PCL1 Memphis Redbirds

Game Notes: Memphis Redbirds (15-12) at Nashville Sounds (8-19)

May 3, 2019 - Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Memphis Redbirds News Release


Memphis Redbirds (15-12) at Nashville Sounds (8-19)

Friday, May 3 - 6:35 p.m. (CT) - First Tennessee Park (10,300) - Nashville, Tennessee

Game #28 - Road Game #17 (9-7)

RHP Jake Woodford (2-0, 1.20) vs LHP Wes Benjamin (1-3, 7.65)

BY THE NUMBERS

8 Number hits and RBI by Joe Hudson in just nine games played this season.

13 Number of games the Redbirds are scheduled to play on their current road trip. This is the longest such stretch of games played away from home since Aug. 1-14, 2015.

THE GAME

TONIGHT'S GAME: The Memphis Redbirds and the Nashville sounds meet for the first time this season as they open up a four-game series at First Tennessee Park. The two teams will meet 12 times this month, with eight contests being played at this facility. Tonight marks the final series that the Redbirds will play on their 13-game road trip. Tonight's games will be broadcast live on www.memphisredbirds.com with Steve Selby on the call.

ON THE HILL: Right-hander Jake Woodford is scheduled to take the mound in today's game and make his sixth start of the season and second during the Redbirds' 13-game road trip. Woodford last took the mound on Sunday at Omaha in the first game of the doubleheader, earning the win in his third straight quality start, tossing 6.2 innings of one run ball and only allowing four hits. Woodford came just one out away from tossing his first career complete game. He is currently holding opposing batters to a .152 (15x99) average, which ranks 2nd in the Pacific Coast League among qualifiers. Woodford is even stingier against right-handed batters, holding them to just a .121 (7x58) average. He also ranks 2nd in the PCL with a 1.20 ERA. The St. Petersburg, Fla., native has made one start against the Sounds in his career, on Sept. 2 2018, earning the win (5.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 7 SO) in the Redbirds' 2-1 victory.

The Sounds are scheduled to start left-hander Wes Benjamin tonight. The 25-year-old is scheduled to make his sixth start of the season and his fourth home start. Through his first five career Triple-A starts, Benjamin has gone 1-3, 7.65 (17 ER/20.0 IP) and has yet to complete 6.0 innings pitched. Benjamin has twice failed to reach the 3.0 innings mark, including lasting just 2.2 innings in his Triple-A debut on April 6 vs. Iowa. The Winfield, Ill., native has allowed at least four runs in four outings and opponents currently hold a .325 average (26x80) against. Benjamin spent the whole 2018 at Double-A Frisco, where he went 5-6, 3.62 (32 ER/79.2 IP) in 15 G/GS. The University of Kansas product is in his fifth professional season, spending them all with the Texas organization.

HISTORY WITH NASHVILLE: Memphis has faced off against Nashville every year since 1998 and trail 156-177 in the all-time series. In those 21 seasons, the Redbirds have a winning record against the Sounds in just six seasons, the most recent coming in 2017. This year marks the first that the Sounds are the Rangers' top-affiliate, after spending the last four seasons as the Athletics' Triple-A club. The Redbirds went 8-8 against the Rangers' Triple-A affiliate (Round Rock) in 2018 and a dominant 14-2 in 2017. Their overall record against the Texas Triple-A affiliate is 156-174.

Memphis has winning records on the road at Nashville in eight seasons, including two of the last four. Since First Tennessee Park opened in 2015, the Redbirds have a 17-14 record.

THE SEASON

ABOUT THE LAST ONE: The Memphis Redbirds (15-12) earned a series split with the New Orleans Baby Cakes (Marlins), led by a three-hit, four RBI performance from catcher Joe Hudson, topping the Baby Cakes Thursday night in New Orleans, Louisiana, 8-4.

Making his first appearance in the series, Hudson homered in his first at-bat, a solo shot in the third, and drove in a pair of runs with a two-out double in the fourth that gave the Redbirds a 5-3 lead. He would plate another run in the sixth with a two-out single.

