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PCL1 Memphis Redbirds

Game Notes: Memphis Música (50-63) vs El Paso Margaritas (66-47)

August 5, 2019 - Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Memphis Redbirds News Release


Memphis Música (50-63) vs El Paso Margaritas (66-47)

Monday, August 5 - 6:35 p.m. (CT) - AutoZone Park (10,000) - Memphis, Tennessee

Game #114 - Home Game #59 (22-36)

RHP Chris Ellis (3-5, 7.44) vs LHP Dietrich Enns (10-7, 6.20)

BY THE NUMBERS

1 Hits allowed by the Redbird pitching staff yesterday. Daniel Ponce de Leon, Seth Elledge, Chasen Shreve and Junior Fernandez combined to toss the 12th one-hitter in franchise history. This is the second-straight season the Redbirds have one-hit an opponent in a game.

32 Consecutive starts that Randy Arozarena has reached base safely. During that span, he has 14 games with at least two hits.

THE GAME

TONIGHT'S GAME: The Memphis Redbirds conclude their seven-game homestand in the fourth and final game against the El Paso Chihuahuas tonight. Both teams will take on their Copa de la Diversión identities in tonight's game and play as the Memphis Música and El Paso Margaritas. The Redbirds clinched at least a series split with yesterday's 2-0 shut-out win over the Chihuahuas, holding one of the best offensive teams in the Pacific Coast League to just one hit. It was the first shutout by Redbirds pitching since June 22 at Oklahoma City and their fifth overall this season. Randy Arozarena went 2-for-3 with a run scored and has now reached base safely in his last 32 starts. Edmundo Sosa extending his hitting streak to a season-high 11 games with his double in the first. Tonight's game will be broadcast live on www.memphisredbirds.com with Steve Selby on the call.

ABOUT COPA DE LA DIVERSION: "Copa de la Diversión," or "Fun Cup," is a season-long event series specifically designed to embrace the culture and values that resonate most with participating teams' local U.S. Hispanic/Latinx communities. In 2019, Minor League Baseball had 72 teams participate this year, up from 33 teams in 2018, which was the first year of the Copa de la Diversión.

ON THE HILL: Right-hander Chris Ellis is scheduled to take the mound in tonight's game and make his 35th appearance and second start for the Redbirds in tonight's series finale. In his last time out in relief on Wednesday vs. Albuquerque, Ellis tossed 3.0 innings in relief and allowed six runs on seven hits, two of which went for home runs. He matched his season-highs in hits and earned runs allowed, but overall he has three outings in his last six with no earned runs allowed. Ellis made his lone start of the season on July 13 vs. Oklahoma City in the second game of a doubleheader, where he suffered the loss (1.2 IP, 7 H, 6 R/ER, 1 BB, 1 SO) in the Redbirds' 8-5 defeat to the Dodgers. That was his first start since Sept. 3, 2018, which he made for the Redbirds at Nashville. Ellis made 14 starts for the 'Birds last season and went 4-4, 4.16 (33 ER/7.1 IP) in 14 starts. He made one start against El Paso last season on June 16 at Southwest University Park and took no-decision (5.0 IP, 4 H, 4 R/ER, 1 BB, 7 SO, 1 HR) in the Redbirds' 8-6 victory over the Chihuahuas. Ellis made his Major League debut this season on March 31 with the Kansas City Royals vs. the Chicago White Sox at Kauffman Stadium, tossing a scoreless ninth inning. He was later returned to the Cardinals via the Rule 5 process on April 9 after being designated for assignment by the Royals on April 3. The Birmingham, Ala., native is in his sixth professional season and his third within the St. Louis organization. He has also spent time in the Los Angeles-AL, Atlanta and Kansas City organizations.

The Chihuahuas are scheduled to start left-hander Dietrich Enns in tonight's series finale. The 28-year-old has gone 10-7, 6.20 (79 ER/114.2 IP) in 22 games, 19 starts with El Paso this season and has yielded an opponent's average of .309 (146x472). In his last time out on Wednesday at Nashville, Enns suffered the loss (6.0 IP, 7 H, 7 R, 5 ER, 2 BB, 2 SO, 2 HR) in the Chihuahuas' 7-6 defeat to the Sounds. Enns has allowed at least six hits in 11-straight outings and at least five earned runs in four-straight. He has also allowed at least two long balls in five-straight starts and has allowed home runs in 16 of his 22 outings. Tonight will be Enns' first start against in his career. The Frankfort, Ill., native is in his eighth professional season and his first within the San Diego organization. He has also spent time within the New York-AL and Minnesota organizations at various levels. The Central Michigan University product last appeared at the big-league level in 2017, going 0-0, 6.75 (3 ER/4.0 IP) in two games, one start for the Twins.

