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PCL1 Memphis Redbirds

Game Notes: Memphis Redbirds (26-37) at Reno Aces (27-35)

June 9, 2019 - Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Memphis Redbirds News Release


Memphis Redbirds (26-37) at Reno Aces (27-35)

Sunday, June 9 - 3:05 p.m. (CT) - Greater Nevada Field (9,100) - Reno, Nevada

Game #64 - Road Game #35 (16-18)

LHP Genesis Cabrera/RHP Anthony Shew vs RHP Braden Shipley (1-2, 9.86)

BY THE NUMBERS

18 Number of strikeouts recorded by Redbirds pitchers in last night's game, setting a season high. Alex Reyes led the way with 10 and Chris Ellis and Chasen Shreve each had four punch outs.

10.1 Consecutive innings pitched by Chasen Shreve without allowing an earned run. Shreve has lowered his ERA from 6.43 to 4.31 during that span.

.167 The Reno Aces batting average with runners in scoring position. The Redbirds pitching staff has held the Aces to a .224 average overall this series.

THE GAME

TODAY'S GAME: The Memphis Redbirds continue their seven-game road trip in the third of this four-game set against the Reno Aces. After finishing just a single shy of the cycle in back-to-back contests, Edmundo Sosa led off last night's game with a single. Sosa also collected his 13th multi-hit performance of the season, tying Rangel Ravelo and Drew Robinson for the lead among the active roster. Jose Godoy homered for the second time in five games and is batting .368 (7x19) in his first career Triple-A stint. Alex Reyes set a Redbird season high with 10 strikeouts and the pitching staff combined for 18 overall last night, a team high this season. Today's game will be broadcast live on www.memphisredbirds.com with Steve Selby on the call.

ON THE HILL: Left-hander Genesis Cabrera is scheduled to take the mound today and make his tenth start with Memphis and his 12th appearance overall across levels in 2019. In his last time out, on Tuesday vs. Cincinnati, Cabrera suffered the loss (4.2 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 0 SO, 1 HR) in the Cardinals' 4-1 defeat to the Reds. It was the first time since Aug. 17, 2017, with Double-A Montgomery, that Cabrera did not record a strikeout in a start. He also matched a season-high with eight hits allowed. During his first career Major League stint, Cabrera went 0-2, 6.48 (6 ER/8.1 IP) in two starts. He made his MLB debut on May 29 at Philadelphia, suffering the loss (3.2 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 5 SO, 1 HR)in the Cardinals' 11-4 defeat to the Phillies. Cabrera last took the mound for the Redbirds on May 21 at Nashville, earning the win (6.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R/ER, 1 BB, 6 SO, 1 HR) in the Redbirds' 4-2 victory over the Sounds. It was his second straight quality start and his third straight of at least 6.0 innings pitched. Cabrera has now allowed two earned runs of fewer in four of his last five starts, lowering his ERA to a season-low 6.35. The Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, native is in his sixth professional season and second with the St. Louis organization. Cabrera entered this season ranked as the No. 6 prospect in the Cardinals system by Baseball America. He spent the bulk of last season at Double-A Montgomery, going 7-6, 4.12 (52 ER/113.2 IP). He was named a Southern League All-Star and ranked 3rd in the league with a .218 batting average.

The Aces are slated to start right-hander Braden Shipley in today's contest. The 27-year-old is scheduled to make his seventh start and 17th appearance of the season overall. Shipley has gone 1-2, 9.86 (46 ER/42.0 IP) to go along with 43 strikeouts and 23 walks in his 16 outings this season. In his last time out on Tuesday vs. Nashville, Shipley took no-decision (3.0 IP, 9 H, 6 R/ER, 2 BB, 1 SO, 1 HR, 1 HBP) in the Aces' 12-11 victory over the Sounds. That was the fourth time in his last five starts that Shipley has allowed at least five earned runs. It was also the most hits that his allowed in an outing this season, as he has yielded an opponent's average of .346 (62x179). He has worked 4.0 innings or fewer in three starts. As a starter, Shipley has gone 0-2, 10.80 (28 ER/23.1 IP) in his six starts compared to 1-0, 8.68 (18 ER/18.2 IP) in 10 games as a reliever. Shipley spent the bulk of 2018 at Reno, where he went 6-4, 5.81 (48 ER/74.1 IP) in 30 games, 6 starts. He also went 0-0, 7.20 (4 ER/5.0 IP) in three games at the Major League level with Arizona. The Medford, Ore., native is in his seventh professional season and has spent them all with the Arizona organization.

