Sports stats



PCL1 Memphis Redbirds

Game Notes: Memphis Redbirds (35-50) vs New Orleans Baby Cakes (46-39)

July 3, 2019 - Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Memphis Redbirds News Release


Memphis Redbirds (35-50) vs New Orleans Baby Cakes (46-39)

Wednesday, July 3 - 6:35 p.m. (CT) - AutoZone Park (10,000) - Memphis, Tennessee

Game #86 - Home Game #45 (14-30)

RHP Jake Woodford (5-3, 3.39) vs RHP Robert Dugger (1-0, 7.84)

BY THE NUMBERS

2.89 Genesis Cabrera's ERA over his last five starts (9 ER/28.0 IP). He has allowed three earned runs or fewer in each of those starts and has made three quality starts during that span, lowering his season ERA to 5.34.

4 Number of multi-hit performances by Randy Arozarena during his season-high seven-game hitting streak. He is batting .586 (17x29) during that span and has also scored six runs.

THE GAME

TONIGHT'S GAME: The Memphis Redbirds conclude their nine-game homestand tonight in the fifth and final game against the New Orleans Baby Cakes. The two teams split the two games last night, with the Baby Cakes winning Monday's suspended game 4-3 and the Redbirds winning the seven-inning nightcap 4-3. In the second game last night, Adolis Garcia walked-off the Baby Cakes with a two-run, two-out home run for the third Redbirds walk-off win of the season. Genesis Cabrera turned in a quality start, allowing three earned runs in six innings of work. He fired 60 of his 88 pitches for strikes. Tonight's game will be broadcast live on www.memphisredbirds.com with Steve Selby on the call.

ON THE HILL: Right-hander Jake Woodford is scheduled to take the mound in tonight's game and make his 17th start of the season to wrap-up this homestand. Tonight will also be Woodford's first start against New Orleans this season. He last took the mound on Tuesday vs. Nashville, suffering the loss (6.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R/ER, 2 BB, 4 SO, 2 HR) in the Redbirds' 3-1 defeat to the Sounds. Despite the loss, it was his fourth quality start in his last six outings and it was the 11th time this season that Woodford has two earned runs or fewer in a start. He is still holding opponents to a .215 (71x331) average, which ranks 2nd in the Pacific Coast League. Woodford continues to be even stingier against right-handed batters, holding them to just a .192 (39x203) average. It was the ninth time this season that he has allowed five hits or more. It was also the ninth time this season that Woodford has tossed at least 6.0 innings and the third time this season he has made at least two-straight quality starts. Woodford has allowed three earned runs or fewer in 12 of his 16 starts. Even with the loss, he has still won 15 of his last 24 decisions overall at the Triple-A level. Woodford made one start against New Orleans last season on August 22, suffering the loss (5.0 IP, 6 H, 4 R/ER, 4 BB, 2 SO) in the Redbirds' 4-2 defeat to the Baby Cakes. He also ranks 4th in the PCL with a 3.39 ERA and has allowed one earned run or fewer in seven of his 16 outings. The St. Petersburg, Fla., native was recently 2019 Pacific Coast League All-Star Team, and will start the game on the mound after receiving the most votes among pitchers. He entered 2019 ranked as the No. 16 prospect in the Cardinals organization by Baseball America and he is currently ranked as the No. 24 prospect in the organization by MLB.com.

The Baby Cakes are scheduled to start right-hander Robert Dugger in tonight's series finale. The 23-year-old is scheduled to his third start for the Baby Cakes and his 16th start overall across all levels this season. Dugger has gone 1-0, 7.84 (9 ER/10.1 IP) in his two starts with the Baby Cakes. In his last time out on Tuesday at Oklahoma City, he earned the win (5.0 IP, 10 H, 7 R/ER, 2 BB, 2 SO, 1 HR) in the Baby Cakes' 9-7 victory over the Dodgers. It was the most runs that he has allowed in a start all season and it was also his first-career Triple-A victory. Dugger began the season at Double-A Jacksonville, where he went 6-6, 3.31 (26 ER/70.2 IP) in 13 starts for the Jumbo Shrimp. He was named Southern League Pitcher of the Week for May 13-19 after going 2-0, 1.93 with 17 strikeouts in 14.0 innings. His performances with Jacksonville earned him first Triple-A call-up on June 20 and he would later make his Triple-A debut on June 23 vs. Nashville. In that start, Dugger took no-decision (5.1 IP, 5 H, 2 R/ER, 1 BB, 6 SO) in the Baby Cakes' 8-5 victory over the Sounds. The Tucson, Ariz., native is in his fourth professional season and his second with the Miami organization. He had previously spent the first two years of his professional career in the Seattle organization. He entered 2019 ranked as the No. 20 prospect in the Marlins system by Baseball America.

