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PCL1 Memphis Redbirds

Game Notes: Memphis Redbirds (25-36) at Reno Aces (26-34)

June 7, 2019 - Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Memphis Redbirds News Release


Memphis Redbirds (25-36) at Reno Aces (26-34)

Friday, June 7 - 9:05 p.m. (CT) - Aces Ballpark (9,000) - Reno, Nevada

Game #62 - Road Game #33 (15-17)

LHP Evan Kruczynski (0-1, 6.63) vs RHP Matt Koch (1-1, 7.91)

BY THE NUMBERS

6.0 Scoreless innings tossed by Harold Arauz in relief last night. It was Arauz's first appearance with Memphis since April 24. That was the longest relief outing of the season by a Redbirds pitcher.

105 Consecutive at-bats by Lane Thomas without a home run before his solo shot in the eighth. Thomas led all Cardinals minor leaguers in 2018 with 27 home runs.

5 Number of hits by Jose Godoy in his last two games. Through his first three career Triple-A contest, Godoy is batting .500 (5x10) with a double, home run and three RBI.

THE GAME

TONIGHT'S GAME: The Memphis Redbirds continue their seven-game road trip as they open up a four-game series against the Reno Aces. Edmundo Sosa finished just a cycle shy of the cycle in last night's contest and he and Lane Thomas went back-to-back in the eighth inning of last night's game. It was the first time the Redbirds had launched back-to-back home runs since April 28. Jose Godoy collected his first three-hit game of his Triple-A career and six of the nine Redbirds starters had at least one hit in the contest. Harold Arauz earned the win in relief last night by tossing 6.0 scoreless innings in relief. Tonight's game will be broadcast live on www.memphisredbirds.com with Steve Selby on the call.

ON THE HILL: Left-hander Evan Kruczynski is scheduled to take the mound in tonight's contest and make his fourth Triple-A start and his 12th start overall in the 2019 season across all levels. In his appearance on Sunday vs. Oklahoma City, Kruczynski took no-decision in relief (3.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R/ER, 2 BB, 3 SO) in the Redbirds' 8-2 defeat to the Dodgers. His last start came on May 28 vs. San Antonio, where he suffered the loss (6.0 IP, 14 H, 6 R/ER, 1 BB, 6 SO, 1 HBP) in the Redbirds' 8-0 defeat to the Missions. While the 6.0 innings pitched set a career-high at the Triple-A level, his 14 hits allowed set a career high. Kruczynski started the year at Double-A Springfield where he went 2-3, 6.64 (29 ER/39.1 IP) in eight starts for the Cardinals. In his last three starts in Springfield, however, Kruczynski allowed two earned runs of fewer in each of those starts. The 24-year-old's last Double-A outing was on May 13 vs. Arkansas, where he earned the victory (7.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R/ER, 3 BB, 9 SO, 1 HR) in the Cardinals' 4-1 victory over the Travelers. It marked his second straight quality start and his second consecutive win, while also setting season-highs in innings pitched and strikeouts. Tonight will be his first time facing Reno in his career. The Franklin, Wisc., native split time between Double-A Springfield and Advanced-A Palm Beach in 2018, combining to go 7-6, 3.50 (45 ER/115.2 IP) in 21 G/GS. Kruczynski is in his third professional season and has spent them all with the St. Louis organization.

The Aces are slated to start right-hander Matt Koch in tonight's contest. The 28-year-old is scheduled to make his fourth start for Reno and his 15th appearance overall across all levels this season. Koch has gone 1-1, 7.91 (17 ER/19.1 IP) to go along with 11 strikeouts and four walks in five games, four starts at the Triple-A level this season. In his last time out on Saturday at Albuquerque, Koch earned the win (6.0 IP, 8 H, 5 R/ER, 0 BB, 2 SO, 2 HR) in the Aces' 11-6 victory over the Isotopes. That was the longest outing of the season for Koch and his second start of allowing at least eight hits. He has allowed six home runs in his 19.1 innings at the Triple-A level. He opened 2019 at the Major League level with the Arizona Diamondbacks, he went 0-0, 9.15 (11 ER/11.0 IP) in nine games before being designated for assignment on April 28 and sent outright to Reno on May 3. In his first Major League outing of the season on March 28 at Los Angeles-NL, he allowed five hits in 4.1 innings of work and four those hits were home runs. Koch split 2018 between Arizona and Reno where he went a combined 7-9, 5.22 (76 ER/131.0 IP) in 30 games, 25 starts. The Cherokee, Iowa, native is in his eighth professional season and his fifth with the Arizona organization. He had spent the first three years of his career within the New York-NL system at various levels. In his Major League career, Koch has gone 6-6, 4.88 (68 ER/125.1 IP) in 36 games, 16 starts.

HISTORY WITH RENO: The Redbirds have faced off against the Reno Aces every year since 2009, when the Aces were founded. The Aces have been Arizona's Triple-A affiliate the entirety of that span. In their young history, the Redbirds trail in the all-time series 14-26, trailing at Aces Ballpark by a 8-12 margin and trailing at AutoZone Park 6-14. The Redbirds have a just one season with a winning record against the Aces (2009) and have losing records in four of the last five seasons.