As a team, the Redbirds drove in four runs with two outs and for a second straight night, eight different batters had hits. Four Redbirds recorded at least two hits in the ballgame and the offense matched a season-high with 14 hits.

Memphis had to come back twice on the night, as New Orleans (15-12) took an early 1-0 lead in the first, and a 3-2 lead after three, but the Redbirds were able to score in four of the first six frames.

Starter Austin Gomber won his ninth straight decision with the Redbirds, tossing five innings and allowing three runs on seven hits. The big lefty fanned seven, issued three walks and stranded six runners.

The Redbird bullpen allowed just one run over the final four frames, including working one-two-three eighth and ninth innings.

Adolis Garcia opened the scoring for the Redbirds by launching his team-high eighth home run of the year, a solo shot in the second. Garcia finished just a triple shy of the cycle, as he recorded his first three-hit game of the season.

After going 1-for-4 with a two-out RBI double in the sixth, Max Schrock has now reached in 18 of 23 games this season.

Lane Thomas had a stellar night defensively, making a leaping catch at the wall to save three runs in the seventh and made a sliding catch to begin the eighth.

APRIL RECAP: The Redbirds finished April with a 13-12 record, going 6-5 at AutoZone Park and 7-7 on the road. Since 2017, the Redbirds have posted a losing record in a month just once, August 2018, going 13-16 overall, 8-10 at home and 5-6 away. That is also the only time during that span that the 'Birds had losing records at home or away.

The 28 home runs slugged by the Redbirds ranks T-3rd for home runs in April, matching the 2014 team in that category. They fell just one home run shy of matching the 2017 Redbirds for 2nd most home runs in April. The franchise record is 34, held by the 2000 club.

MR. APRIL: On April 22, LHP Austin Gomber was named the Pacific Coast League Pitcher of the Week for April 15-21 following his complete-game shutout on Saturday in the second game of the doubleheader against Round Rock. Gomber allowed just three hits in his outing and faced the minimum over the final five innings. In his first five starts of the season, Gomber is 3-0, 2.54 (8 ER/28.1 IP) to go along with 30 strikeouts.

In April 2018, Gomber also won PCL Pitcher of the Week for April 23-29 and was also named Cardinals Minor League Pitcher of the Month as well. In his last two Aprils, Gomber is 5-0, 2.50 (15 ER/54.0 IP) in nine starts and has held opponents to a .214 batting average (41x192).

CLUTCH HITTING: Edmundo Sosa delivered the Redbirds first walk-off victory of the season on April 21 vs. Round Rock with his two-run shot in the 10th. With runners in scoring position, Sosa is 11-for-24 (.458) with two doubles, a home run and nine RBI. With runners in scoring position and two outs, Sosa ranks 2nd on the team with a .583 average (7x12) and five RBI.

WALKING IN MEMPHIS: After matching a season-high nine walks in the second game of their doubleheader on April 20, the Memphis Redbirds rank 6th in the Pacific Coast League with 112 walks through the first 27 games of the season. The Redbirds' .353 on-base percentage also ranks 8th in the PCL. John Nogowski holds the team lead by drawing 20 free passes.

EXTRA! EXTRA!: The Redbirds have recorded at least one extra-base hit in every game this season, collecting 49 doubles, six triples and 30 home runs. Adolis Garcia holds the team lead with 13 extra-base with 3 doubles, two triples and eight home runs.

After Adolis Garcia's home run last night, the Redbirds 27-game run of having at least one extra-base hit surpassed the 2018 Redbirds mark of 26 consecutive games with at least one extra-base hit.

TRIPLE THREAT: Through his first 21 starts of the season, Tommy Edman has eight multi-hit games, including four, three-hit performances, April 12 at San Antonio, April 13 at Round Rock, April 17 vs. San Antonio and Friday at Omaha. His team-high 10-game hitting streak came to end on April 21, but he has reached safely in 19 of 23 contests. His 30 hits and nine doubles are most among the current Redbirds roster.