HISTORY WITH NEW ORLEANS: Memphis has faced off against New Orleans every year since 1998 and trail 169-175 in the all-time series. In the 10 years that the Redbirds have faced off against the Miami Triple-A affiliate in New Orleans, the 'Birds have winning records at AutoZone Park in just four seasons, 2009 (5-3), 2014 (7-1), 2016 (5-3) and 2017 (5-3), but have only dropped one season series at this facility in 2012 (3-5). Despite the Redbirds overall dominance in 2018, they went 7-9 against the Baby Cakes, including a 4-4 record at home. Their overall record against the Miami Triple-A affiliate in New Orleans is 84-84.

Memphis has faced off with Miami's top affiliate every year since 2003. From 2003-08, the Albuquerque Isotopes played host for the Marlins Triple-A club, where the Redbirds had a 44-54 record over six seasons. Over the 16 seasons that the Redbirds have faced off against Miami's Triple-A club, the 'Birds trail 128-137 overall.

THE SEASON

ABOUT THE LAST ONE: The Memphis Redbirds and New Orleans Baby Cakes (Marlins) split a pair of games Tuesday night at AutoZone Park, with New Orleans winning the resumption of a suspended game before the Redbirds got a walk-off win in the regularly-scheduled contest.

The Redbirds (35-50) and Baby Cakes (46-39) have one more game in their series and Memphis' nine-game homestand, tomorrow night at 6:35 p.m., before the Redbirds head to Iowa for four games and then into the All-Star Break.

Suspended Game: New Orleans 4, Memphis 3

After last night's game was suspended due to rain with New Orleans leading 1-0 in the top of the second, the Baby Cakes finished off the 4-3 win after building a 3-0 lead.

The Redbirds had the tying run on first base with nobody out in the bottom of the ninth, but a flyout, a fielder's choice groundout, and a strikeout ended the ballgame.

Randy Arozarena was 3-for-3 with a walk, marking eight-straight plate appearances reaching base dating back to Sunday's game and 13 of his last 17 overall. Max Schrock was 2-for-4 with his first home run of the season and two RBI, and Rangel Ravelo was also 2-for-4.

The Redbirds used seven pitchers in the game, including Mike Mayers and Ryan Helsley making injury rehabilitation appearances, and Junior Fernandez tossed 2.1 scoreless innings of relief allowing just one hit.

John Nogowski's hitting streak ended at 15 games after he went 0-for-3, but he did reach base with a walk.

Regularly-Scheduled Game: Memphis 4, New Orleans 3

Adolis Garcia hit a walk-off home run with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning to give the Redbirds a 4-3 win in the regularly-scheduled game for the evening.

Memphis trailed 2-0 after a half-inning before tying the game at 2 in the bottom of the fifth as Garcia and Justin Williams had RBI singles. The Baby Cakes scored the go-ahead run in the top of the sixth and took a 3-2 lead into the bottom of the ninth.

Arozarena led off the seventh with a walk, went to second on a sacrifice bunt by Edmundo Sosa, and remained there as Nogowski struck out.

That brought Garcia to the dish, who roped a shot to left field to send the fans home happy.

Genesis Cabrera started and tossed 6.0 innings for the Redbirds, allowing three runs on seven hits. He fired 60 of 88 pitches for strikes.

Williams finished 2-for-3, as did Kramer Robertson.

NASHVILLE SERIES WRAP: The Memphis Redbirds were swept in four games by the Nashville Sounds in the final meeting between the two teams this season. It was the fourth time in the last five home series that the Redbirds have been swept. The 'Birds fall in the season series 7-9 and finish with a 3-5 record at AutoZone Park. They also dropped their final six games against the Sounds this season. The Redbirds have gone 7-9 against their in-state rivals the past two years and having losing records at home in three of the last four. The Redbirds were outscored 33-18 in the series and scored four runs or fewer in three games and went 0-2 in contests where they outhit the Sounds. In the series opener on June 25, the Redbirds allowed 18 hits, matching a season high (3 times). The 17 runs allowed on June 26 set a season-high and it was the first time that Memphis had allowed that many runs in a game since May 28, 2016 at Las Vegas.

