PCL1 Memphis Redbirds

Game Notes: Memphis Redbirds (37-26) vs Reno Aces (28-35)

Published on June 10, 2018 under Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Memphis Redbirds News Release


Memphis Redbirds (37-26) vs Reno Aces (29-34)

Sunday, June 10 - 2:05 p.m. (CT) - AutoZone Park (10,000) - Memphis, Tennessee

Game #64 - Home Game #35 (20-14)

RHP John Gant (4-1, 2.00 ERA) vs. LHP Alex Young (2-0, 3.09 ERA)

THE GAME

TODAY'S GAME: The Memphis Redbirds and Reno Aces will play game three of a four-game set today at 2:35 p.m. This will be the only time the two teams will play this season. Reno has won the first two games of the series 3-1 and 8-5. The two teams met for four games last year in Reno, splitting the series 2-2. Earlier today, Memphis added pitcher Chris Ellis from Double-A Springfield and placed pitcher Ryan Helsley on the 7-Day Disabled List. Today's game will be televised regionally on CW30 and broadcast on memphisredbirds.com with Steve Selby on the call.

ON THE HILL: Right-hander John Gant will get the ball for the Redbirds this afternoon. Gant is coming off his first loss of the year with Memphis. In that game against Tacoma earlier this week, an error in the third inning loaded the bases, and Tacoma hit a grand slam off Gant. All four of the runs he allowed were unearned due to the error. Coming into the game today, Gant is 4-1 in six starts this season, with a 2.00 ERA and 27 strikeouts in 36.0 innings. He has thrown at least six innings in five of his six starts, and has not allowed more than three earned runs in any of his starts. Gant has faced Reno once in his career. In that game last season, Gant earned the win, allowing 10 hits and seven earned runs in six innings pitched. Memphis won the game 14-8.

The Aces will send left-hander Alex Young to the mound for his third-career Triple-A start, and his first start against the 'Birds. Young is 2-0 with a 3.09 ERA in his two starts with Reno this season, allowing four earned runs and 11 hits, while striking out 11 in 11.2 innings of work. In his last start against Nashville earlier this season, Young twirled 6.0 innings of two-hit and one-run ball, while walking two and striking out six batters.

HISTORY WITH RENO: Memphis and Reno have played every year dating back to 2009. The Aces are the Triple-A affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Aces hold the advantage in the all-time series, winning 23 games compared to Memphis' 13. The Aces also hold the advantage at AutoZone Park with an 11-5 record. Last season, the two teams split the season series at two games apiece. Last season, the 'Birds outperformed the Aces both at the plate and on the mound. The Redbirds out-hit Reno .357 to .286, and posted a 6.88 ERA compared to their 8.00 ERA.

BIRD BITES

AROZARENA: Walked twice last night; now has 17 walks on the season and four multi-walk games

BARON: Recently spent two weeks with St. Louis; appeared in two games, and recorded one hit, his first in the MLB

GARCIA: Last night, hit pinch-hit double for his first pinch-hit this season; leads PCL with nine outfield assists

KELLY: Recently optioned from St. Louis; hitting .269 with five 2B, three HR and 12 RBI in 26 games with Memphis

MEJIA: Drove in game winning runs in last two of last three games; Wednesday was his first multi-RBI game since April 10

MERCADO: Reached base safely in all five plate appearances last night for the first time in his career; 2-for-2, 3 BB

O'NEILL: Has appeared in 16 games with St. Louis; hitting .237 with six runs, nine hits, one double, three homers, and 7RBI

RAVELO: Before going hitless Tues. night, was hitting .435 (10-for-23) with five extra-base hits and seven RBI in last seven

SCHROCK: Hit .269 (25-for-93) in the month of May after hitting .323 (30-for-93) in April; only five multi-hit games in May

TOVAR: Has two multi-hit games in the last week after going 15 games without a multi-hit performance

URIAS: Last night, hit a pinch-hit two-run home run in the eighth inning to put Memphis within striking distance

WISDOM: Recently snapped career-long 16-game hitting streak; hitting .325 (40-for-123) since May 1

BY THE NUMBERS

92 transactions for Memphis through the first 63 games (1.5/game). Memphis had just 53 transactions through June 10 last year, and did not get to 92 transactions until July 18

TODAY'S TRANSACTIONS

Pitcher Chris Ellis was added to the roster from Double-A Springfield, while pitcher Ryan Helsley was placed on the 7-Day Disabled List

THE SEASON

ABOUT THE LAST ONE: The Memphis Redbirds dropped last night's game 8-5 to the Reno Aces despite storming back late in the game.

