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PCL1 Memphis Redbirds

Game Notes: Memphis Redbirds (17-8) vs Oklahoma City Dodgers (18-4)

May 1, 2018 - Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Memphis Redbirds News Release


Memphis Redbirds (17-8) vs Oklahoma City Dodgers (18-4)

Tuesday, May 1 - 6:35 p.m. (CT) - AutoZone Park (10,000) - Memphis, Tennessee

Game #26 - Home Game #14 (8-5)

RHP John Gant (3-0, 2.25 ERA) vs. RHP Justin DeFratus (1-0, 2.53 ERA)

THE GAME

TODAY'S GAME: The Memphis Redbirds and Oklahoma City Dodgers will face off in game two of a four-game set, tonight at 6:35 p.m. The 'Birds are coming off their first series loss of the season after dropping three-of-five to Round Rock, while Oklahoma City is coming off a five-game sweep of the Iowa Cubs. Oklahoma City took the win last night, topping Memphis 6-0. It is the second time Memphis has been shutout this season, and just the fourth time the 'Birds have been shutout since Stubby Clapp was named manager. Today's game will be broadcast live on www.memphisredbirds.com with Steve Selby on the call.

ON THE HILL: Right-hander John Gant will get the ball for the 'Birds tonight. Gant has been lights-out to start the season. He started four games for Memphis, and is 3-0 with a 2.25 ERA in 24.0 innings. He has allowed just six earned runs on 22 hits, while striking 18 batters so far this season. Gant recently returned to Memphis after a brief stint with St. Louis. In his lone appearance with the Cardinals, the righty came out of the bullpen and tossed 3.0 scoreless innings to earn the win over the New York Mets.

The Dodgers will send right-hander Justin DeFratus to the mound to battle with Gant. So far this season, DeFratus is 1-0 with a 2.53 ERA in two starts spanning 10.2 innings. So far, he has allowed three earned runs on 13 hits, while striking out four batters. DeFratus has faced Memphis just once in his career, back in 2016 while with Round Rock. In that game, he pitched 1.0 scoreless inning in relief.

HISTORY WITH OKLAHOMA CITY: The Redbirds and Oklahoma City Dodgers have played every year dating back to 1998. Oklahoma City owns the all-time series record at 168-151. Memphis owns the all-time record at Memphis at 81-72, while Oklahoma City owns the road series record at 63-96. The Dodgers were the only team to post an above .500 record against the Redbirds in 2017. They narrowly took the season series with eight wins, compared to Memphis' seven wins.

BIRD BITES

AROZARENA: Seven stolen bases is two behind Mercado for PCL lead

BARON: Joins St. Louis organization after spending entire career in Seattle organization; has two hits in seven games so far

GARCIA: Has struggled in last 11 games, going just 7-for-38 after starting season hitting .350 (13-for-37)

KELLY: Has caught 18 of 25 games, is hitting .250 (8-for-32) with six RBI and five walks in last nine games

MEJIA: Recorded hits in back-to-back games, after going hitless in his previous six games

MERCADO: Nine stolen bases leads the PCL; recently ended second eight-game hitting streak of the season

MUNOZ: Joins the team after spending the first three weeks of the season with St. Louis; hit first homer on 4/23

O'NEILL: Hit six home runs in 12 games before making MLB debut on April 19 at Chicago

RAVELO: Hit first home run of the season Sunday, and is now hitting .273 on the season

SCHROCK: Has just seven hits in last 35 at-bats after starting season hitting .397 (23-for-58)

TOVAR: Is hitting .500 (13-for-26) in last 10 games with one double, two homers, and nine RBI

WISDOM: Has hit three homers this season, all at home, and is currently in a 7-for-36 (.194) slump over last 12 games

BY THE NUMBERS

3.7 runs in last 10 games after scoring 6.1 through first 15 games

THE SEASON

ABOUT THE LAST ONE: The Memphis Redbirds struggled at the plate last night in a 6-0 loss to the Oklahoma City Dodgers.

Kevin Herget, making the spot-start for Memphis, battled, lasting 3.0 innings and allowing two earned runs. Both of the runs came via a home run in the second inning. In all, he allowed two earned runs on five hits, while walking one and striking out two to take the loss.

The 'Birds struggled at the plate, managing just four hits without taking a walk. Oklahoma City's starter Daniel Corcino did not allow a hit through 4.1 innings before Yairo Munoz smacked a one-out single in the fifth inning.

Andrew Morales pitched 3.0 innings of relief, allowing four hits and three earned runs, while striking out six batters. Arturo Reyes allowed two hits and one run in his 2.0 innings, and Edward Mujica pitched a 1-2-3 ninth inning to close the game.