HISTORY WITH EL PASO: The Redbirds have faced off against the El Paso Chihuahuas every year since 2014. Memphis leads in the overall series 12-11 and leads at this facility 6-5. The Chihuahuas last visited downtown Memphis in 2017, where the Redbirds took three-of-four to claim a series win. The teams met last season at Southwest University Park, where they split a four-game set 2-2.

The two teams have squared off in the postseason once, with the Redbirds coming away victorious in in the 2017 Pacific Coast League Championship. The Redbirds captured their first PCL title since 2009 by winning the series 3-2, winning the finale on the road 3-1. Current Redbird Adolis Garcia went 5-for-20 with three runs scored, a double, a home run and two runs driven in during the series.

This is 22nd-straight year that the Redbirds have faced off against the San Diego Padres' Triple-A affiliate. El Paso has been the Padres' top affiliate since 2014 and Memphis has a 10-10 record during that span. From 1998-2000, the Las Vegas Stars were was the organization's top affiliate, where the Redbirds went 12-8. From 2001-10, the 'Birds went 27-10 against the Portland Beavers and from 2011-13 they went 7-5 against the Tucson Padres. Overall, Memphis is 58-34 against the Padres' Triple-A club.

THE SEASON

ABOUT THE LAST ONE: Memphis Redbirds pitching held the El Paso Chihuahuas (Padres), one of the best-hitting teams in the Pacific Coast League, to one hit in a 2-0 win Sunday afternoon at AutoZone Park.

Daniel Ponce de Leon, Seth Elledge, Chasen Shreve, and Junior Fernandez combined for El Paso's first blanking since May 30. The Chihuahuas lead the league in home runs and are second in batting average this season. The one-hitter is the 12th in Redbirds history and second since 2015.

El Paso's (66-47) only hit of the day was a fifth-inning single, and the batter was promptly erased trying to stretch the single into a double. After that, Elledge, Shreve, and Fernandez retired 10-straight and 13 of the last 14 to end the game. Ponce de Leon struck out eight in 4.0 hitless innings in his start.

Memphis (50-63) scored in the third and fourth innings, with Randy Arozarena singling, moving to second on an error, stealing third, and scoring on an Edmundo Sosa sacrifice fly in the third, and Adolis Garcia doubling, stealing third, and scoring on a Max Schrock base knock in the fourth.

Arozarena has now reached base in 32-straight starts, and Sosa is on an 11-game hitting streak.

Yadier Molina continued his injury rehab assignment from the St. Louis Cardinals, catching seven innings and going 0-for-3 at the plate. He is expected to be with the Redbirds again tomorrow night.

The Redbirds have won five of their last six games and 12 of their last 16 overall.

The game started after a 2:57 pregame rain delay.

ROSTER MOVES: The following roster moves were made prior to yesterday's game: Matt Carpenter's Major League rehab assignment ended, Ryan Helsley was recalled by St. Louis and Rangel Ravelo was optioned to Memphis.

Over four games with the Redbirds, Carpenter went 2-for-11 with two runs scored, a double and three RBI.

Helsley heads to the big leagues for his fifth stint with the Cardinals this season. In his last appearance for the Redbirds on Wednesday vs. Albuquerque, he twirled three perfect frames in the start, fanning four batters. He has gone 0-0, 2.92 (4 ER/12.1 IP) to begin his MLB career.

Ravelo returns to the Bluff City and is line to make his first appearance for the Redbirds since July 18. During his thrid MLB stint of the season from July 21 - August 3, Ravelo went 2-for-11 with a double over eight games.

'BIRDS SILENCE BATS: Memphis Redbird pitchers held the El Paso Chihuahuas, one of the most potent offenses in the Pacific Coast League, to just one hit in yesterday's 2-0 shut-out win. Daniel Ponce de Leon began the game with four hitless frames and fanned eight. Seth Elledge followed and allowed a single to the second batter he faced to end the no-hit bid, but he, Chasen Shreve and Junior Fernandez retired 13 of the next 14 batters to end the game. It was the 12th one-hitter in franchise history and first since Ponce de Leon's solo effort on July 15 at Omaha.