Not to be out-done, Andrew Knizner and Edmundo Sosa have seven multi-hit games each. Knizner had his season-high eight-game hitting streak come to an end Tuesday, but has hits in 16 of 20 games. He ranks 3rd on the team with a .320 batting average.

In Sosa's first 19 starts, he has two three-hit performances on April 15 at Round Rock and April 17 vs. San Antonio. Sosa leads the team with a .329 batting average.

The trio has combined for 78 hits, which accounts for 33.3 percent of all the Redbirds hits this season, 35 runs (24.1 percent), 23 extra-base hits and 32 RBI.

WALK IT OFF: The Redbirds walk-off defeat to the Missions on April 9 was the first time since Aug. 5, 2017 that the Redbirds had lost in such fashion. The following night, it marked the first time since June 23-24, 2014 that the Redbirds had lost consecutive games in the last at-bat of the game. The three walk-off defeats this season have already surpassed last year's total.

CAUGHT IN A STORM: The Redbirds' 11-run defeat on April 8 marked the first time that Redbirds lost by 11 runs or more since June 16, 2018, when the Redbirds fell 13-1 at El Paso. Additionally, Omaha's 12-run second was the first time since May 12, 2016 against the Storm Chasers, that the Redbirds had given up more than 10 runs in an inning.

Elier Hernandez and Nick Dini became the first two opponents to hit back-to-back home runs against the Redbirds since May 8, 2017 and Hernandez became the first player to post a 6 RBI against Memphis since June 9, 2018.

FIRST NO MORE: Following Memphis' defeat on April 6, the Redbirds fell out of first place for the first time since April 28, 2017. It also marked the first time since April 27, 2017 that their record fell below the .500 mark. The Redbirds played the final 120 games of the 2017 season in first place, and played all 140 games of 2018 in first place. They had been in first place for the 708 calendar days, playing 262 regular-season games and 20 playoff games in that span.

The Redbirds entered April 7 in T-3rd place in the division, which marked the first time since April 12, 2016, that they had fallen out of the top two spots in the standings.

WELCOME HOME BEN: Hailing from nearby Germantown, Tenn., new Redbirds manager Ben Johnson earned the first win of his managerial career on April 4 with the 'Birds 9-2 victory over the Storm Chasers. Johnson spent last season at Triple-A Durham (Tampa Bay), as part of a staff that captured the International League title before falling to the Redbirds in the 2018 Triple-A National Championship. The 37-year-old is also the youngest manager in team history, a mark that was previously held by Danny Sheaffer, who was 41 years old when he was named manager on June 10, 2003.

NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK: The Opening Night roster featured 20 players that were not on the roster for Opening Night last season. Of the five returning players (Adolis Garcia, Austin Gomber, Daniel Ponce de Leon, Rangel Ravelo, Max Schrock) only three (Garcia, Ravelo, Schrock) were starters in the 2018 opener against Round Rock at Dell Diamond. Garcia, Gomber and Ponce de Leon all went on to make their big-leauge debuts last season with St. Louis.

FARM RAISED: Memphis' Opening Night roster featured 11 of St. Louis' top-30 prospects (Baseball America), including three of the top-10. Current prospects on the roster are: Genesis Cabrera (No. 6), Lane Thomas (No. 7), Andrew Knizner (No. 8), Ryan Helsley (No. 11), Tommy Edman (No. 12), Daniel Ponce de Leon (No. 13), Adolis Garcia (No. 15), Jake Woodford (No. 16), Edmundo Sosa (No. 22), Max Schrock (No. 25) and Giovanny Gallegos (No. 29).

BEAK-TO-BEAK-TO-BEAK?: Professional baseball has been played in the city of Memphis since 1877. In that span, only three teams have won back-to-back league championships in that time. The Memphis Egyptians won back-to-back titles in 1903-04, the Memphis Chickasaws won consecutive titles in 1952-53, and now the Redbirds have accomplished the feat with their successive PCL titles in 2017-18. No team in Memphis, however, has been able to capture a third successive title.




Pacific Coast League Stories from May 3, 2019


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