BEST START IN FRANCHISE HISTORY: The Redbirds have been on fire to start the 2018 season. After the 5-2 road trip, and three-game sweep over Iowa, Memphis has moved far past the 2000 team that started 10-4 for the best start in franchise history. The 2017 team, which finished 91-50 last season, the best mark in franchise history, started 14-11 through its first 25 games. This year's squad is 17-8 through the first 25 games.

PCL PITCHER OF THE WEEK: Starting pitcher Austin Gomber was named the PCL Pitcher of the Week today after his 16-strikeout performance last Monday. In his last start on Monday, he pitched 8.0 shutout innings, allowing six hits and no walks, while striking out 16 batters. The 16 strikeouts bested his previous career-high of 11 strikeouts, which he set last season. The 16 strikeouts also tied the franchise record for most strikeouts in a game (Lance Lynn 9/10/10), and bested the regular-season strikeout record of 15 set by Anthony Reyes (8/14/05) and Bill Pulsipher (9/3/05). After that performance, he was called up to the Cardinals on Sunday for his MLB debut. Gomber was on a roll since his season-debut on April 7. In three starts since then, Gomber has thrown 21.2 innings of five-run ball, and has struck out 23 batters.

WHERE ARE THE RUNS?: After getting off to a scorching start at the plate through the first 15 games of the season, Memphis has struggled at the plate over the last 10 games. The 'Birds scored 91 runs through their first 15 games, going 12-3 to start the season. Since being shutout for the first time this season on April 20 at Omaha, the 'Birds have scored just 3.7 runs per game and are 5-5 over that stretch. Last night, Memphis was shutout by Oklahoma City 6-0 for its second shutout of the season. The 'Birds were also shutout twice all of last season. Both of the shutouts last season came at the hands of Oklahoma City in back-to-back games April 24-25 in Oklahoma City.

ON THE BETTER SIDE OF THE STRIKEOUTS: Memphis is among the PCL leaders for strikeouts by the pitching staff, and is towards the bottom of the league in strikeouts by batters. The pitching staff has struck out 223 batters through the first 25 games (8.9/game). The 223 strikeouts ranks fourth among all PCL teams, behind only Fresno and Las Vegas (both 234) and El Paso (229). 'Birds batters are also towards the bottom of the league in total strikeouts. Memphis batters have struck out 177 times through the first 25 games. Only two teams have less strikeouts than the 'Birds. Oklahoma City has struck out a league-low 164 times, while Omaha has struck out 175 times, and Tacoma is tied with Memphis with 177 strikeouts. Of the 16 PCL teams, Memphis is one of just seven teams to have more strikeouts from the pitching staff than strikeouts by hitters, along with Salt Lake, Albuquerque, Oklahoma City, Fresno, Tacoma, and Nashville. Memphis pitchers have 46 more strikeouts than Memphis batters do. Oklahoma City pitchers have 36 more strikeouts than Oklahoma City batters do, and Fresno pitchers have 52 more strikeouts than Fresno batters do.

CAN'T STOP THE STARTERS: The starting rotation for the Redbirds this season has been outstanding. The starters have a combined record of 13-3, have struck out 127 batters, have allowed just 39 earned runs, surrendered only seven homers and 42 walks, all combining for a 2.60 ERA. Through 25 games, Memphis starters have twirled 13 quality starts. If you subtract the four spot-starts made by Memphis relievers, the starting rotation is even better. In 21 starts made by regular starters, the pitchers are a combined 13-2 in 128 innings with a 2.46 ERA.

BULLPEN WOES: Despite overall dominance from the starting rotation, the Redbirds' bullpen has struggled this season. Through the first 25 games, the bullpen is a combined 4-5 with an ERA of 4.12 in 83.0 innings, allowing 38 earned runs, just one less than the starting pitchers have allowed in 135.2 innings. The bullpen has been tagged for nine homers, one more than the starting pitchers have. The Redbirds are 5-5 in the last 10 games, and in those games, the bullpen has pitched 38.1 innings, allowing 19 runs, and 17 earned runs, good for a 4.02 ERA.

WE FOUND GLOVE IN A HOPELESS PLACE: Last season, the PCL Champion Memphis Redbirds ended the season tied with a franchise-best .984 fielding percentage, matching the 2014 Redbirds who accomplished that. So far this season, the 'Birds are second in the PCL in fielding percentage at .987, behind only Albuquerque (.988). Memphis has made just 12 errors as a team, and has allowed only one passed ball. Memphis also owns the third-best fielding percentage in all of Triple-A baseball. The Rochester Red Wings of the International League sit atop the leaderboards with a team fielding percentage of .989.