Prior to the Aces joining the Pacific Coast League, the Tucson Sidewinders played host to the Diamondbacks' top affiliate from 1998-2008 in the PCL, where the Redbirds went 33-28 during that span. Their overall record against the Arizona Triple-A team is 47-54.

THE SEASON

ABOUT THE LAST ONE: The Memphis Redbirds (25-36) captured a series win at the Tacoma Rainiers (Mariners) after a 7-0 victory in the series finale Thursday night in Tacoma, Wash.

Six of Memphis' 11 hits went for extra bases. Edmundo Sosa and Jose Godoy each had three hits for the Redbirds, who turned a 2-0 lead after six innings into a 7-0 advantage after the top of the eighth.

After Daniel Ponce de Leon worked 3.0 shutout innings, Harold Arauz fired 6.0 scoreless innings to finish the victory. He scattered five hits and struck out three. Arauz needed 79 pitches in his 6.0 innings of relief.

In addition to Sosa and Godoy's three-hit games, Drew Robinson was 2-for-5 with a double and two RBI. Sosa also tripled in addition to his home run and double.

Tommy Edman swiped two bases in the game, giving him nine for the season, after singling and drawing a walk.

Adolis Garcia had an outfield assist at second base, and the Redbirds turned two double plays in the contest against Tacoma (30-31).

TACOMA SERIES WRAP: The Memphis Redbirds earned their first series victory since May 11-14 by taking two of three games from the Tacoma Rainiers to open up their seven-game road swing. The Redbirds have won their series against the Rainiers in each of the last three seasons and they have not lost a regular season series to the Rainiers since 2009.

The Redbirds scored just 20 runs in the three games, including two games of scoring at least seven. The offense slugged a total of five homers and collected and 15 extra-base hits overall. Against Tacoma pitching, Memphis slugged their way to a .296 average (32x108) and had 10 players pick up multi-hit performances.

Edmundo Sosa came just a single shy of hitting for the cycle in the series finale and recorded his first three-hit game since May 3 at Nashville. Overall, Ravelo went 3-for-8 (.375) in two games against the Rainiers. Tommy Edman extended his hitting streak to six games and also scored a team-high five runs for the second consecutive series. He added one more multi-hit performance and leads the Redbirds with 16 multi-hit games this season. After going 105 at-bats without a home run, Lane Thomas homered for the first time since April 28 at Omaha in last night's series finale. Thomas led all Cardinals minor leaguers last season by blasting 27 home run. Adolis Garcia drove in five runs to bring team-leading total to 42. That figure ranks 14th in the Pacific Coast League. Jose Godoy made two starts in the series, collecting his first Triple-A hit on Wednesday, a solo home run, and had his first three-hit game at the Triple-A level last night. Two of his five hits overall went for extra bases.

The 'Birds starting staff went 1-1, 6.18 (7 ER/10.2 IP) fanning nine batters while issuing seven walks. The starters did not allow a single home run in the series and the Redbird pitching staff as a whole allowed just one. Jake Woodford turned in his team-leading sixth quality start of the season in the series opener on Tuesday, tossing 7.0 innings of two-run ball while fanning six. Anthony Shew lasted just 0.2 innings in his start on Wednesday, the shortest by a Redbirds starter this season. The Memphis bullpen went 1-0, 2.38 (4 ER/15.1 IP) with 14 strikeouts. Harold Arauz made his first appearance with Memphis since April 24 and tossed 6.0 shutout innings in relief, the longest relief outing of the season for the Redbirds, to earn the win. Arauz has won all three decisions at the Triple-A level this season.

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. Ravelo had five three-hit games last month and already has one in June, 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. Despite having his hitting streak ended, Ravelo has still hit safely in 28 of his last 34 games with an official at-bat. The 27-year-old has raised his batting average to .296 on the season and is getting on base at a .381 clip.

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 on May 31 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 Major League debuts. 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.

DON'T RUN ON THE REDBIRDS: During the doubleheader against San Antonio on May 27, 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 62 attempts. While throwing out the most baserunners, they also rank 2nd the PCL with a 38.7 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 the doubleheader on May 27, 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 3.09 following his brief outing last night at Tacoma. 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 3rd (3.06) and Gomber has posted a 2.98 ERA that would rank 3rd in the PCL if he qualified, as the pair have combined to go 8-2, 3.03 (39 ER/116.0 IP) in 20 starts. Gomber and Woodford rank T-13th (52) and 5th (63) respectively in strikeouts. Woodford also ranks 3rd in opponent average (.199) and 2nd (70.2) in innings pitched, while Gomber is one of two pitchers in the PCL to have thrown a complete-game shutout.

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 102 doubles, 16 triples and 69 home runs. Adolis Garcia holds the team lead with 25 extra-base hits with nine doubles, three triples and a team-high 13 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



Pacific Coast League Stories from June 7, 2019


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