PCL1 Memphis Redbirds

Game Notes: Memphis Redbirds (23-32) vs Oklahoma City Dodgers (19-34)

Published on May 31, 2019 under Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Memphis Redbirds News Release


Memphis Redbirds (23-32) vs Oklahoma City Dodgers (19-34)

Friday, May 31 - 7:05 p.m. (CT) - AutoZone Park (10,000) - Memphis, Tennessee

Game #56 - Home Game #27 (10-16)

RHP Ryan Helsley (1-0, 3.05) vs RHP Daniel Corcino (3-2, 4.62)

BY THE NUMBERS

34 Home runs hit by the Redbirds this month. That is T-3rd most home runs a Redbird team has hit in May and first time since 2005 that the Redbirds have slugged at least 34 long balls in May.

9 Consecutive losses by the Redbirds. That is tied for the 2nd longest losing streak in franchise history and is the first time since May 6-14, 2012 that the Redbirds have lost nine straight.

THE GAME

TONIGHT'S GAME: The Memphis Redbirds look to snap a season-high nine game losing skid tonight in the second game of this four-game series against the Oklahoma City Dodgers tonight. Adolis Garcia launched his team-leading 12th home run of the season last night and also doubled in the contest. Rangel Ravelo collected his sixth three-hit game of the season and came just a home run shy of hitting for the cycle, while also driving in three runs. 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 fifth start of the season and his ninth appearance overall. Helsley was optioned back to Memphis from St. Louis on May 23 and made one relief appearance during his second Major League stint of the season. In his last time out on Sunday vs. San Antonio, he took no-decision (3.0 IP, 0 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 2 SO) in the Redbirds' 7-4 defeat to the Missions. Helsley allowed no hits in an outing for a third time this season, as opponents are hitting just .183 (13x71) on the season. Entering today, Helsley's opponent average is the lowest it's been all season since April 6 (.000), when he did not allow a hit in 4.0 innings vs. Omaha. He also walked two batters and struck out two in his start on Sunday. Helsley has made one start against Oklahoma City in his career, May 22, 2018, where he took no-decision (7.0 IP, 2 H, 2 R/ER, 1 BB, 9 SO) in the Redbirds' 10-3 defeat to the Dodgers. That outing was just his second at the Triple-A level, as he opened his Memphis career with back-to-back seven-inning quality starts with at least nine strikeouts and two or fewer runs allowed. Helsley was 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 Dodgers are slated to start right-hander Daniel Corcino in tonight's contest. The 28-year-old is scheduled to make his eighth start and ninth appearance overall this season. Corcino has gone 3-2, 4.62 (20 ER/39.0 IP) in his nine outings and is allowing a .247 opponent's average (37x150). In his last time out on Sunday at Omaha, Corcino piggybacked a start by Tony Gonsolin, suffering the loss (5.0 IP, 7 H, 5 R/ER, 5 BB, 1 SO, 1 HR), in the Dodgers' 5-0 defeat to the Storm Chasers. His five walks issued set a season-high and he has walked at least three batters in three of his last four outings. His five runs allowed were the most in an appearance since allowing six on April 17 vs. Omaha. Corcino had allowed two earned runs or fewer in five straight starts prior to Sunday. He last faced the Redbirds on Aug. 9, 2018 in Oklahoma City, taking no-decision (7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R/ER, 0 BB, 9 SO) in the Dodgers' 2-1 defeat to the Redbirds. Overall in 2018, Corcino went 1-0, 1.29 (3 ER/21.0 IP) in four starts. The Azua, Dominican Republic., native is in his 12th professional season and his fifth with the Los Angeles-NL organization. He has also spent time with the Cincinnati and Chicago-NL organizations.

HISTORY WITH OKLAHOMA CITY: The Redbirds have faced off against the Oklahoma City Triple-A franchise every year since 1998. The Redbirds trail in the all-time series 161-174 but hold a 93-75 advantage at AutoZone Park. The Redbirds have winning records against Oklahoma City in just six of 21 seasons, but only have losing records in 10 seasons. Last year, the teams faced off in the American Conference Finals of the Pacific Coast League playoffs, with the Redbirds winning the series 3-1.

This is 22nd-straight year that the Redbirds have faced off against the Los Angeles Dodgers' Triple-A affiliate. Oklahoma City has been the Dodgers' top affiliate since 2015 and Memphis has a 30-32 record during that span. From 2009-14, the Albuquerque Isotopes was the organization's top affiliate and the Redbirds went 37-49. The Redbirds were also 12-20 against the Albuquerque Dukes from 1998-2000. From 2001-08, the Redbirds went 19-21 against the Las Vegas 51's. Overall, Memphis is 98-123 against the Dodgers' Triple-A club.

