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PCL1 Memphis Redbirds

Game Notes: Memphis Redbirds (2-5) at San Antonio Missions (5-2)

April 11, 2019 - Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Memphis Redbirds News Release


Memphis Redbirds (2-5) at San Antonio Missions (5-2)

Thursday, April 11 - 7:05 p.m. (CT) - Nelson W. Wolff Municipal Stadium (9,200) - San Antonio, Texas

Game #8 - Road Game #3 (0-2)

RHP Ryan Helsley (0-0, 0.00 ERA) vs RHP Zack Brown (0-0, 1.50 ERA)

THE GAME

TODAY'S GAME: The Memphis Redbirds and the San Antonio Missions are set to meet in the finale of their three-game set. After not being walked-off since Aug. 5, 2017, the Redbirds have lost the first two contests in walk-off fashion, with both hits coming from the Missions Mauricio Dubon. The Redbirds also enter tonight's game three games under .500, which is the first time since April 28, 2016, that Memphis has had such a record. Last night's loss also marked the first time since 2013 that the Redbirds have opened up a season with back-to-back series losses. Tonight's game will be broadcast live on www.memphisredbirds.com with Steve Selby on the call.

ON THE HILL: Right-hander Ryan Helsley is scheduled to take the mound in tonight's game and make his first road start of 2019 and his second start overall. The 24-year-old is in his fifth professional season and has spent them all with the St. Louis organization. In Helsley's start on Saturday against Omaha, he tossed 4.0 scoreless innings allowing no hits and walking just one, but took no-decision in the Redbirds' 5-3 defeat. Making his first start and appearance since Aug. 6, 2018, Helsley walked the first batter he faced but he retired 12 straight batters to end his outing. In one start against the Colorado Spring Sky Sox (Milwaukee Triple-A) last season, Helsley twirled 7.0 innings of one-run ball, allowing just three hits and striking out ten. The Tahlequah, Okla., native made one start against the Missions in 2017 while with Double-A Springfield, tossing 6.0 innings of one-run ball while striking out eight in his quality start. Helsley is making his first start in San Antonio tonight.

The Missions are scheduled to start right-hander Zack Brown tonight. The 24-year-old is slated to make his second start of the season and his first home start. In his first start of the season, and Triple-A debut, on Saturday at Oklahoma City, Brown allowed just run in 6.0 innings of work, allowing four hits while striking out five in his quality start. He is in his fourth professional season, all with the Milwaukee Brewers organization and is ranked as the No. 5 prospect in the system by Baseball America. The Seymour, Ind., native went 9-1, 2.44 (34 ER/125.2 IP) with Double-A Biloxi in 2018.

HISTORY WITH SAN ANTONIO: Tuesday marked the first time that the Redbirds played a game in the Alamo City in their young history. It was also the first meeting between the two cities since 1973 when the Memphis Blues were members of the Texas League. The last time these two teams met prior to last night was in 1973 TL Championship Series, where the Blues won the series 3-2, with all games played in San Antonio, to capture their second TL title before moving to the International League the next year.

This is fifth-straight year that the Redbirds have faced off against Milwaukee's Triple-A affiliate, with the previous four being played against the Colorado Springs Sky Sox. Memphis went 38-26 against the Sky Sox from 2015-18, including an 11-5 record last season. The 'Birds played the Sox for 21-straight seasons prior to this season's realignment, going 104-87 overall, 60-35 at home and 44-52 on the road.

THE SEASON

ABOUT THE LAST ONE: The Memphis Redbirds (2-5) came back from a 5-3 deficit in the ninth inning Wednesday night in San Antonio, Texas, but Mauricio Dubon walked off for the second-straight game to give the San Antonio Missions (Brewers) a 6-5 victory.

After Memphis scored twice in the top of the ninth to tie the game at 5, San Antonio (5-2) got the game-winning single from Dubon with one out in the bottom of the ninth. He also had the game-winning single against Memphis last night.

Jake Woodford allowed just one unearned run on one hit in 5.0 innings of work, which was the second-straight start he gave up one unearned run in 5.0 frames on the hill. He has now allowed just three hits in 10.0 innings this season, and he has 11 punch-outs to his name.

But after Woodford left with a 2-1 lead in the sixth, San Antonio scored three times in the home-half of the inning off Genesis Cabrera. The Redbirds did get one back in the top of the seventh when John Nogowski hit his first home run of the season and first as a Triple-A player, but the one-run deficit did not remain long as the Missions' Keston Hiura touched Cabrera for a long ball in the eighth.