Randy Arozarena led the way for the Redbirds offensively in the series, going 8-for-19 (.421) and a pair of RBI. After going 0-for-5 in the opener, Arozarena responded by going 8-for-14 over the final three games, picking up a three-hit performance on June 26 and his first four-hit game of the season Friday. Through 16 games with Memphis following the series, Arozarena was slashing .344/.411/.516/.927 and has failed to reach safely when he starts just twice (14 G). Adolis Garcia extended his hitting streak to a season-high 10 games after going 6-for-17 over four games. Garcia also swiped three bags in the series and has at least one stolen base in four of his last five games overall. After going 1-for-1 with three walks in Friday's game, Irving Lopez pushed his hitting streak to three games, a career-high at the Triple-A level. He had multi-hit performances in each of the first two games of the series and on Friday became the fifth Redbird this season to draw at least three walks in a single game. Three of his five hits went for extra bases and he launched his first-career Triple-A home run on Tuesday. John Nogowski extended his current hitting streak to a season-high 13 games after collecting one hit in each game. It is the second-longest hitting streak by a Redbird this season, as he only trails Rangel Ravelo's 19-game streak. Tyler O'Neill blasted his 11th home run of the year on Thursday for the Redbirds' 100th home run of the season. They trailed only the 2005 squad for most home runs hit through June (101). Edmundo Sosa has pushed his hitting streak to eight games and is just one game away from matching his season-high streak of nine. Overall in the series, the offense batted .301 (44x146) against Sounds pitching, averaging 11 hits per game. Eleven of those 44 hits went for extra-bases.

The 'Birds starting staff went 0-1, 6.92 (14 ER/18.2 IP) fanning 13 batters while issuing three walks. Two of the four starters allowed two earned runs or fewer in their outings while tossing at least 5.0 innings. They allowed four home runs and yielded an opponent's average of .296 (42x142). Reigning Pacific Coast League Pitcher of the Week Jake Woodford continued to dominate on the mound and tossed his second-straight quality start in Friday's series finale. It was his third quality start in his last five outings and he has allowed two earned runs or fewer in four starts during that span. Genesis Cabrera made his first start for the Redbirds since June 9 at Reno, picking up right where he left off by allowing just one earned run on four hits in five innings of work. He also issued no walks in an outing for the first time this season in a Redbirds uniform. In his last four starts for the Redbirds Cabrera has allowed two earned runs or fewer in each outing, bringing his ERA down to a season-low 5.44. The Memphis bullpen went 0-3, 8.95 (17 ER/17.1 IP) with 12 strikeouts and 11 walks. Junior Fernandez made his Triple-A debut on June 25 and dazzled on the mound, twirling 3.1 scoreless frames while striking out five. After allowing five earned runs in 0.2 innings in his Triple-A debut on June 25, Seth Elledge tossed a scoreless eighth on Friday. Mike Mayers made his first appearance since April 15 on Wednesday to begin his rehab assignment, needing just six pitches to complete a one-two-three inning.

JUNE RECAP: The Redbirds finished June with a 11-16 record, going 3-12 at AutoZone Park and 8-4 on the road. This is the just the third time since 2017, that the Redbirds have posted a losing record in a month, adding to May 2019 and August 2018. The 39 home runs slugged by the Redbirds ranks 2nd for home runs in June, falling just one home run shy of joining the 2005 squad (44) of being the only two teams in Redbird history to hit at least 40 home runs in June. The 102 total home runs launched this season through June are the most by any Redbirds team.

John Nogowski led the regulars with a .410 average (34x83), and also posted a .479 OBP and a 1.081 OPS. He also ended the month riding a career-high 15-game hitting streak. Edmundo Sosa led the team with five home runs and also finished a single shy of the cycle in back-to-back games on June 6 and 7.

Check out the Memphis Redbirds Statistics

• Discuss this story on the Pacific Coast League message board...

Pacific Coast League Stories from July 3, 2019


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central