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PCL1 Memphis Redbirds

Game Notes: Memphis Redbirds (29-42) vs Las Vegas Aviators (39-32)

June 18, 2019 - Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Memphis Redbirds News Release


Memphis Redbirds (29-42) vs Las Vegas Aviators (39-32)

Tuesday, June 18 - 11:05 a.m. (CT) - AutoZone Park (10,000) - Memphis, Tennessee

Game #72 - Home Game #36 (12-23)

RHP Alex Reyes (1-2, 6.95) vs LHP Tyler Alexander (3-3, 5.71)

BY THE NUMBERS

15 Runs allowed by Memphis pitching in last night's contest, setting a season high. The Redbirds have allowed at least 10 runs in three of the six games during this current homestand.

14 Number of batters that the Aviators sent to the plate during their eight-run fifth inning Las Vegas batted around twice in last night's contest.

13 Number of Redbirds that have made their Triple-A debuts after Chris Chinea entered the game in the ninth inning last night as a defensive replacement. The Redbirds have had four players make their Triple-A debuts during this homestand.

THE GAME

TODAY'S GAME: The Memphis Redbirds conclude their seven-game homestand today in the fourth and final game against the Las Vegas Aviators. The Música dropped last night's rain delayed contest by a score of 15-6 as the Aviators clinch a series win at AutoZone Park. Randy Arozarena led off with a home run as the Música struck first, but the Aviators responded with seven runs in the second and would later score eight in the fifth. John Nogowski made his third pitching appearance of the season and has yet to allow a run. Today'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 today's game and make his sixth start and 11th appearance of 2019 across all levels to close out this seven-game homestand. Reyes has made eight appearances, five starts, with the Redbirds this season, going 1-2, 6.95 (18 ER/22.0 IP). In his last time out on Thursday vs. Salt Lake, he took no-decision (3.0 IP, 2 H, 4 R/ER, 4 BB, 4 SO, 1 HR) in the Redbirds' 13-11 defeat to the Bees. Reyes matched a season-high four walks issued and it matched his shortest start as a Redbird this season. He also allowed a home run for a third straight start, giving up five total long balls in his last three Memphis starts. Despite this, Reyes allowed just two hits and has allowed three hits or fewer in four of his five starts with the Redbirds. He also became the first Redbirds pitcher since Kevin Herget on July 19, 2018 to strikeout at least 10 batters in a game in his start on June 8 at Reno. 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 .211 (16x76). 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 Aviators are slated to start left-hander Tyler Alexander in today's contest to close out this four-game series. The 27-year-old is scheduled to make his 14th start for the Aviators this season. Alexander has gone 3-3, 5.71 (37 ER/58.1 IP) in his 14 starts with Aviators. In his last time out on Thursday at Nashville, he earned the win (5.0 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 7 SO) in the Aviators' 9-4 victory over the Sounds. It was his second straight victory and the fourth start in his last five that Alexander has allowed two earned runs or fewer, but he has only made one quality start during that span. He has also allowed four earned runs or more in six of his outings. He has yielded an opponent's average of .266 (62x233) and has allowed at least five hits in three of his last five. Fourteen of those 62 hits have been home runs, as he has allowed multiple home runs in four starts. This is Alexander's first season in affiliated baseball since 2014, while playing in the Midwest (Single-A) in the Arizona (Rookie) Leagues while within the Milwaukee organization. He had spent the previous four years playing for teams in the Mexican Pacific Winter League, American Association, Dominican Winter League and Canadian-American Association. The Tampa, Fla., native is in his seventh professional season and his first within the Oakland organization. He spent the first two years of his career within the Milwaukee organization.

HISTORY WITH LAS VEGAS: The Redbirds have faced off against the Las Vegas Triple-A club every year since 1998 following the Pacific Coast League expansion. The Aviators are entering their first year as Oakland's top affiliate. Overall, the Redbirds lead in the all-time series 53-50, leading at AutoZone Park by a 31-24 margin and trailed at Cashman Field 22-26. The Redbirds will play their first game at the new Las Vegas Ballpark next season. The Redbirds have posted winning records against Las Vegas in just two of the last seven seasons and have only recorded winning records in just five of 21 seasons overall.

The Redbirds have played the Athletics' Triple-A club every year since 2000 (Sacramento 2000-14, Nashville 2015-18) and hold an overall record of 56-73.

Prior to this season, Las Vegas had played host to the New York Mets affiliate from 2013-18, where the Redbirds went 14-10. From 2009-12 as the Toronto Blue Jays affiliate, the Redbirds went 8-8 against. From 2001-08 as the Dodgers top affiliate, the 'Birds went 19-21. From 1998-2000 as the San Diego Padres Triple-A club, the Redbirds went 12-8 against.

THE SEASON

ABOUT THE LAST ONE: The Las Vegas Aviators (Athletics) scored in only two innings Monday night at AutoZone Park, but it was a seven-run second and an eight-run fifth to account for their scoring in a 15-6 win over the Memphis Redbirds (29-42).

The Redbirds were playing the game as the Memphis Música as part of Minor League Baseball's Copa de la Diversión series. The Música will play at AutoZone Park each Monday the rest of the season for "Música Monday."

Randy Arozarena and Kramer Robertson homered for the Redbirds, and Arozarena and Irving Lopez each had two hits. John Nogowski drove in a run, and he now has RBI in four-straight games and five of the last six.

Memphis used seven pitchers in the game, and the star was Dominic Leone, who worked 2.0 scoreless innings with two strikeouts.

Las Vegas (39-32) was led by five players with two hits apiece and a Franklin Barreto grand slam. Barreto finished with five RBI.