MAN, OH MAN, MERCADO: Outfielder and No. 13 prospect in the organization, Oscar Mercado, has proven he can field and run the bases, but since the start of the 2017 season, his bat has started to show promise, as well. Despite going hitless last night and snapping his second eight-game hitting streak this season, the speedy outfielder has been on fire to start the season. So far, he has played in 23 games, all starts, and has recorded a hit in 18 of them. Last season at Double-A Springfield, Mercado hit a career-high .287, 33 points higher than his previous career high of .254. So far this season, Mercado is hitting .326 (28-for-86). In 143 games since the start of 2017, Mercado is hitting .293 (165-for-563), and has stolen 48 bases. A three-time stolen base champion (2014, 2015, 2017) Mercado comes into tonight's game with a PCL-leading nine stolen bases, two ahead of teammate Randy Arozarena.

HELSLEY DOMINANT: Sunday's starter and Cardinals' No. 8 prospect, Ryan Helsley, was dominant for the Redbirds across 7.0 innings. The righty, making just his second-career regular season Triple-A start, allowed just one run on four hits and one walk, while striking out nine batters on the afternoon. He retired 20 of 25 total batters, including the last eight he faced, and did not allow a hit after a double in the fourth. Helsley made one regular season start for the 'Birds in September of last year, and stayed on the team throughout the PCL Championship run, in which he made two starts.

BREAK OUT THE GOLD MEDALS, THESE GUYS CAN RUN: While the Redbirds have proved they can smash the baseball, starting the season by notching at least one extra-base hit in 20 of the first 23 games, they have also proved that they can put runs on the board by dominating on the base paths. Three weeks ago, they stole five bases as a team for the first time since June 13, 2016 at Nashville, and also stole four bases in an inning against Iowa last week. The 'Birds have now stolen 28 bases as a team through the first 24 games of the season, and have been caught 11 times.

GIVE ME GUILMET: After spending the 2017 season in Japan trying to get his stuff back, reliever Preston Guilmet is turning heads out of the Memphis bullpen. The veteran righty has been manager Stubby Clapp's most reliable arm out of the 'pen. So far, he has made nine appearances, spanning 14.0 innings, allowing just six hits and two earned runs, while striking out 20 and holding batters to a .133 (6-for-45) average. Guilmet is tied for the PCL lead with five saves, is tied for lead with eight games finished.

PITCHING PROWESS: Memphis' 2017 pitching staff was one of its main reasons for success. The 'Birds led the PCL in ERA (3.77), which was a franchise record (3.89, 1998 and 2003), and Memphis was the only club in the PCL with a team ERA under 4.20. They have gotten off to a hot start this season, as well. Memphis boasts a 3.17 ERA through the first 25 games, including a 2.60 ERA and 13 quality starts from the starting rotation. The 3.17 team ERA is second in the PCL, only behind Oklahoma City (2.48). Memphis pitching has also combined to strike out 89 batters in the last eight games (11.13/game).

FASTEST TO 100: With a win two weeks ago, second-year manager Stubby Clapp secured his 100th regular season win as manager of the Redbirds. The accomplishment made him the fastest manager in Redbird history to reach 100 games. He also sits at sixth on the all-time win list for the Redbirds and has the best winning percentage at .651.

2017 PCL CHAMPIONSHIP SEASON

START THE SLOW CLAPP: In 2017, first-year skipper Stubby Clapp led the Redbirds to their best season in franchise history. The 'Birds soared to a 91-50 record in the 2017 regular season and added six more wins in the PCL playoffs to win 97 total games on the year. Clapp was named the 2017 PCL Manager of the Year for his efforts, and was also named the 2017 Baseball America Minor League Manager of the Year. Clapp became the first minor league manager in the history of the St. Louis organization to win the Baseball America award. Clapp also earned the organization's prestigious George Kissell award.

FOR THE RECORD:

- Memphis' 91 wins in 2017 were the 10th-most in 119 seasons of professional baseball in Memphis dating back to 1877, and the season's .645 winning percentage was fourth-best

- Memphis was one of four teams in MiLB in 2017 with 90+ wins (Trenton Thunder [AA], 92-48; West Michigan Whitecaps [A], 91-45; Chattanooga Lookouts [AA], 91-49; Memphis Redbirds [AAA], 91-50)

- Memphis went 41 games over .500 during the regular season, the most by a PCL club since Albuquerque was 56 games over at 94-38 in 1981

- The Redbirds won the PCL American Southern Division by 22.0 games, and since divisions were established in the PCL in 1963, only two other teams won their division by 20 or more games (1970 Spokane Indians, 26.0 games; 1981 Albuquerque Dukes, 25.0 games)

- Memphis ended the season with its best ERA in franchise history (3.77) (3.89, 1998 and 2003), matched its best fielding percentage (.984) (.984, 2014), and had its third-best batting average (.278) (.284, 1999; .279, 2004)

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