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Memphis Redbirds

Game Notes: Memphis Redbirds (21-19) at San Antonio Missions (23-17)

May 17, 2019 - Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Memphis Redbirds News Release


Memphis Redbirds (21-19) at San Antonio Missions (23-17)

Friday, May 17 - 7:05 p.m. (CT) - Nelson W. Wolff Municipal Stadium (9,200) - San Antonio, Texas

Game #41 - Road Game #22 (11-10)

RHP Daniel Ponce de Leon (3-1, 3.03) vs RHP Jimmy Nelson (1-0, 6.23)

BY THE NUMBERS

0-6 The Redbirds record in one-run games on the road this season. In four of those contests, Memphis has lost in walk-off fashion, including three times to the Missions in four games at San Antonio.

100 Points that Rangel Ravelo has raised his batting average during his current 11-game hitting streak. Ravelo is currently batting .281 after ending April with a .173 average.

THE GAME

TONIGHT'S GAME: The Memphis Redbirds look to bounce back from their third walk-off defeat to the Missions this season and snap a three-game losing skid in road contests in tonight's game. Tyler O'Neill homered for the second straight game last night and has seven long balls in just 12 games with the Redbirds. Adolis Garcia reached double figures in home runs last night, blasting his 10th homer in the 6th. Garcia leads the team with 31 RBI and that figure ranks eighth in the Pacific Coast League. Tonight's game will be broadcast live on www.memphisredbirds.com with Steve Selby on the call.

ON THE HILL: Right-hander Daniel Ponce de Leon is scheduled to take the mound in tonight's contest and make his fourth road start and seventh start overall. Ponce de Leon's last outing came on Saturday vs. Nashville, where he earned the victory (5.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 5 BB, 3 SO) in the Redbirds' 7-5 victory over the Sounds. He has now won nine of his last 12 decisions at the Triple-A level, dating back to May 30, 2018. Ponce de Leon has made one start against the Missions this season, April 16 at San Antonio, earning the win (6.0 IP, 7 H, 4 R/ER, 1 BB, 8 SO, 2 HR) in the Redbirds' 7-6 victory. The seven hits, four earned runs and eight strikeouts in that outing remain season-highs. The 27-year-old made three starts against Colorado Springs (Milwaukee Triple-A) last season, going 2-0, 4.24 (8 ER/17.0 IP) in three starts against the Sky Sox. The Anaheim, Calif., native made one Major League start this season on April 23, taking no-decision (5.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R/ER, 3 BB, 7 SO, 1 HR) in the Cardinals' 4-3 win over the Brewers.

The Missions are slated to start right-hander Jimmy Nelson tonight. The 24-year-old is scheduled to make his second start and third appearance during his current rehab assignment. Nelson has gone 1-0, 6.23 (6 ER/8.2 IP) during his rehab, allowing three earned runs in each appearance. In his lone start of the season, he earned the victory (5.1 IP, 5 H, 3 R/ER, 1 BB, 5 SO, 2 HR, 2 HBP) in the Missions' 5-3 victory over the Baby Cakes in New Orleans. The Klamath Falls, Ore., native missed the entirety of the 2018 season after needing surgery following dislocating his shoulder while diving back in to first base following his single on Sept. 8, 2017 in a game against Chicago-NL. During that 2017 season, Nelson went 12-6, 3.49 (68 ER/175.1 IP) in 29 G/GS to go along with a career-high 199 strikeouts while only issuing 48 walks. He last made a start against the Redbirds on July, 7, 2014 while with the Sounds, taking no-decision (7.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R/ER, 2 BB, 4 SO) in the Sounds' 2-1 defeat at AutoZone Park. The University of Alabama product is in his ninth professional season, spending them all with the Milwaukee organization.

HISTORY WITH SAN ANTONIO: April 9 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 week 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 14th-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. Prior to Colorado Springs, Nashville played host to the Brewers' top affiliate, where the Redbirds went 76-84 from 2005-14.

THE SEASON

ABOUT THE LAST ONE: The San Antonio Missions (Brewers) scored a pair of runs in the bottom of the ninth to walk off the Memphis Redbirds (21-19) in the series opener Thursday night in San Antonio, Texas, 4-3.

Memphis trailed 1-0 and 2-1 before rallying with a pair of runs in the top of the sixth. The bullpen locked down in the sixth-through-eighth innings, but the Missions (23-17) capitalized in their last at-bat to take the win.

Tommy Edman had an RBI single in the top of the third to tie the game at 1, before San Antonio scored in the bottom of the fifth to take a 2-1 advantage. Tyler O'Neill and Adolis Garcia proceeded to go deep in the top of the sixth to give Memphis a 3-2 lead.

It was O'Neill's seventh home run in 12 games played for the Redbirds, and Garcia's long ball was his 10th of the year.

After taking the one-run lead, the Redbirds pitching staff took over. Genesis Cabrera came back after his offense gave him the lead and retired the Missions in order in the bottom of the sixth, which was his last inning of work. The left-hander finished with a quality start, allowing only two runs on eight hits in 6.0 innings. He struck out four and walked one.

