Sports stats



PCL1 Memphis Redbirds

Game Notes: Memphis Redbirds (21-23) at Nashville Sounds (17-26)

May 21, 2019 - Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Memphis Redbirds News Release


Memphis Redbirds (21-23) at Nashville Sounds (17-26)

Tuesday, May 21 - 6:35 p.m. (CT) - First Tennessee Park (10,300) - Nashville, Tennessee

Game #45 - Road Game #26 (11-14)

LHP Genesis Cabrera (1-3, 6.95) vs RHP Phillips Valdez (0-5, 5.23)

BY THE NUMBERS

.472 Rangel Ravelo's batting average during his current 15-game hitting streak. He has raised his batting average to .291 after batting .173 in April.

3 Rangel Ravelo now has three of the 15 longest hitting streaks in franchise history after going 1-for-4 yesterday. He was the only player in franchise history to have two hitting streaks of 15 games or longer entering 2019.

THE GAME

TONIGHT'S GAME: The Memphis Redbirds look to snap their five-game losing skid tonight as they open up a four-game series with the Nashville Sounds in the Music City. This is the third time this month that the two teams have met for a series, with the Redbirds currently holding a slight 5-3 advantage overall this season. Rangel Ravelo extended his hitting streak to 15 games yesterday and is batting .472 (26x55) during that span. Tonight's game will be broadcast live on www.memphisredbirds.com with Steve Selby on the call.

ON THE HILL: Left-hander Genesis Cabrera is scheduled to take the mound tonight and make his ninth appearance overall and seventh start of the season. In his last time out, on Thursday at San Antonio, Cabrera tossed a season-high 6.0 innings for the second consecutive outing issued a season-low one walk. However, he also set a season-high with eight hits allowed and allowed a home run for the third straight start. Cabrera has now allowed two earned runs of fewer in three of his last four starts, lowering his ERA to a season-low 6.95. In his last start against Nashville on May 5 in the first game of the doubleheader, Cabrera earned his first career Triple-A win (5.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R/ER, 3 BB, 5 SO, 2 HR) in the Redbirds' 11-2 victory over the Sounds. The Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, native is in his sixth professional season and second with the St. Louis organization. Cabrera entered this season ranked as the No. 6 prospect in the Cardinals system by Baseball America. He spent the bulk of last season at Double-A Montgomery, going 7-6, 4.12 (52 ER/113.2 IP). He was named a Southern League All-Star and ranked 3rd in the league with a .218 batting average.

The Sounds are scheduled to start right-hander Phillips Valdez to open this series. The 27-year-old is scheduled to make his ninth start of the season and his tenth appearance overall. In his last time out on Thursday at Round Rock in the series opener between the two clubs, Valdez suffered the loss (4.2 IP, 6 H, 4 R/ER, 2 BB, 0 SO, 2 HR) in the Sounds' 10-4 defeat to the Express. He has made two starts against the Redbirds this season, going 0-1, 5.00 (5 ER/9.0 IP) to go along with two strikeouts and one walk. Valdez has also hit five Redbird batters in his starts, allowing Memphis to have a .413 on-base percentage against him. Valdez split 2018 between Triple-A Syracuse and Double-A Harrisburg, going a combined 6-7, 2.73 (41 ER/135.0 IP). The San Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic, native is in his tenth professional season and his first with the Texas organization. He has also spent time at various levels with the Washington and Cleveland organizations.

HISTORY WITH NASHVILLE: Memphis has faced off against Nashville every year since 1998 and trail 161-180 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 159-176.

Memphis a winning record at AutoZone Park in just three seasons against the Sounds, the most recent coming in 2014 (5-3). Prior to that year, the last time the Redbirds had a winning record here in downtown Memphis against their in-state rivals was in 2005 (6-2).

THE SEASON

ABOUT THE LAST ONE: The Memphis Redbirds (21-23) went 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position and left nine men on base on Monday in San Antonio, falling 4-0 in the series finale against the Missions (Brewers).

Rangel Ravelo went 1-for-4 on the day, extending his hitting streak to 15 games. He is batting .472 (26x55) during that span.

Ravelo was also the last Redbird to record a hit in 15-straight games when he had a 16-game stretch last season from July 24 - Aug. 24, 2018.

Ryan Meisinger did not allow an earned run in his three innings of work in the start and struck out the side to begin the game. He finished his outing with six punch-outs.

Meisinger has not allowed an earned run in his last 13.2 innings of work, making nine appearances and two starts during that span.

Hunter Cervenka and Chasen Shreve combined to retire all nine of their batters faced in three innings of bullpen work. The lefties did not allow a hit and fanned three.

San Antonio (27-17) gained some breathing room in the seventh with a two-out, two-run home run from Tyler Saladino to cap off a three-run frame.

Edmundo Sosa had the Redbirds lone extra-base hit in the contest with a double in the sixth.

Tommy Edman and Drew Robinson each had a stolen base on the day. They have combined to go 12-for-14 on stolen base attempts this season.

Lane Thomas added an outfield assist, throwing out a runner at 3rd base to prevent a run from scoring on a sacrifice-fly chance.

Today marks the first time that the Redbirds have been swept in five games by an opponent since July 21-23, 2006 at Iowa in a series that included two doubleheaders.

SAN ANTONIO SERIES WRAP: The Redbirds were swept for the first time this season and the first time in a five-game series since July 21-23, 2006 at Iowa, but that series included two doubleheaders.

The Redbirds series record on the road fell to 1-2-3 (W-L-T) with both series losses coming at San Antonio. Memphis won just one of seven games at the Wolff.

Adolis Garica and Rangel Ravelo were the standout performers offensively in the series, combining to go 14-for-33 (.424) with two home runs and four RBI. Garcia homered in back-to-back contests on Thursday and Friday, while Ravelo extended his hitting streak to a season-high 15 games. Ravelo is batting .472 (26x55) during that span.

The 'Birds starting staff went 0-3, 6.14 (15 ER/22.0 IP) fanning 22 batters while issuing eight walks. The starters also only gave up two home runs in the series. Genesis Cabrera turned in the lone quality start. The Memphis bullpen went 0-2, 5.44 (11 ER/18.2 IP) with 22 strikeouts.

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 on May 13 and May 14 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 9th (45) respectively in strikeouts, 9th (45.1) and 3rd (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 STAYS HOT: 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 26-for-59 (.441) in his first 17 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 15-game hitting streak and has homered three times during that span. The 27-year-old has raised his batting average to .291 on the season and is getting on base at a .362 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.

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 75 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.

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).

Check out the Memphis Redbirds Statistics

• Discuss this story on the Pacific Coast League message board...

Pacific Coast League Stories from May 21, 2019


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central