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 15-27, trailing at Aces Ballpark by a 9-13 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 48-55.

THE SEASON

ABOUT THE LAST ONE: Eighteen of the 24 outs recorded by Memphis Redbirds pitching came via strikeout, but the Reno Aces (Diamondbacks) topped the Redbirds Saturday night in Reno, Nev., 5-3.

The 18 strikeouts recorded by Memphis pitching are a season high.

Alex Reyes started and went 4.0 innings for the Redbirds (26-37), striking out 10. He allowed four runs, three earned, on three hits and walked four. He threw 88 pitches, 45 for strikes, in those 4.0 innings. Chris Ellis and Chasen Shreve followed Reyes, with each striking out a pair in their 2.0 innings of work apiece.

Reno (27-35) scored twice in the bottom of the second to open the scoring, with the Aces helped by a Memphis fielding error in the inning. The Redbirds got a run back in the fourth, with Adolis Garcia atoning for his error with an RBI single, but Reno's Abraham Almonte hit a two-run homer in the home-half to make it 4-1.

The teams traded runs in the fifth inning, and Memphis plated its third, and ultimately final, run of the game in the top of the sixth as Lane Thomas contributed a sacrifice fly.

After Ellis and Shreve retired the final 10 Aces of the game, Memphis put the tying run on first base in the top of the ninth after a Jose Godoy single and a Rangel Ravelo walk. But Edmundo Sosa struck out to end the ballgame.

Godoy also hit his second home run of the season in the game.

Shreve has now pitched six-straight outings without allowing an earned run, and he has only surrendered earned runs in one of his last 13 appearances out of the bullpen.

TODAY'S ROSTER MOVES: Prior to today's game, Evan Mendoza was transferred from Double-A Springfield to make his second stint at the Triple-A level. Mendoza made his Triple-A debut on April 5, going 1-for-3 with a run and a walk. He was then transferred to Springfield on April 8 where he would go on to slash .248/.293/.311/.603 in 54 games.

EDMAN GETS THE CALL: Prior to last night's contest, infielder Tommy Edman had his contract purchased by the St. Louis Cardinals and would later make his Major League in last night's game against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field, striking out in a pinch-hit appearance. Edman leads the Redbirds in batting average, OPS, hits, triples and stolen bases, and ranks second in runs and doubles. He also ranks third in home runs and RBI.

REYES HITS DOUBLE DIGITS: For the first time in 2019 and the 14th time in his career, Alex Reyes struck out at least 10 batters in a start. He has three such games with Memphis. In his last 11 starts overall, Reyes has fanned 10+ four times, including a stretch of three straight at various levels from May 14-24, 2018 while on rehab assignment. Last night, he became the first Redbirds pitcher to record at least 10 punch outs since Kevin Herget struck out 11 on July 19, 2018 vs. Iowa.

BATS BREAKING OUT: In Friday's game at Reno, the Redbird offense had at least 10 hits in a contest for the third time through four games of their seven-game road trip. Prior to Tuesday's game at Tacoma where the Redbirds collected 13 hits, the offense had gone 12 consecutive games without reaching the 10-hit mark. During this current road swing, the Redbirds are batting .327 (58x183) and have hit eight home runs. John Nogowski and Rangel Ravelo have each picked up their first four-hit game of the season during this span as well, matching a team-high this year.

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. In Friday's contest at Reno, he had his first four-hit game since June 24, 2018 vs. New Orleans. 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 29 of his last 35 games with an official at-bat. The 27-year-old has raised his batting average to .309 on the season and is getting on base at a .394 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 Tommy Edman being purchased yesterday by the St. Louis Cardinals, the Redbirds have now had five members from their Opening Night roster get called up to St. Louis and make their Major League debuts. Edman joins Andrew Knizner and Lane Thomas as the third 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 63 attempts. While throwing out the most baserunners, they also rank 2nd the PCL with a 38.1 caught-stealing success rate.

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