THE SEASON

ABOUT THE LAST ONE: The Memphis Redbirds (23-32) came back from down 1-0 and then 8-6, but the Oklahoma City Dodgers (Dodgers) scored a pair of runs in the top of the 10th inning to take a 10-8 win in the series opener Thursday night at AutoZone Park.

Rangel Ravelo finished 3-for-5, ending a home run short of hitting for the cycle, and he drove in three and scored twice. Adolis Garcia launched his 12th home run of the season to cap a four-run Memphis third inning, and he also doubled.

Ramon Urias was 2-for-4, and Tommy Edman drew three walks and scored twice. Kyle Garlick hit a three-run home run for Oklahoma City (19-34) and finished with five RBI.

Anthony Shew battled through 5.0 innings on the mound for the Redbirds, scattering seven hits and allowing four runs, three earned. He struck out five. After Chris Ellis gave up four runs in the Dodgers' sixth to make the score 8-6, the Redbirds scored twice in the home-half to tie the game at 8 after six innings.

Chasen Shreve and Jesus Cruz were solid in 3.0 innings of relief, combining for seven strikeouts, with Shreve striking out the side in the eighth and Cruz doing the same in the ninth.

Oklahoma City scored twice in the top of the 10th off Chris Beck, and the Redbirds went down in order in the bottom of the 10th to end the ballgame.

The teams combined for 26 strikeouts at the plate and 17 walks.

Memphis has lost nine-straight games.

GOING TO THE SHOW: Following the contract of Andrew Knizner being purchased today by the St. Louis Cardinals, the Redbirds have now had four members from their Opening Night roster get called up to St. Louis and make their first stint at the Major League level. Knizner joins Lane Thomas as the second Redbirds position player to earn a call up, joining pitchers Genesis Cabrera and Ryan Helsley. The 2018 Redbirds had six players get promoted to St. Louis and they would all make their Major League debuts with the club.

SAN ANTONIO SERIES WRAP: The Memphis Redbirds were swept in six games by the San Antonio Missions in the final series of the season between the two clubs. The Missions end 2019 with a 3-13 record against the Redbirds in their inaugural Triple-A season, including winning the final 11 contests. They become the first team since the 2013 Albuquerque Isotopes to win 13 games against the Redbirds in a single season. Those are the only two teams to record that many wins in a season against the 'Birds.

The Redbirds scored just eight runs in the six games (50 inn.) and were held to just one home run and seven extra-base hits overall. The offense was held to a .174 average (30-for-172) and only had five players pick up multi-hit performances.

Adolis Garcia and Drew Robinson each doubled and tripled in Sunday's contest, with Robinson extending his hitting streak to a season-high six games. In the first game of Monday's doubleheader, Robinson drew a season-high three walks, bringing his season total to 31. That figure ranks T-7th in the Pacific Coast League. Tommy Edman launched his second lead-off home run of the year in Monday's contest and picked up his eighth three-hit game of the season on Tuesday. He leads the Redbirds with 13 multi-hit games.

The 'Birds starting staff went 0-4, 4.50 (15 ER/30.0 IP) fanning 29 batters while issuing 10 walks. The starters also gave up just three home runs in the series. Anthony Shew fanned a season-high nine batters, which also matched a Redbirds season-high, in his start, while Jake Woodford tossed the lone quality start, tossing 7.0 innings of three-run ball, allowing five hits and fanning seven. The Memphis bullpen went 0-1, 4.50 (10 ER/20.0 IP) with 17 strikeouts.

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 56 attempts. While throwing out the most baserunners, they also lead the PCL with a 42.9 caught-stealing success 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.

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 (3.11) and Gomber ranks 4th (2.98) in the PCL in ERA, as the pair have combined to go 7-2, 3.06 (37 ER/109.0 IP) in 19 starts. Gomber and Woodford rank 10th (52) and 6th (57) respectively in strikeouts and 9th (1.28) and 7th (1.24) in WHIP. Woodford also ranks 2nd in opponent average (.198) and 3rd (63.2) in innings pitched, 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 37-for-96 (.385) in 27 games this month. Ravelo has five 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 .292 on the season and is getting on base at a .370 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.

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 91 doubles, 13 triples and 62 home runs. Adolis Garcia holds the team lead with 23 extra-base hits with eight doubles, three triples and a team-high 12 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

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Pacific Coast League Stories from May 31, 2019


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