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PCL1 Memphis Redbirds

Game Notes: Memphis Redbirds (28-38) vs Salt Lake Bees (29-35)

June 13, 2019 - Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Memphis Redbirds News Release


Memphis Redbirds (28-38) vs Salt Lake Bees (29-35)

Thursday, June 13 - 7:05 p.m. (CT) - AutoZone Park (10,000) - Memphis, Tennessee

Game #67 - Home Game #31 (11-19)

RHP Alex Reyes (1-2, 6.16) vs RHP Jaime Barria (2-1, 6.97)

BY THE NUMBERS

4 Runs and hits recorded by Rangel Ravelo in last night's game. He became the first Redbird to score four runs in a game since Justin Williams on Aug.8, 2018.

13 Number of hits by the Redbirds last night. That set a season-high at home and was the first time since May 12 that they recorded at least 10 hits in a game at AutoZone Park.

11 Runs scored by the Redbirds last night. It was the most runs that they have scored at home all season and the first time that they had scored at least 10 runs in a game at this facility this season as well.

THE GAME

TONIGHT'S GAME: The Memphis Redbirds continue their seven-game homestand tonight in the middle game of this three-game set against the Salt Lake Bees. The Redbirds won the series opener last night 11-5, backed by a five-run seventh to break the game open. Tyler O'Neill snapped his home run drought with a two-run shot in the eighth and Rangel Ravelo had four hits and four runs in four at-bats. Tonight's game will be broadcast live on www.memphisredbirds.com with Steve Selby on the call.

ON THE HILL: Right-hander Alex Reyes is scheduled to take the mound in tonight's game and make his fifth start and tenth appearance of 2019 across all levels. Reyes has made seven appearances, four starts, with the Redbirds this season, going 1-2, 6.16 (14 ER/19.0 IP). In his last time out on Saturday at Reno, he suffered his second straight loss (4.0 IP, 3 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 4 BB, 10 SO, 1 HR, 1 HBP) in the Redbirds' 5-3 defeat to the Aces. Reyes became the first Redbirds pitcher since Kevin Herget on July 19, 2018 to strikeout at least 10 batters in a game. However, he allowed a home run for the second straight start and has allowed four runs or more in two straight outings. Prior to his start on June 2 vs. Oklahoma City, he had made two starts at Palm Beach following his activation and transfer from the 7-Day Injured List on May 23, where Reyes went 0-1, 1.93 (2 ER/9.1 IP) to go along with 11 strikeouts and just three walks. Overall, opponents at the Triple-A level are batting just .215 (14x65). The Elizabeth, N.J., native enters his seventh professional season and has spent them all in the St. Louis organization. The 24-year-old entered 2019 ranked as the No. 1 prospect in the Cardinals system by Baseball America for the fourth straight year. He was also ranked as the No.5 right-handed prospect by the same publication.

The Bees are slated to start right-hander Jaime Barria in tonight's contest. The 22-year-old is scheduled to make his seventh start at the Triple-A level and his 12th appearance overall across all levels this season. Barria has gone 2-1, 6.97 (24 ER/31.0 IP) in six games, starts with Bees. In his last time out on Thursday vs. Oakland, he took no-decision in relief (5.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R/ER, 2 BB, 6 SO, 1 HR) in the Angels' 7-4 defeat to the Athletics. That matched his longest outing at the Major League level this season, and has allowed one earned run or fewer in three of his five MLB appearances. Overall with the Angels this season, Barria has gone 2-2, 6.52 (14 ER/19.1 IP) in five games, one start. His last start with Salt Lake came on May 30 at Fresno, where he suffered the loss (5.0 IP, 6 H, 5 R/ER, 1 BB, SO) in the Bees' 13-7 defeat to the Grizzlies. At the Triple-A level, Barria has allowed at least five hits in all six of his starts and has allowed at least three earned runs in each outing as well. He made his MLB debut last season on April 11 vs. TEX, earning the win (5.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R/ER, 3 BB, 3 SO, 1 HR) in the start. In his Major League career, Barria has gone 12-11, 3.81 (63 ER/148.2 IP) in 31 games, 27 starts. The Panama, Panama, native is in his seventh professional season and has spent them all with the Los-Angeles-AL organization.

HISTORY WITH SALT LAKE: The Redbirds have faced off against the Salt Lake Bees every year since 1998 following the Pacific Coast League expansion. The Bees have been Los Angeles-AL's Triple-A affiliate the entirety of that span. The Redbirds lead in the all-time series 58-42, leading at AutoZone Park by a 28-21 margin and leading at Smith's Ballpark 30-21. The Redbirds have winning records in each of the last two seasons against the Bees and have not had a losing record against them since 2012. The Redbirds are 7-2 in their last nine games here at this facility against the Bees.

The two clubs have met one time in the playoffs, in the 2000 PCL Championship. The Redbirds won the series 3-1 over the Buzz, famously ending the series in Game 4 on a walk-off home run by Albert Pujols in the 13th inning.

THE SEASON

ABOUT THE LAST ONE: The Memphis Redbirds (28-38) broke a 4-4 tie with five runs in the bottom of the seventh inning en route to an 11-5 win over the Salt Lake Bees (Angels) Wednesday night at AutoZone Park.

Memphis batted around in its five-run seventh, and a Tyler O'Neill two-run home run in the bottom of the eighth made it 11-4 in favor of the Redbirds.

The Bees (29-35) led 3-0 after the top of the first and 4-1 after two-and-a-half innings, before Rangel Ravelo hit a two-run home run in the third to make it 4-3. Ravelo then crossed the plate as the tying run in the bottom of the fifth on a John Nogowski double to deep center field.

