Game Notes 7/25/15: Intimidators at “BruceClaws”
Kannapolis Intimidators (15–13, 50–47) at Lakewood “BruceClaws” (17–11, 50–46)
Satuday, July 25, 2015–7:05 p.m.
FirstEnergy Park — Lakewood, N.J.
Game #98 of 139
RHP Spencer Adams (6–4, 3.43) vs. RHP Shane Watson (0–2, 6.17)
Today’s Preview: The Intimidators (A, White Sox) bring a streak of seven consecutive road series wins into FirstEnergy Park for a four-game series against the BlueClaws (A, Phillies). This is the final series of the season between Kannapolis and Lakewood, and the BlueClaws — who will be playing today’s game as the “BruceClaws” in tribute to New Jersey’s Bruce Springsteen — lead the season-series over the Intimidators, 6–5. Lakewood won two of three games at Intimidators Stadium supported by Carolinas HealthCare System last week, and the two teams split a pair of four-game series in the first half.
Road Warriors: The Intimidators are 26–20 (.565) on the road, tied with 26–20 Hickory for the best road record in the SAL. Kannapolis has won seven consecutive road series coming into this four-game series in Lakewood. The Intimidators took three of four games in Hagerstown (May 28–31), two of three in Greenville (June 1–3), three of four in Delmarva (June 12–15), swept two games in Greensboro (June 20–21), won three of four in Augusta (July 4–7), three of five in Charleston (July 8–12), and two of three this week in Greensboro (July 22–24).
Intimidating Starter: Spencer Adams, 20, makes his 16th start with Kannapolis and third against Lakewood. He is coming off five consecutive wins, including his Class A-Advanced Debut in his last outing July 19 against Lynchburg. Adams spun 6.0 scoreless innings with the Dash. The White Sox №3 prospect has won four straight South Atlantic League starts, including three on the road. If Adams earns a win today, he will be the first Intimidator to earn a win in five straight starts since Cameron Bayne won six straight starts July 27-Aug. 25, 2010. In the Second Half, Adams is 3–0 with a 1.11 ERA (3 ER/24.1 IP) in four starts between Kannapolis and Winston-Salem. Since he opened the season 0–2 with a 6.08 ERA in four April starts, Adams has gone 7–2 with a 2.87 ERA (20 ER/62.2 IP) in 16 starts with Kannapolis and Winston-Salem. The second round pick (44th overall) from the June 2014 First-Year Player Draft was named Best Athlete in the Sox 2014 draft class by Baseball America. He made his professional debut in 2014 with the AZL White Sox, going 3–3 with a 3.67 ERA (17 ER/41.2 IP) in 10 games (nine starts). He struck out 59 batters while walking just four in the Arizona League, including a career-high nine strikeouts in three different starts. The Cleveland, Ga., native graduated from White County High School.
BruceClaw on the Bump: Shane Watson, 21, makes his fourth start for Lakewood and sixth of the year after two starts with the GCL Phillies. The former first round pick missed the start of the 2015 season after serving a 50-game suspension for testing positive for a banned substance. The right-hander took a road loss at Rome in his last start on July 18, giving up five runs (four earned) on eight hits over four innings. This season, Watson is 0–2 with a 6.32 ERA (11 ER/15.2 IP), 15 strikeouts, and 13 walks in five games (five starts). Prior to missing the entire 2014 season, Watson — the 40th overall pick from the 2012 draft who was taken one pick after Joey Gallo — spent all of 2013 with the BlueClaws, going 4–6 with a 4.75 ERA in 16 starts. He faced Kannapolis April 6, 2013, giving up a run on two hits over 6.0 innings in a no decision, his lone start against a White Sox affiliate in his career. Watson attended Lakewood (Calif.) High School, the same school as Intimidators outfielder Hunter Jones.
Get Josh Feldman’s stories in your inbox
Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.
About Last Night: Justin Twine hit a pair of two-run doubles to lead Greensboro to a 7–6 win over the Intimidators on Friday. Twine finished 3–3 with four RBI. Kannapolis trailed 7–4 going into the ninth and rallied for two runs in the final frame before Kelvin Rivas recorded the final two outs for the save (1). Hoppers’ Jorgan Cavanerio (2–4) earned the win, giving up four runs on eight hits over 6.0 innings. Connor Walsh (0–1) tossed a career-long 3.1 innings but gave up three runs on three hits with five strikeouts and a walk while taking the loss. Alexander Simon went 2–5 with a home run and two RBI.
Alexander The Great: First baseman Alexander Simon has hit home runs in his last two games, opening the scoring with a two-run home run on Thursday and blasted a solo home run Friday. He now has three home runs this season, and all are go-ahead bombs. Simon is the fourth Intimidator to hit home runs in consecutive games, joining James Baldwin (April 22–23), Chris Curley (April 29–30), and Louie Lechich (May 6–7).
Wring ’Em Up: One day after the Intimidators struck out a season-high 15 batters Thursday in Greensboro, Kannapolis pitchers fanned 13 more batters on Friday. The I’s previous team-high was 12 strikeouts, which the team reached five times in 2015, most recently June 5 at Delmarva.
A Bullish Pen: The Kannapolis bullpen combined to work 9.0 innings Thursday, allowing one run on four hits with eight strikeouts and two walks. Jose Brito gave up a run over 2.0 innings in the seventh and eighth. David Trexler tossed 3.0 scoreless innings to get Kannapolis through the 11th, striking out three. Jacob Morris matched his career-high with 3.0 scoreless, hitless innings to earn the win, and Brad Salgado worked around two hits in a scoreless 15th for the save (4).
More J-Mo: Jacob Morris matched his career-high with 3.0 scoreless innings, equaling an effort from July 9 at Charleston. He ranks second among SAL relievers in average (.157). Morris has not allowed a run in his last 11.0 innings, spanning five outings. He has allowed no runs in 13 of his last 15 relief appearances. Morris is now 1–0 with a 1.84 ERA in seven Second Half games.
Going Long: The Intimidators played their longest game of the season on Thursday, taking four hours, 39 minutes to beat the Grasshoppers in 15 innings. The team’s previous long game for innings and time came April 10 in Lakewood, a 12-inning game lasting three hours, 50 minutes.
Broadcast Information: This season, all 140 games will be broadcast live on the Kannapolis Intimidators Baseball Network at IntimidatorsBaseball.com and via TuneIn Radio App with the Josh Feldman, in his fifth season as the “Voice of the Intimidators,” and Nick Nollenberger, in his first year with the team.