After Cabrera, Ryan Helsley retired all five San Antonio hitters he faced in the seventh and eighth innings, and Ryan Meisinger got the final out of the eighth.

Tommy Layne entered with a one-run lead in the bottom of the ninth and got a quick groundout, before two walks and a hit loaded the bases with two outs. Tyler Saladino then doubled home a pair to give San Antonio the victory.

A win would have been Memphis' fourth in the last five games.

Rangel Ravelo went 3-for-4, extending his hitting streak to eight games. He has four multi-hit games during the stretch, three of which are three-hit performances. He has hits in his last 11 games with an official at-bat, raising his batting average from .165 to .281.

NASHVILLE SERIES WRAP: The Redbirds won their first series since April 24-28 at Omaha after taking three of four from the Sounds at AutoZone Park. Memphis has not lost a series to Nashville since May 12-15, 2018.

The Redbirds homered eight times in the series, with Tyler O'Neill leading the way with three long balls. All six of O'Neill's home runs have come against the Sounds. The four home runs launched on Tuesday set a season-high. Rangel Ravelo went 7-for-15 (.467) with one home run and five RBI, bringing his season average up to .265. Tommy Edman hit the team's first lead-off home run on the season in Monday's contest.

The 'Birds starting staff allowed just six earned runs in 21.1 innings (2.56 ERA) and fanned 20 batters while issuing nine walks. Austin Gomber and Jake Woodford turned in back-to-back seven-inning quality starts to close out the series.

PAIR OF ACES: Austin Gomber and Jake Woodford turned in back-to-back seven-inning quality starts to close out the series against the Sounds and find themselves among Pacific Coast League leaders in multiple categories as a result. Woodford ranks 2nd (1.74) and Gomber ranks 6th (2.98) in the PCL in ERA, as the pair have combined to go 7-0, 2.35 (24 ER/92.0 IP) in 16 starts. Gomber and Woodford rank 2nd (52) and 12th (42) respectively in strikeouts, 6th (45.1) and T-4th (46.2) in innings pitched and 9th (1.28) and 3rd (1.09) in WHIP. Woodford also ranks 2nd in opponent average (.176), while Gomber is one of two pitchers in the PCL to have thrown a complete-game shutout.

RAVELO HEATING UP: After hitting a career-low .173 (13x75) in the month of April at the Triple-A level, Rangel Ravelo has gotten off to a hot start in May, going 21-for-46 (.457) in his first 12 games of the month. Ravelo already has four three-hit games this month, compared to just one in 21 games in April. He is currently riding a season-high 11-game hitting streak and has homered three times during that span. The 27-year-old has raised his batting average to .281 on the season and is getting on base at a .356 clip.

O'NEILL RETURNS: In his first Triple-A appearance of the season on May 5, Tyler O'Neill launched two, two-run home runs in the first game of the doubleheader. It was his first multi-HR game of the year and was the second Redbird to homer twice in a game this season. O'Neill ranks 2nd on the team with seven home runs in just 12 games. Six of his seven long balls have come against Nashville. On May 8 in the series opener against Iowa, O'Neill collected his first three-hit game of the season. The 23-year-old led the Redbirds in 2018 with 26 HR and six multi-HR games.

SHEW SHINES: In his first two career Triple-A starts, Anthony Shew did not allow a run in 11.2 innings and allowed just four hits in 39 at-bats (.103). On May 8 in the series opener against Iowa, Shew delivered his first quality start at the Triple-A level, tossing 6.0 scoreless frames and yielding a season-low one hit while fanning a season-high eight. The Bookings, Ore., native did not allowed a run in 17.2 innings across all levels and has allowed one earned run or fewer in seven of eight of his outings in 2019 overall.

OFFENSIVE OUTBURST: In their series opener against Nashville on May 2, the Memphis Redbirds set numerous season-highs, and matched a couple of franchise records in their 17-2 rout of the Sounds. The 24 hits matched a franchise record and was also the most hits in a Pacific Coast League game this season. Their 10 hits in the second inning matched a franchise record for most in a single frame. The 'Birds set season-highs in, runs, hits and total bases and matched a season-high with eight extra-base hits.

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 April 20 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 eight starts of the season, Gomber is 4-0, 2.98 (15 ER/45.1 IP) to go along with 52 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 16-for-33 (.485) with three doubles, a home run and 17 RBI. With runners in scoring position and two outs, Sosa leads the team with a .600 average (9x15) and nine RBI.

Sosa has the second-highest batting average in the Pacific Coast League with runners in scoring position (min. 33 AB).

On May 2 against Nashville, Sosa set a career-high with five RBI, four of which came with two outs.

EXTRA! EXTRA!: The Redbirds have recorded at least one extra-base hit in every game this season, collecting 68 doubles, 10 triples and 52 home runs. Adolis Garcia holds the team lead with 17 extra-base hits with six doubles, two triples and a team-high 10 home runs.

After Garcia's home run May 2, 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.

Check out the Memphis Redbirds Statistics

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