Evan Kruczynski battled through 5.0 innings on the mound after a tough first inning, finishing with four runs allowed on eight hits. Four Redbirds relievers threw the final 4.0 innings, with Dominic Leone and Hunter Cervenka striking out the final six Bees of the game.

Ravelo was on base five times, singling three times and drawing a walk in addition to his home run. He scored four of Memphis' 11 runs. O'Neill ended the night 3-for-4 with a walk and three RBI.

Every Memphis starter reached base at least once, and seven scored a run.

Memphis had lost its previous 10 home games prior to tonight's win and scored 21 runs in those 10 contests.

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 has continued his torrid stretch in June, jumping out to an early .485 (16x33) average though 10 games. In Friday's contest at Reno, he had his first four-hit game since June 24, 2018 vs. New Orleans and had his second four-hit game of the season last night vs. Salt Lake. In May, he had his 19-game hitting streak snapped May 25. Ravelo 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 30 of his last 37 games with an official at-bat. The 27-year-old has raised his batting average to .324 on the season and is getting on base at a .404 clip. His .324 average ranks 15th in the Pacific Coast League entering today.

YOUNG GUNS IN THE DUGOUT: Last night's game between Memphis and Salt Lake featured one of the youngest manager matchups in the Pacific Coast League. At just 32-years-old, Lou Marson is the youngest manager in the PCL and 37-year-old Ben Johnson is the third-youngest manager in the league. Both skippers are in their first year of managing at the Triple-A level.

RENO SERIES WRAP: The Memphis Redbirds split their four-game set with the Reno Aces to close out their seven-game road swing. The Redbirds have not won a series against the Aces since 2009 and have tied in five of their nine series on the road this season. They end their road trip with a 4-3 record.

The Redbirds scored 24 runs in the four games, including a 10-run outburst in the series opener. The offense slugged a total of six homers and collected 16 extra-base hits overall. Against Reno pitching, Memphis slugged their way to a .272 average (40x147) and had 12 players pick up multi-hit performances.

Edmundo Sosa came just a single shy of hitting for the cycle in the series opener, after posting the same performance on Thursday at Reno, and recorded at least two-hits in each game of the series. His 15 total multi-hit games lead the current Redbirds roster. John Nogowski and Rangel Ravelo each had four-hit games in the series opener, matching Lane Thomas' season-high. Ravelo finished the series going 7-for-14 (.500) with a double and five RBI. Drew Robinson drove in a season-high three runs in last night's series finale and homered for the sixth time this season. Prior to being placed on the 7-Day Injured list today, Robinson had hit safely in five straight games. Adolis Garcia drove in three more runs in the series, bringing his season total to a team-high 45. That figure also ranks 12th in the Pacific Coast League.

The 'Birds starting staff went 2-2, 4.00 (8 ER/18.0 IP) fanning 27 batters while issuing 13 walks. The starters allowed just a single home run in the series and the Redbird pitching staff as a whole allowed just two in the four games. While no starter posted a quality start, Evan Kruczynski and Genesis Cabrera each posted outings of at least 5.0 innings and two earned runs allowed or fewer. Cabrera and Alex Reyes each fanned at least eight batters in their starts, with Reyes becoming the first Redbird starter this season to post 10 strikeouts. The Memphis bullpen went 0-0, 2.81 (5 ER/16.0 IP) with 22 strikeouts. After lasting just 0.2 innings in his start on June 5 at Tacoma, Anthony Shew made an appearance out of the bullpen on Sunday, tossing 2.2 innings and allowing two runs on three hits. In Saturday's contest, Chris Ellis and Chasen Shreve each fanned four batters in 2.0 innings of work, as Redbird pitching fanned a season-high 18 in the contest.

ROSTER MOVES: Prior to tonight's game, Genesis Cabrera was recalled by St. Louis for the second time this season. In his first Major League stint from May 29 - June 4, Cabrera went 0-2, 6.48 (6 ER/8.1 IP) in two starts.

Prior to last night's game, Andrew Knizner and Hunter Cervenka return to the Redbirds after brief stints away from the team and Randy Arozarena was transferred from Springfield, in line to make his 2019 Memphis debut. Jose Godoy was transferred back to Springfield and Drew Robinson was placed on the 7-Day Injured List.

In his first Major League stint, Knizner went 0-for-7 in two starts, but was 1-for-1 in CS/SB ATT during that span. Knizner is slashing .286/.355/.450/.805 in 37 games with Memphis this season.

Cervenka missed 18 games while on the IL with the Redbirds going 4-14. He leads Redbird relievers with a 2.21 ERA out of the bullpen.

Randy Arozarena, the co-MVP of the Pacific Coast League playoffs last season, makes his return to Memphis after beginning the season on the IL followed by a 28-game stint at Double-A Springfield where he slashed .309/.422/.515/.938.

EDMAN GETS THE CALL: Prior to Saturday's contest, infielder Tommy Edman had his contract purchased by the St. Louis Cardinals and would later make his Major League debut that night in the Cardinals' 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 with his 10 strikeout performance on Saturday. 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 the game on June 4 at Tacoma where the Redbirds collected 13 hits, the offense had gone 12 consecutive games without reaching the 10-hit mark. During the seven-game road swing, the Redbirds batted .306 (78x255) and hit 11 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.

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.

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 113 doubles, 17 triples and 77 home runs. Adolis Garcia holds the team lead with 26 extra-base hits with 10 doubles, three triples and a team-high 13 home runs.

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