Last night's starter Ryan Helsley struggled for the second-consecutive start, lasting just 3.0 innings, allowing six hits and five earned runs, including two home runs.

Reno jumped out to an early lead, scoring four runs in the first, one in the third, and three in the fifth to hold an 8-0 lead over Memphis. After Helsley was knocked out of the game, Arturo Reyes came in to pitch two innings, allowing three runs before Conner Greene, Matt Bowman, and Greg Holland came in to close out the Aces.

In the seventh inning, Memphis grabbed its first run of the game. Adolis Garcia smacked a pinch-hit double, and came around to score on Rangel Ravelo's double play ball.

In the eighth, the 'Birds hit three home runs, to make the game close, but couldn't complete the comeback. Carson Kelly and Max Schrock both hit solo homers, while Ramon Urias cranked a pinch-hit two-run home run.

STUNG BY THE LONG BALL: For the second-consecutive game, a home run from the opposition has marked the downfall for the 'Birds. On Friday, Memphis held a 1-0 lead late in the game, but reliever Hector Mendoza allowed a three-run home run to sink the 'Birds. Lasts night, Memphis allowed three home runs, falling 8-5. Anthony Recker of Reno hit two three-run home runs, giving him six RBI on the game. Christian Walker also hit a home run for the second-consecutive night. Memphis pitchers have now allowed 56 home runs this season, the eighth highest mark in the league, and the highest for teams not on the west coast. Memphis starters have allowed 29 home runs this season, while relievers have allowed 27 long balls. Las Vegas has allowed a league-high 99 home runs, while Nashville has allowed the fewest home runs with only 39 surrendered. In addition, Memphis has hit the fifth-fewest home runs in the PCL this season. After hitting three homers last night and snapping a five-game streak with no homers, Memphis has now hit 52 bombs this season. Iowa has hit the fewest at 31, while Salt Lake has hit the most at 97. The 'Birds are also one of just seven teams in the PCL to allow more home runs than they have hit, along with New Orleans, Iowa, Omaha, Reno, Albuquerque, and Las Vegas. Of those teams, Memphis has the second-lowest differential, having hit just four fewer home runs than those they have allowed, while Las Vegas has the largest differential. The 51s have allowed 34 more home runs than they have hit.

HELSLEY STRUGGLES AGAIN: For the second-straight start, Ryan Helsley struggled last night. In his previous outing on June 2 at New Orleans, Helsley lasted just 2.2 innings, allowing three hits and four walks, while surrendering five total runs, three of which were earned. Last night, Helsley allowed an RBI double in the first for the game's first run, before surrendering a three-run home run to Anthony Recker three batters later to put the 'Birds down 4-0. Helsley allowed a solo home run in the third inning before being pulled from the game. In his first three starts with Memphis this season, Helsley was virtually untouchable. The righty was 2-0 with a 1.29 ERA, tossing 21.0 innings and allowing just nine hits and four total runs, only three of which were earned, while walking three and striking out 28 batters. In his last two starts, Helsley has pitched just 5.2 innings, allowing nine hits, 10 runs, eight earned runs, and six walks, while striking out just six batters.

HAVE A NIGHT, OSCAR: Last night, outfielder Oscar Mercado was on fire at the plate, reaching safely in all five of his plate appearances. It was the first time in his five plus years in the St. Louis organization that he had ever reached base five times in a game. He had previously reached safely four times in a handful of games. Mercado went 2-for-2 with a single, double, and three walks in last night's loss. The three walks were also a career-high mark. Mercado now has the highest batting average (.312) on the team among players who have appeared in at least 50 games, and the second-highest overall, behind Tyler O'Neill (.321). Mercado is also tied with Patrick Wisdom for the most games played (58), he also has the most at-bats (221), has scored the most runs (43), has the most hits (69), the most total bases (100), the most walks (23), the most stolen bases (13), and the best on-base percentage (.377).