HANG TEN ELEVEN: With his double in the first inning of last yesterday's game, Edmundo Sosa extended his hitting streak to a season-high 11 games. His single in Saturday's contest marked the first since Aug. 23 - Sept. 3, 2017 that Sosa has posted a 10-game hitting streak and he is now three games shy of matching his career-high mark of 14, which he set from April 10-26, 2016 while playing at Single-A Peoria. He is also the fifth different Redbird this season to have a hitting streak of at least 10 games.

RANDY REPEATS: After slashing .374/.456/.607/1.063 in 28 games between Double-A Springfield and Triple-A Memphis in June en route to being named Cardinals Minor League Player of the Month, Randy Arozarena won the award for the second-straight month after posting a slash of .378/.455/.592/1.047 in 26 games in July. Arozarena became the third Redbird in franchise history to hit for the cycle on July 26 at Oklahoma City and accomplished that feat in his first four at-bats and had 12 total multi-hit games in July. He has also reached base safely in his last 32 starts and has 14 multi-hit games during that span.

BIG BIRDS ON THE MEND: A pair of rehabbing St. Louis Cardinals had big games on Thursday to help give the Redbirds their first three-game series sweep of the season. Matt Carpenter went 2-for-3 with a run, double and three RBI and Marcel Ozuna went 3-for-4 with two runs scored, a double, home run and five RBI. Ozuna also reached safely five times in the contest by drawing a walk and being hit by a pitch. Carpenter's two-run single in the sixth cut the Isotopes' lead to 6-5 and Ozuna followed up with a three-run blast to give the 'Birds the lead for good. Carpenters' double in the third also snapped an 0-for-22 stretch to open his rehab assignment.

PULLING AN ALL-NIGHTER: Thursday night's game against the Albuquerque Isotopes lasted four hours and seven minutes, making it the longest game of the season for the Redbirds. It also became the second-longest nine-inning game in franchise history, falling just two minutes short of matching the record of 4:09, set on June 15, 2013 against the Isotopes at Isotopes Park. It was also the first four-hour game the Redbirds have played in since June 11, 2017 vs. Nashville in a 12-inning affair.

YADI RETURNS: With Yadier Molina's start in Friday night's game, he took the field for the first time with a Redbirds jersey for the first time since June 1, 2004, which was here at AutoZone Park against the Colorado Springs Sky Sox. Molina went 1-for-4 in that game. He would make his Major League debut two days later vs. Pittsburgh, going 2-for-4 with a run and a double. From there, the rest is history. Yadi's storied career has seen him turn into one of baseball's all-time greats as he has won two World Series titles, nine Gold Gloves, four Platinum Gloves and a Silver Slugger. He has also been named to nine MLB All-Star teams. He has appeared in 1,941 games in a Cardinal uniform and has posted a career slash of .282/.333/.404/.737, collecting 1,918 hits.

A HAT-TRICK FOR THOMAS: On June 27 at Oklahoma City, Lane Thomas homered three times, launching two solo shots and one two-run blast. He became the eighth Redbird to homer three times in a game, matching a franchise record. He is the first player to accomplish this feat since Adolis Garcia slugged three home runs on July 26, 2018 at Salt Lake.

AROZARENA HITS FOR THE CYCLE: On June 26 at Oklahoma City, Randy Arozarena became the third Redbird in franchise history to hit for the cycle. He opened up the game with a bunt single, doubled in the third, homered in the fourth and completed the cycle with a triple in the fifth. After an 18-year gap between the first two cycles in franchise history (Mark Little, June 23, 2000; Luke Voit, June 30, 2018), the Redbirds have now had a player hit for the cycle in consecutive years. Arozarena's four-hit game that night was his third such game for the Redbirds this season, which leads the team.

ADOLIS' BIG DAY: On June 21, Adolis Garcia put on an impressive display of power at Werner Park by homering twice and driving in eight runs. His eight RBI matched a franchise record that he also matched last season on July 26 at Salt Lake. In the third inning with two outs, he launched his second grand slam of the season. After homering again in the eighth inning, it was his third game in his last five that he had homered twice. Garcia ranks T-2nd in the Pacific Coast League with 12 dingers with two outs and T-10th with 29 RBI in similar situations.

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