syracuse OF Jeff Frazier has hit .199 with seven homers and 32 RBIs in 86 games for Chiefs. Last season he was a post-season IL All-Star after hitting .256 with 25 homers and 73 RBIs in 123 games. … Syracuse IF Brian Bixler grew up in Sandusky and attended Eastern Michigan. … Chiefs IF Steve Lombardozzi is the son of the former major leaguer with the same name. The elder Lombardozzi played for the Mud Hens in 1984-85 and 1990. … Mud Hens 2B Will Rhymes has moved into third place in the IL batting race with a .319 mark. … 1B Ryan Strieby has moved into fifth place in the league with 17 home runs. He has seven this month.
TOP PROSPECTS: 1B Chris Marrero began this season as Washington’s ninth-ranked prospect, according to Baseball America. … RHP Brad Peacock began the season as the Nationals’ 10th-best prospect.
RADIO & TELEVISION: All four games will be broadcast live on WCWA, 1230-AM and broadcast live on BCSN.
PROMOTIONS
Saturday, July 30, 7 p.m. – It will be “Polish-American Night” at the ballpark, and there also will be a salute to “I Love Lucy.” There will be post-game fireworks.
Sunday, July 31, 6 p.m. – A special “Home Plate” event featuring Todd Jones and Christian rock band Southbound Fearing will take place starting at 3 p.m. Two Mud Hens also will sign autographs before the game. “Kids run the bases” takes place after the game, as do post-game fireworks.
Monday, Aug. 1, 7 p.m. – The Mud Hens will be giving away a bobblehead of Moses Fleetwood Walker, the first African-American in major-league history, to the first 1,000 fans.
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