PCL1 Memphis Redbirds

Game Notes: Memphis Redbirds (23-27) vs San Antonio Missions (30-20)

May 27, 2019 - Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Memphis Redbirds News Release


Memphis Redbirds (23-27) vs San Antonio Missions (30-20)

Monday, May 27 - 1:05 p.m. (CT) - AutoZone Park (10,000) - Memphis, Tennessee

Games #51 & #52 - Home Games #22 & #23 (10-11)

RHP Daniel Ponce de Leon/RHP Ryan Meisinger vs RHP Thomas Jankins/RHP Miguel Sanchez

BY THE NUMBERS

37 Number of runs scored by Adolis Garcia this season. That figure leads the Redbirds and ranks T-7th in the Pacific Coast League.

.486 Tyler Saladino's batting average against Memphis this season in 11 games. Saladino has slugged six of his 11 home runs and driven in 21 of his 41 RBI against the Redbirds.

THE GAMES

TODAY'S GAMES: The Memphis Redbirds have to chances today to snap their losing skid against the San Antonio Missions in today's doubleheader. The Redbirds have dropped seven consecutive contests to the Missions and now trail 3-9 in the season series. Today's games 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 the first game of today's doubleheader and make his fourth home start and ninth start overall. Ponce de Leon's last outing came on Wednesday at Nashville, where he earned the win (5.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R/ER, 3 BB, 6 SO) in the Redbirds' 10-0 victory over the Sounds. He has worked at least 5.0 innings in seven of his eight starts and has allowed one earned run or fewer in three of his last four outings. Ponce de Leon has now won 10 of his last 14 decisions at the Triple-A level, dating back to May 30, 2018. Ponce de Leon has made two starts against the Missions this season, going 1-1, 8.80 (9 ER/9.2 IP) with 12 strikeouts and just four walks. He last faced San Antonio on May 17, suffering the loss (3.2 IP, 5 H, 5 R/ER, 3 BB, 4 SO) in the Redbirds' 5-3 defeat to the Missions. The 3.2 innings pitched marked a season-low while the five runs allowed marked a season-high. 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 27-year-old is currently ranked as the No. 15 prospect in the Cardinals system by MLB.com.

Right-hander Ryan Meisinger is slated to start the nightcap of the doubleheader and make his third start of the season. Meisinger has made 18 relief appearances this season for the 'Birds and has gone 0-4, 3.49 (11 ER/28.1 IP) and has allowed just one earned run in last 13.2 innings pitched (10 G). He last worked on Friday at Nashville, allowing one run in a lone inning of relief work, suffering a blown save. His last start of the season came on May 20 at San Antonio, where he suffered the loss (3.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 6 SO) in the Redbirds' 4-0 defeat to the Missions. He made his first start of the season on April 28 at Omaha, and 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. He lasted just one-third on an inning and surrendered five runs on four hits. In his five outings against the Missions this season, Meisinger has gone 0-1, 1.11 (1 ER/8.1 IP) to go along with 13 strikeouts and no walks issued. Memphis has gone 1-4 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 slated to start right-hander Thomas Jankins in the opener of today's doubleheader. The 23-year-old is scheduled to make his seventh Triple-A start of the season and his ninth start overall across all levels. In his last time out on Tuesday at Round Rock, Jankins suffered the loss (6.0 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 6 SO, 1 HR) in the Missions' 11-4 defeat to the Express. Through his first four Triple-A starts of the year, Jankins has gone 2-2, 4.50 (16 ER/32.0 IP) and has tossed a quality start in his last three outings. In one start against Memphis in 2019, he took no-decision (6.0 IP, 7 H, 3 R/ER, 1 BB, 4 SO, 2 HR) in the Missions' 4-3 victory over the Redbirds. Jankins earned the win (5.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R/ER, 2 BB, 0 SO) in his 2019 Triple-A debut on April 21 at Nashville in the nightcap of the doubleheader. The Worcester, Mass., native began the season at Double-A Biloxi, going 1-0, 2.25 (3 ER/12.0 IP) in two starts. Jankins spent the whole 2018 at Double-A Biloxi, where he went 10-9, 4.42 (64 ER/135.1 IP) in 23 G/21 GS. The Quinnipiac College product is in his fourth professional season, spending them all with the Milwaukee organization.

The Missions are slated to start right-hander Miguel Sanchez to close out today's doubleheader. The 25-year-old is scheduled to make his third start and 14th appearance overall this season. Sanchez has gone 2-2, 2.70 (7 ER/23.1 IP) and has made nine scoreless outings. He last worked on Friday at Round Rock, where he tossed a scoreless frame and issued one walk. Sanchez has made two appearances against Memphis this season, going 1-1, 6.75 (3 ER/4.0 IP). He last faced the Redbirds on May 18, where he earned the win in relief (2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R/ER, 0 BB, 1 SO) in the Missions 6-4 victory. The Bonao, Dominican Republic, native is in his fourth professional season and has spent them all with the Milwaukee organization. He spent the bulk of 2018 by splitting time between Double-A Biloxi and Advanced-A Carolina, going 2-1, 2.61 (18 ER/62.1 IP) in 33 games.

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 Memphis Redbirds (23-27) came back twice against the San Antonio Missions (Brewers) Sunday night at AutoZone Park and led 4-2 after the sixth inning, but the Missions scored the final five runs of the game and earned a 7-4 win.

Adolis Garcia was 3-for-4 with a double, a triple, an RBI, and two runs scored, and Drew Robinson also doubled and tripled in the game. He drove in two runs.

Ryan Helsley started and gave up one unearned run without a hit in 3.0 innings. He walked two and struck out two.

The game was tied at 1 until the top of the sixth, when San Antonio (30-20) plated a run to take a 2-1 lead. The Redbirds responded with three in the home-half, leading 4-2 after Garcia and Robinson hit back-to-back run-scoring triples. Dominic Leone, in the game as a relief pitcher, made his first professional at-bat and had an RBI groundout for the third tally of the frame.

The Missions came back with two runs in the seventh to tie the game again, before they broke it open with three runs in the top of the ninth on a Tyler Saladino home run. Saladino drove in five runs in the game and also had a three-bagger.

The Redbirds went down in order in the bottom of the ninth to end the ballgame.

Garcia had an outfield assist to nail a runner at the plate.

A day after his 19-game hitting streak ended, Rangel Ravelo went 1-for-4 with a walk.

San Antonio has now defeated Memphis seven-straight times.

A FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING: Having already entered the game in the sixth inning as a relief pitcher, Dominic Leone came up to bat in the bottom of the frame for the first plate appearance of his professional career. His RBI groundout was his first ever at-bat after appearing in 365 games across all levels in eight professional seasons.

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, 19th (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 32-for-80 (.400) in 23 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 Saturday. 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 .290 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 19 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.

Check out the Memphis Redbirds Statistics



Pacific Coast League Stories from May 27, 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