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PCL1 Memphis Redbirds

Game Notes: Memphis Redbirds (23-26) vs San Antonio Missions (29-20)

May 26, 2019 - Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Memphis Redbirds News Release


Memphis Redbirds (23-26) vs San Antonio Missions (29-20)

Sunday, May 26 - 6:35 p.m. (CT) - AutoZone Park (10,000) - Memphis, Tennessee

Game #50 - Home Game #21 (10-10)

RHP Ryan Helsley (1-0, 3.57) vs RHP Burch Smith (3-1, 1.19)

THE GAME

TONIGHT'S GAME: The Memphis Redbirds continue their five-game set tonight in the second game of this series. Following last night's shutout defeat, the Redbirds have now suffered back-to-back shutout losses to the Missions and have not scored a run off of San Antonio pitching in 18 consecutive innings. Rangel Ravelo's 19-game hitting streak to an end last night, as he came just one game shy of matching Adam Kennedy's franchise record of 20, set in 1999. Last night was also the first contest this season in which the Redbirds did not record an extra-base hit. 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 start since May 5 at Nashville. Helsley was optioned back to Memphis from St. Louis on May 23. His last appearance came on Wednesday vs. Kansas City, where he made a relief appearance and allowed one hit and one run in 1.2 innings of work. He also walked two batters and struck out three. Helsley's last Redbird appearance came on May 16 at San Antonio, where he retired all five batters faced in 1.2 innings of relief work. Helsley has made one start against the Missions this season on April 11, taking no-decision (3.0 IP, 6 H, 3 R/ER, 1 BB, 2 SO) in the Redbirds' 6-3 victory. Following that start, Helsley would be recalled by St. Louis on April 16 and would make his Major League debut that night at Milwaukee. In three relief appearances in his first big league stint from April 16 - 30, Helsley went 0-0, 2.84 (3 ER/9.0 IP). The Talequah, Okla., native is in his fifth professional season and has spent them all within the St. Louis organization. He is currently ranked as the No. 9 prospect and is also the highest ranked right-handed pitching prospect in the Cardinals system by MLB.com.

The Missions are scheduled to start right-hander Burch Smith tonight. The 29-year-old is slated to make his seventh Triple-A start of the season and his tenth appearance overall across all levels on the season, after making three relief appearances for the Brewers from May 7-11. In his last time out on Monday vs. Memphis, Burch took no-decision (4.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R/ER, 4 BB, 6 SO) in the Missions' 4-0 victory over the Redbirds. Smith was scheduled to start on April 18 against the Redbirds in the series finale between the two clubs, but that contest was postponed. 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 in three relief appearances. His last Major League appearance came on May 11 at Chicago-NL, where he suffered the loss by giving up a walk-off solo home run to Willson Contreras in the 15th inning in the Brewers' 2-1 defeat. 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: A sellout crowd of 10,041 packed AutoZone Park Saturday night as the Memphis Redbirds returned from a road trip to start a nine-day, 10-game homestand, but the San Antonio Missions (Brewers) shut out the Redbirds (23-26), 4-0.

Rangel Ravelo went 0-for-3, ending his hitting streak at 19 games. His streak is tied for the second-longest in franchise history with Scott Seabol in 2005, and he ended up just one game shy of matching Adam Kennedy for the longest in franchise history, which was set in 1999.

Ravelo hit .449 (31-69) during the hitting streak, which spanned from May 2-24. He had eight multi-hit games during the stretch.

Anthony Shew struck out nine in 5.0 innings in his first start back from the Injured List, including striking out the side twice. He allowed three runs on six hits with two walks.

Memphis' best chance to score came in the eighth inning, when it loaded the bases with one out. But back-to-back strikeouts ended the threat.

San Antonio's (29-20) Aaron Wilkerson tossed 5.2 shutout innings, allowing only three hits. He struck out eight. His last start was also against Memphis, and he did not allow an earned run in 6.0 innings with seven punch-outs in that outing.

The Redbirds did not have an extra-base hit in the game, ending their streak of 48-straight games with at least one extra-base knock to start the season.

NASHVILLE SERIES WRAP: The Redbirds split their second and final series against the Sounds this season and finish 2019 with a 4-4 record at First Tennessee Park.

The Redbirds had leads of four runs or more in the final two games of the series, but ultimately could not come away with victories in either contest. Their average margin of victory on the road at Nashville this season was nine runs, while their average margin of defeat was only 2.5 runs.

Rangel Ravelo went 5-for-14 with two doubles, a home run and an RBI, extending his hitting streak to 19 games in the process, now just one hit shy of equaling the franchise record of 20, set by Adam Kennedy in 1999. Tyler O'Neill hit his eighth home run of the year during the series and has now hit seven of his long balls against the Sounds. Tommy Edman went 6-for-18 with a double, two home runs and seven RBI as well. Edman's seven runs driven in were his most in a single series this season.

The 'Birds starting staff went 2-0, 4.67 (11 ER/22.1 IP) fanning 20 batters while issuing 11 walks. The starters also only gave up three home runs in the series. Genesis Cabrera turned in the lone quality start, tossing 6.0 innings of two-run ball, allowing four hits while striking out six. He also issued a season-low one walk. The Memphis bullpen went 0-2, 6.70 (9 ER/12.1 IP) with 12 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 5th (3.02) and Gomber ranks 4th (2.98) in the PCL in ERA, as the pair have combined to go 7-1, 3.00 (34 ER/102.0 IP) in 18 starts. Gomber and Woodford rank 6th (52) and T-7th (50) respectively in strikeouts, 18th (45.1) and 4th (56.2) in innings pitched and 9th (1.28) and 7th (1.25) in WHIP. Woodford also ranks 3rd in opponent average (.195), 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 stayed hot all month, going 31-for-76 (.408) in 22 games this month. Ravelo already has four three-hit games this month, compared to just one in 21 games in April. He had his 19-game hitting streak snapped last night. He had homered four times during that span. He came just one game shy of matching the franchise record is 20 games, set by Adam Kennedy from June 28 - Aug. 12, 1999. The 27-year-old has raised his batting average to .291 on the season and is getting on base at a .371 clip.

O'NEILL CONTINUES TO RAKE: 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 eight home runs in just 18 games. Seven of his eight 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 and had another three-hit performance last night. 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. On May 16 in the series opener against San Antonio, 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. In his start last night, Shew fanned a season-high nine and has struck out 24 batters in 19.0 innings. 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-36 (.444) 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 joint second-highest batting average in the Pacific Coast League with runners in scoring position (min. 36 AB). On May 2 against Nashville, Sosa set a career-high with five RBI, four of which came with two outs.

EXTRA! EXTRA!: On May 25 vs. San Antonio, the Redbirds did not have an extra-base hit in a game for the first time all season. Their run of 48 consecutive games with at least one such hit fell just three games short of matching the 2017 Redbirds' streak of 51 games. So far this season, the Redbirds have collected 85 doubles, 10 triples and 60 home runs. Adolis Garcia holds the team lead with 19 extra-base hits with six 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.

Check out the Memphis Redbirds Statistics



Pacific Coast League Stories from May 26, 2019


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