Chris Chinea made his Triple-A debut as a defensive replacement in the ninth inning.

The game was halted by rain for one hour and 20 minutes before the start of the third inning.

RAVELO GETS THE CALL: Prior to last night's game Rangel Ravelo had his contract purchased by the St. Louis Cardinals and for the first time in his career, is headed to the big leagues. A 10-year veteran who has also spent time in the Chicago-AL and Oakland organizations in slated to make his Major League debut after 838 games at the minor league level across various levels. In 63 games with the Redbirds this season, Ravelo has batted .333, including .489 (22x45) in 12 games this month. He entered today ranked 8th in the Pacific Coast League in batting average, 12th in on-base percentage (.414), and 7th in hits. He also leads the Redbirds in all of those categories, including a team-high 17 multi-hit games.

ROSTER MOVES: Along with Ravelo, the following roster moves were made prior to last night's game:

Edgar Gonzalez was transferred back to Single-A Palm Beach. Gonzalez made his Triple-A debut on Friday, tossing 1.2 scoreless innings and allowed just one hit.

Mike Hauschild was reinstated from the 7-Day Injured List and he is slated to make his first appearance with Memphis since April 8. Hauschild suffered the loss in his lone appearance for the 'Birds (1.2 IP, 6 H, 9 R/ER, 4 BB, 0 SO) against the Omaha Storm Chasers.

Infielder Chris Chinea was transferred from Double-A Springfield and he is line to make his Triple-A debut. The 25-year-old Chinea has slashed .275/.326/.489/.815 in 52 games for Springfield this season.

SALT LAKE SERIES WRAP: The Memphis Redbirds won their first home series since May 11-14 as they took two-of-three games against the Salt Lake Bees to open up a seven-game homestand. The Redbirds have won their series against the Bees in each of the last three seasons and have not dropped a set against since 2013. They are 8-3 against the Bees in their last 11 games at AutoZone Park.

The Redbirds scored 27 runs in the three games, including back-to-back 11 run performances in the first two games of the series. The 22 runs scored in the first two games surpassed the run total from the Redbirds' previous 10-game homestand, when they only scored 21 runs. The offense slugged a total of seven homers and collected 12 extra-base hits overall. Against Reno pitching, Memphis slugged their way to a .336 average (38x113) and had 12 players pick up multi-hit performances. The Redbirds also collected at least 10 hits in each game, marking the third time this season they have had a such a streak.

Rangel Ravelo continued his dominance at the plate, going 9-for-17 with two double, two home runs and five runs driven in. He collected his second four-hit game in the series opener and began the series reaching base safely in eight straight plate appearances. His 17 total multi-hit games lead the Redbirds this season. Also in the opener, Tyler O'Neill ended his lengthy home run drought (64 AB) with a towering drive out on to the bluff in left field. On Thursday, Kramer Robertson drove in a career-high five RBI, which also matched a Redbird season high in the team's 13-11 defeat. In that contest, Randy Arozarena drove in four runs, all with two outs, as well. In last night's finale, the Redbirds earned their second walk-off win of the season after Adolis Garcia singled home Edmundo Sosa in the 10th. It was the first walk-off since April 20, when Sosa ended the game against Round Rock with a two-run shot in the 10th. Garcia leads the Redbirds with 47 RBI this season.

The 'Birds starting staff went 0-0, 7.71 (12 ER/14.0 IP) fanning 11 batters while issuing 11 walks. Each starter allowed four earned runs and did not record a quality start. They also combined to allow four home runs and yielded an opponent's average of .300 (18x60). Anthony Shew rebounded from his last start at Tacoma on June 5, that lasted just 0.2 innings, but tossing 6.0 innings of four-run ball, while fanning six batters and issuing two walks. The Memphis bullpen went 2-1, 6.43 (10 ER/14.0 IP) with 19 strikeouts. Hunter Cervenka made his return from the Injured List on Wednesday and made two appearances during the series, allowing one run on two hits in the series opener and firing a scoreless seventh in last night's finale. Cervenka's 2.42 ERA leads all Redbird relievers with at least 10 games pitched. Edgar Gonzalez, who was transferred from Advanced-A Palm Beach yesterday, tossed 1.2 scoreless frames in his Triple-A debut. The Cardinals 2018 6th round pick had not pitched above Class-A ball until last night.

GOING TO THE SHOW: Following the contract of Rangel Ravelo being purchased yesterday by the St. Louis Cardinals, the Redbirds have now had six members from their Opening Night roster get called up to St. Louis and make their Major League debuts. Ravelo joins Tommy Edman, Andrew Knizner and Lane Thomas as the fourth Redbirds position player to earn a call up, joining pitchers Genesis Cabrera and Ryan Helsley. The six call-ups match the 2018 Redbirds who also had six players get promoted to St. Louis and they would all make their Major League debuts with the club. The 2017 Redbirds had nine players that would go on to make their MLB debuts.

TRIO OF DEBUTS: In Friday night's series finale against Salt Lake, the Memphis Redbirds had three players make their Triple-A debuts. Conner Capel, the organizations No. 26 prospect, got the nod to start in left field and singled in his first at-bat. He later homered his next time up to lead off the fifth and later added an outfield assist in the eighth to end the inning.

Edgar Gonzalez made an appearance out of the bullpen, tossing 1.2 innings, allowing just one hit and issuing one walk. Gonzalez, in just his second professional season, was transferred from Palm Beach, where he had gone 4-7, 3.23 (23 ER/64.0 IP) in 13 games, 12 starts.

Irving Lopez entered the game as a defensive replacement after Evan Mendoza departed through injury and made two put-outs and had one assist in the field. He went 0-for-2 at the dish.

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.

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