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PCL1 Memphis Redbirds

Game Notes: Memphis Redbirds (23-33) vs Oklahoma City Dodgers (20-34)

June 1, 2019 - Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Memphis Redbirds News Release


Memphis Redbirds (23-33) vs Oklahoma City Dodgers (20-34)

Saturday, June 1 - 6:35 p.m. (CT) - AutoZone Park (10,000) - Memphis, Tennessee

Game #57 - Home Game #28 (10-17)

RHP Daniel Ponce de Leon (4-3, 3.50) vs RHP Mitchell White (0-3, 7.71)

BY THE NUMBERS

1.00 Ryan Meisinger's ERA in 11 games, two starts in May. The right-hander allowed just two earned runs on six hits in 18.0 innings of work while fanning 25 batters and issuing just four walks.

10 Consecutive losses by the Redbirds. It is the 2nd longest losing streak in franchise history and is the first time since 2003 that the Redbirds have lost at least 10 straight.

THE GAME

TONIGHT'S GAME: The Memphis Redbirds look to snap a season-high 10-game losing skid tonight in the third game of this four-game series against the Oklahoma City Dodgers tonight. Edmundo Sosa's lead-off home run to begin the eighth brought the Redbirds within a run in last night's contest, but the Dodgers responded with three in the ninth to pull away and secure the win. After giving up a three-run homer in the first, Ryan Helsley settled in to his start and allowed just two batters to reach in his final 10 faced, including fanning six via strikeout. The Redbirds pitching staff matched a season-high with 15 strikeouts on the night. Tonight's game 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 tonight's game and make his fifth home start and tenth start overall. Ponce de Leon's last outing came on Monday in the first game of the doubleheader vs. San Antonio, where he suffered the loss (5.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R/ER, 2 BB, 3 SO, 1 HR, 1 HBP) in the Redbirds' 3-1 defeat to the Missions. He has worked at least 5.0 innings in eight of his nine starts and has allowed two earned runs or fewer in four of his last five outings. Despite suffering his third defeat of the season, Ponce de Leon has still won 10 of his last 15 decisions at the Triple-A level, dating back to May 30, 2018. Ponce de Leon made one start against Oklahoma City last season on May 2, 2018 at AutoZone Park, taking no-decision (3.2 IP, 4 H, 3 R/ER, 5 BB, 4 SO) in the Redbirds' 8-7 victory over the Dodgers. 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.

The Dodgers are slated to start right-hander Mitchell White in tonight's contest. The 24-year-old is scheduled to make his fourth start with Oklahoma City and his 11th appearance overall across all levels. White has gone 0-3, 7.71 (12 ER/14.0 IP) in his three Triple-A starts and is allowing a .333 opponent's average (19x57). In his last time out on Monday at Omaha, White suffered the loss (4.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R/ER, 1 BB, 5 SO) in the Dodgers' 7-3 defeat to the Storm Chasers. His one run allowed set a career-low at the Triple-A level. He made his Oklahoma City debut on May 17 vs. Omaha, suffering the loss (4.2 IP, 8 H, 7 R/ER, 1 BB, 1 SO, 1 HR) in the Dodgers' 11-9 defeat to the Storm Chasers. White began the season at Double-A Tulsa, going 1-0, 2.10 (7 ER/30.0 IP) in seven starts for the Drillers. He allowed no runs in four of those starts and allowed no more than three in all seven of those outings. The San Jose, Calif., native is in his fourth professional season and has spent them all with the Los Angeles-NL organization. He entered the season ranked as the No. 9 prospect in the Dodgers system by Baseball America.

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 161-175 but hold a 93-76 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 98-124 against the Dodgers' Triple-A club.

THE SEASON

ABOUT THE LAST ONE: A 3-1 game remained from the first inning until the bottom of the eighth Friday night at AutoZone Park, and after the Memphis Redbirds got within a run the Oklahoma City Dodgers (Dodgers) scored three in the top of the ninth to help secure a 6-2 win.

Edmundo Sosa homered for the Redbirds (23-33) leading off the bottom of the eighth to make the score 3-2, but the Dodgers (20-34) responded with two singles and a ground rule double for their second three-spot of the game. Memphis put two runners on in the bottom of the ninth but a strikeout ended the contest.

Tommy Edman was 2-for-4 with a triple for Memphis. He scored the Redbirds' first run of the game on a Rangel Ravelo single.

Ryan Helsley started and went 2.2 innings, striking out six. He was followed by four relievers for Memphis.

Kyle Garlick homered and had four RBI for Oklahoma City, one night after driving in five runs.

Redbirds pitching struck out 15 Dodgers in the game, and the Dodgers struck out 14 Redbirds.

Memphis has lost 10-straight games.

MAY RECAP: The Redbirds finished May with a 10-21 record, going 4-12 at AutoZone Park and 6-9 on the road. This is the just the second time since 2017, that the Redbirds have posted a losing record in a month, the last being August 2018. It is also the second time during that span that the 'Birds have had losing records at home or away. The 35 home runs slugged by the Redbirds ranks T-2nd for home runs in May, falling just three home runs shy of matching the 1999 franchise record of 38 homers in May.

Rangel Ravelo led the team with a .384 average (38x99), .460 OBP and a 1.066 OPS. This all coming after batting just .173 in the month of April. Tyler O'Neill returned to the Redbirds with a bang, launching eight home runs in 24 games.

GOING TO THE SHOW: Following the contract of Andrew Knizner being purchased yesterday 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 brought his season ERA down to 3.34 after ending April with a 5.40 ERA. He has gone 0-1, 1.00 (2 ER/18.0 IP) in May over 11 games and two starts and has allowed earned runs in just two of those outings. His ERA is now down to a season-low 3.12 following his outing last night vs. Oklahoma City. He has fanned 25 batters and issued just four 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 4th (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 stayed hot all of May, going 38-for-99 (.384) in 28 games this month. Ravelo had five three-hit games last month, compared to just one in 21 games in April. He had his 19-game hitting streak snapped May 25. 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 .293 on the season and is getting on base at a .372 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, 14 triples and 63 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.

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