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PCL1 Memphis Redbirds

Game Notes: Memphis Redbirds (21-22) at San Antonio Missions (26-17)

May 20, 2019 - Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Memphis Redbirds News Release


Memphis Redbirds (21-22) at San Antonio Missions (26-17)

Monday, May 20 - 11:05 a.m. (CT) - Nelson W. Wolff Municipal Stadium (9,200) - San Antonio, Texas

Game #44 - Road Game #25 (11-13)

RHP Ryan Meisinger (0-3, 3.70) vs RHP Burch Smith (3-1, 1.37)

BY THE NUMBERS

.490 Rangel Ravelo's batting average during his current 14-game hitting streak. He has raised his batting average to .292 after batting .173 in April.

6 Consecutive road losses by the Redbirds, dating back to May 5 at Nashville. This is the longest such losing streak since 2016, when Memphis also dropped six straight road contests from July 14-19.

THE GAME

TODAY'S GAME: The Memphis Redbirds look to snap their four-game losing skid today and avoid their first five-game sweep since 2006 in the fifth and final game of this series with the Missions. Yesterday's defeat dropped the Redbirds to under .500 on the season for the first time since April 20 (7-8). Today marks the last time that these two teams will meet in the River City this season. Rangel Ravelo extended his hitting streak to 14 games yesterday and is batting .490 (25x51) during that span. Today's game will be broadcast live on www.memphisredbirds.com with Steve Selby on the call.

ON THE HILL: Right-hander Ryan Meisinger is slated to start for the Redbirds today's game and make his second start of the season. Meisinger has made 15 relief appearances this season for the 'Birds and has gone 0-3, 4.22 (10 ER/21.1 IP) and has not allowed an earned run in his last seven relief outings. He last worked on Friday, tossing a scoreless seventh inning, fanning one batter. In his lone start of the season on April 28 at Omaha in the nightcap of the doubleheader between the two teams, Meisinger tossed 3.0 scoreless frames, facing the minimum while striking out a season-high five. That marked the 24-year-old's first start at the Minor League level after 134 games. Meisinger also has one Major League start, Sept. 26, 2018 at Boston. Meisinger lasted just one-third on an inning and surrendered five runs on four hits. In his four outings against the Missions this season, Meisinger has gone 0-0, 1.77 (1 ER/5.1 IP) to go along with seven strikeouts and no walks issued. Memphis has gone 1-3 in those games. The Prince Frederick, Md., native is in his fifth professional season and his first with the St. Louis organization, having spent the first four at various levels within the Baltimore system.

The Missions are scheduled to start right-hander Burch Smith tonight. The 29-year-old is slated to make his sixth Triple-A start of the season and his ninth appearance overall on the season, after making three relief appearances for the Brewers from May 7-11. In his last time out on May 11 vs. Chicago-NL, Smith suffered the loss, tossing 3.1 innings in relief, but gave up a walk-off home run to Willson Contreras in the bottom of the 15th in the Brewers' 2-1 defeat to the Cubs. During his first Major League stint of the season, Smith went 0-1, 1.59 (1 ER/5.2 IP) with five strikeouts and three walks. Smith was scheduled to start on April 18 against the Redbirds in the series finale between the two clubs, but that contest was postponed. The San Antonio native spent all of 2018 with Kansas City, going 1-6, 6.92 (60 ER/78.0 IP) in 38 games and six starts. Smith missed all of 2015 due to Tommy John ligament replacement surgery and did not pitch in 2016 due to complications from the surgery.

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: Rangel Ravelo extended his hitting streak to 14 games and Andrew Knizner homered, but the Memphis Redbirds (21-22) fell victim to a San Antonio Missions (Brewers) hit parade in a 9-3 loss Sunday afternoon in San Antonio, Texas.

Ravelo drove in a run with a seventh-inning single to move his streak to 14-straight games. He is hitting .490 (25-51) during the stretch. Ramon Urias had an RBI double in the fifth inning and Knizner's fifth home run of the year in the ninth accounted for the rest of Memphis' scoring.

Jake Woodford started for Memphis and gave up five runs on seven hits in 5.0 innings. He walked four and struck out three. Tommy Layne gave up four runs and six hits in 2.0 innings of relief, and Chris Beck gave up two hits but no runs in an inning of work.

Defensively, Adolis Garcia and Drew Robinson both erased runners trying to score with outfield assists at the plate.

The Redbirds struck out 12 times in the game after fanning eight times the night before and 15 times the game before that.

The Missions (26-17) had 15 hits on the day.

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 4th (2.44) and Gomber ranks 7th (2.98) in the PCL in ERA, as the pair have combined to go 7-1, 2.69 (29 ER/97.0 IP) in 17 starts. Gomber and Woodford rank 2nd (52) and 6th (45) respectively in strikeouts, 8th (45.1) and 2nd (51.2) in innings pitched and 9th (1.28) and 5th (1.20) in WHIP. Woodford also ranks T-2nd in opponent average (.197), 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 25-for-55 (.455) in his first 16 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 14-game hitting streak and has homered three times during that span. The 27-year-old has raised his batting average to .292 on the season and is getting on base at a .366 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 14 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.

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. In Thursday's series opener, Memphis was walked off by the Missions for a third time this season. The Redbirds also suffered a walk-off defeat on April 28 at Omaha The four last-at-bat defeats this season have already surpassed last year's total of two and have matched 2017's total. The Redbirds have not been walked-off more than four times in a season since 2016 when it occurred six times.

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-34 (.471) with three doubles, a home run and 17 RBI. With runners in scoring position and two outs, Sosa leads the team with a .563 average (9x16) and nine RBI.

Sosa has the second-highest batting average in the Pacific Coast League with runners in scoring position (min. 34 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 74 doubles, 10 triples and 54 home runs. Adolis Garcia holds the team lead with 18 extra-base hits with five doubles, two triples and a team-high 11 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.

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