Sports stats



PCL1 Memphis Redbirds

Game Notes: Memphis Redbirds (23-30) vs San Antonio Missions (33-20)

May 29, 2019 - Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Memphis Redbirds News Release


Memphis Redbirds (23-30) vs San Antonio Missions (33-20)

Wednesday, May 29 - 6:35 p.m. (CT) - AutoZone Park (10,000) - Memphis, Tennessee

Game #54 - Home Game #25 (10-14)

RHP Jake Woodford (3-1, 3.02) vs RHP Jimmy Nelson (2-0, 4.74)

BY THE NUMBERS

8 Number of three-hit games by Tommy Edman this season. Edman has a team-leading 13 multi-hit games this season.

3 Number of outfield assists the Redbirds had in last night's contest, the most by the team in a single game this season.

THE GAME

TONIGHT'S GAME: The Memphis Redbirds look to snap a season-high seven game losing skid tonight in the six and final game of this series against the San Antonio Missions. Tonight marks the final time that the two team will meet this season. Tommy Edman collected his eighth three-hit game of the season in last night's shutout defeat. The Redbirds have dropped 10 consecutive contests to the Missions and now trail 3-12 in the season series. Tonight's game will be broadcast live on www.memphisredbirds.com with Steve Selby on the call.

ON THE HILL: Right-hander Jake Woodford is scheduled to take the mound in today's game and make his 11th start and fifth home start of the season. Woodford last took the mound on Friday at Nashville, taking no-decision (5.0 IP, 3 H, 5 R/ER, 6 BB, 5 SO, 1 HR) in the Redbirds' 10-6 defeat to the Sounds. He matched a season-high with five runs allowed and issued a career-high six walks. After allowing two runs or fewer in each of his first six starts, Woodford has allowed four runs or more in three of his last four outings. He has still won eight of his last 12 decisions at the Triple-A level despite not earning a win in his last two starts. He has two starts against the Missions this season, going 0-1, 4.50 (5 ER/10.0 IP) in two road starts. In his last start against San Antonio on May 19, he allowed a season-high five runs on a season-high seven hits. Woodford also matched his previous season-high of four walks in that outing as well. He is currently holding opposing batters to a .195 (38x195) average, which ranks 2nd in the Pacific Coast League among qualifiers. Woodford is even stingier against right-handed batters, holding them to just a .165 (20x121) average. He also ranks 5th in the PCL with a 3.02 ERA and has allowed one earned run or fewer in six of his 10 outings. The St. Petersburg, Fla., native is currently ranked as the No. 24 prospect in the Cardinals organization by MLB.com.

The Missions are slated to start right-hander Jimmy Nelson tonight. The 24-year-old is scheduled to make his fourth start and fifth appearance overall of 2019. Nelson was optioned to the Missions following the completion of his rehab assignment with the club on May 24. He has gone 2-0, 4.74 (10 ER/19.0 IP) this season and has allowed at least three earned runs in three of his four outings. In his last time out on Thursday at Round Rock, he took no-decision (4.2 IP, 5 H, 4 R/ER, 3 BB, 6 SO, 1 HR) in the Missions' 11-6 victory over the Express. In one start against Memphis this season on May 17, Nelson earned the win (5.2 IP, 3 H, 0 R/ER, 1 BB, 8 SO, 1 HBP) in the Missions' 5-3 victory over the Redbirds in San Antonio. 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: Tommy Edman had three of Memphis' five hits Tuesday night at AutoZone Park, but the first-place San Antonio Missions (Brewers) shut out the Redbirds, 8-0.

One of Edman's hits was a double. Andrew Knizner stole a base, and Rangel Ravelo had two outfield assists with Adolis Garcia added another.

After Evan Kruczynski tossed 6.0 innings, Chasen Shreve, Dominic Leone, and John Nogowski finished the ballgame with an inning of work apiece.

Knizner and Garcia had Memphis' other hits in the game. San Antonio had 18 to its credit.

The Redbirds (23-30) have lost 10-straight games to San Antonio (33-20), seven-straight games overall, and 12 of their last 14.

DON'T RUN ON THE REDBIRDS: During Monday's doubleheader, catchers Joe Hudson and Andrew Knizner each threw out a would-be base stealer in their respective games behind the plate. The Redbirds lead the Pacific Coast League in cutting down baserunners, throwing out 24 runners in 53 attempts. While throwing out the most baserunners, they rank 6th in the PCL with a 45.3 percent caught-stealing rate.

Andrew Knizner leads all PCL catchers by throwing out 17 baserunners in 32 attempts. His current caught-stealing rate of 53.1 percent is nearly 30 percentage points higher than his 2018 caught-stealing rate of 26.7 percent (20 CS/75 SB ATT) across all levels.

MEISINGER IN MAY: After tossing a career-high 4.0 innings and allowing just one run in the nightcap of Monday's doubleheader, Ryan Meisinger has brought his season ERA down to 3.34 on the season after ending April with a 5.40 ERA. He has gone 0-1, 1.15 (2 ER/15.2 IP) in May over 10 games and two starts and has allowed earned runs in just two of those outings. He has fanned 20 batters and issued just three walks as well. Despite not making a start in his Minor League career entering 2019, Meisinger has gone 0-1, 0.90 (1 ER/10.0 IP) in three starts.

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 7th (52) and T-8th (50) respectively in strikeouts, T-25th (45.1) and 6th (56.2) in innings pitched and 10th (1.28) and 8th (1.25) in WHIP. Woodford also ranks 2nd 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 33-for-88 (.375) in 26 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 .282 on the season and is getting on base at a .361 clip.

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.

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 on Saturday, 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.

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 22 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.

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 88 doubles, 12 triples and 61 home runs. Adolis Garcia holds the team lead with 21 extra-base hits with seven doubles, three 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.

Check out the Memphis Redbirds Statistics

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

Pacific Coast League Stories from May 29, 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