The Redbirds battled to tie the game in the ninth on a bases-loaded walk to Nogowski and an Edman sacrifice fly, but San Antonio wrapped things up a half-inning later against Chris Beck.

Six different Redbirds had a hit on the night, and Edman and Nogowski both finished with two RBI. Memphis struck out eight times as a team, was 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position, and left seven men on base.

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.

WALK IT OFF: Tuesday's walk-off defeat to the Missions 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 two walk-off defeats this season have already matched last year's total.

CAUGHT IN A STORM: Monday's 11-run defeat 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 Saturday's defeat, 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 Sunday's contest 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.

KINGS OF THE HILL: After setting the franchise record for best ERA in a season at 3.77 in 2017, last year's staff shattered that record, posting a 3.54 mark. It was the second-consecutive season they owned the best ERA in the league. Additionally, they set the franchise record for most strikeouts in a season (1,160), fewest runs allowed (564), fewest hits allowed (1,152), and lowest opponent batting average (.248). Memphis' entire 2018 Opening Night, five-man starting rotation was promoted to St. Louis last season. John Gant, Dakota Hudson, Austin Gomber, Jack Flaherty, and Daniel Ponce de Leon all played large roles in St. Louis' second-half turnaround.

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.

WINNING WAYS: After the Redbirds went 91-50 in 2017 and 83-57 last season, they have won 174 games in the last two years. That is the most wins in a two-year span in Memphis history since 1933-34 when the Chickasaws also won 174 games. The 1921-22 Chickasaws set the record for most wins in a two-year span by a Memphis professional team with 198.

BY THE NUMBERS

1,078 Number of calendar days since the last time that the Redbirds found themselves three games under .500

THE 2018 SEASON

THE BEST ONCE AGAIN: After a 5-0 victory on Sept. 15, 2018, the Memphis Redbirds were crowned champions of the Pacific Coast League, defeating the Fresno Grizzlies three games to one. It was Memphis' fourth PCL title in franchise history, and their second-straight. Memphis also won titles in 2000 and 2009. In 120 seasons of professional baseball in Memphis, it is the 16th championship all-time. Infielder Tommy Edman and outfielder Randy Arozarena were named co-MVPs of the PCL Playoffs. Arozarena hit two home runs in Game 4, giving Memphis all the offense they needed. Edman hit .469 in eight playoff games, notching a hit in all but the final game of the series. Manager Stubby Clapp has now been part of three of Memphis' four titles since they joined the PCL. He played a crucial role on the 2000 team as a middle infielder, and has now guided the Redbirds to consecutive championships as manager.

NEW FACES, NO PROBLEM: The Redbirds won the PCL Championship for the second-straight season, and advanced to the Triple-A National Championship, despite the fact that the Memphis roster was almost completely different from the playoff roster during the 2017 season. It was also almost completely different from the 2018 Opening Day roster. Of the 13 position players who made an appearance in the 2017 playoffs, only two were still on Memphis' active roster. Wilfredo Tovar and Tommy Edman are those two players. Every other player has either been traded, released, or is at a different level of the organization.

Memphis had a franchise-record 66 players on the roster last season, though two never appeared in a game before being taken off the roster (Jesse Jenner and Michael Wacha). It is the third-consecutive season in which Memphis has used a record number of players. Of the 66 players to be listed on Memphis' roster last year, 22 of them made their Triple-A debuts with the 'Birds, and six others were promoted for their Major League debuts.

TOP NOTCH PERFORMANCES: While Memphis raced to its second-consecutive PCL Championship as a team, they had many outstanding individual performances along the way. On April 23, 2018, left-handed pitcher Austin Gomber tied the franchise record with 16 strikeouts in eight shutout innings against the Iowa Cubs. Lance Lynn also had 16 strikeouts in a playoff game in 2010. Gomber's mark set the regular-season record. On June 30, 2018, infielder Luke Voit hit for the cycle against Iowa. It was just the second cycle in franchise history and the first since 2000. On July 19, 2018, at Omaha, right-handed pitcher Daniel Ponce de Leon threw a one-hit, complete game shutout. It was just the 11th one-hit performance in Memphis history and the 17th complete game shutout. One week later, he made his Major League debut and threw seven no-hit innings. On July 22, 2018, against Colorado Springs, Tyler O'Neill launched three home runs, recording the sixth three-home run performance in franchise history. Four days later on July 26, 2018, at Salt Lake, Adolis Garcia recorded the seventh three-home run performance in franchise history, while also tying the franchise-record with eight RBI. Outfielder Oscar Mercado also had a five-hit, three-steal performance on July 21, 2018, the first such performance in Memphis history.

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