THREE LONG BALLS IN THE INNING: With three home runs in the eighth inning last night, the Redbirds snapped a five-game home run drought. Carson Kelly and Max Schrock both hit solo home runs in the inning, while pinch-hitter Ramon Urias came off the bench and crushed a two-run shot in the inning. It marked the fourth time this season that the 'Birds had hit multiple home runs in an inning, and the first time since May 19 when they scored 10 runs in the first inning of the second game of a doubleheader at Colorado Springs. It also marked the first time that the 'Birds had hit three home runs in an inning this season. The franchise record for most home runs hit in an inning is four, which was set on August 8, 2002 at Colorado Springs. It also marked the fourth time this season that Memphis had hit three home runs in a game.

CLUTCH PINCH-HITTING: Last night, the biggest offensive sparks for the 'Birds came from the bench. In the seventh inning, Adolis Garcia followed Randy Arozarena's walk by doubling to left field to put runners at second and third with no outs. After Oscar Mercado walked, Rangel Ravelo grounded into a double play to score Arozarena and move Garcia to third. In the eighth inning, after Carson Kelly and Max Schrock had both gone deep to cut the deficit to five runs, Ramon Urias came to the plate to bat for the pitcher and crushed a two-run shot to leftfield to cut the deficit to three runs. It was the first pinch-hit home run for a Memphis batter since May 28 last season against Iowa when Chad Huffman accomplished the feat.

KELLY PLAYING WELL: Last night, catcher and Cardinals No. 2 prospect, Carson Kelly was on fire at the plate, notching a double and his third home run of the season, as well as walking once. In his three games since being optioned to Memphis last week, Kelly now has multiple hits in two of them, and is hitting 4-for-11 (.364) with two runs scored, two extra-base hits, and an RBI, with just one strikeout. With his results at the plate the last two nights, Kelly's season average is now up to .269, and he now has 12 RBI.

INFIELDER IN THE OUTFIELD: Last night, infielder, and usual starting shortstop Wilfredo Tovar, started in leftfield for the Redbirds. It was the first time Tovar had played the outfield since 2008 in his first professional season. Tovar, who was only 16 at the time, moved to centerfield in two separate games, playing a total of 3.0 innings there. He also appeared in one game in rightfield, playing 4.0 innings there. He also made six appearances in leftfield, including five starts, accumulating 42.2 innings there for a total of 49.2 innings in the outfield in his career. In his 11-year Minor League career, Tovar has played in 36 games at third base, totaling 264.0 innings, has played in 161 games at second base, totaling 1,320.0 innings, and 819 games at shortstop, totaling 6,932.1 innings. Tovar has now made nine appearances in the outfield in his career, spanning 58.2 innings.

ONE RUN OR A SHUTOUT: With Thursday night's 6-0 win over Tacoma, Memphis improved to 5-5 in shutout games this season. Memphis is now tied with Fresno for the second-most shutout wins in the PCL this season, behind only Nashville and New Orleans (6). However, the 'Birds have also been shutout a league-leading five times this season. In addition, Memphis is also a PCL-best 13-4 in one-run games this season. Memphis is now 8-6 in its last 14 games. Of those eight wins, five have come in one-run fashion, while the other three have come in shutout fashion.

BETTER SIDE OF THE STRIKEOUTS: Memphis is among the PCL leaders for strikeouts by the pitching staff, and is towards the bottom of the league in strikeouts by batters. The pitching staff has struck out 559 batters through the first 63 games (8.9/game), which is only behind Fresno (592) for the best mark in the PCL this season. Memphis and Fresno are two of 10 teams with 500 strikeouts from their staff in the PCL. 'Birds batters are also towards the bottom of the league in total strikeouts by hitters. Memphis batters have struck out just 418 times through the first 63 games (6.6/game), narrowly ahead of Omaha (424) for the lowest mark in the league. Memphis is the only team in the PCL that has struck out under 420 times this season. Last night, the 'Birds struck out just twice, tying their lowest mark this season, and marking the third time they had accomplished the feat. Despite struggling over the past few games, the Memphis pitching staff also has the second-lowest ERA in the league at 3.44

2017 PCL CHAMPIONSHIP SEASON

START THE SLOW CLAPP: In 2017, first-year skipper Stubby Clapp led the Redbirds to their best season in franchise history. The 'Birds soared to a 91-50 record in the 2017 regular season and added six more wins in the PCL playoffs to win 97 total games on the year. Clapp was named the 2017 PCL Manager of the Year for his efforts, and was also named the 2017 Baseball America Minor League Manager of the Year. Clapp became the first minor league manager in the history of the St. Louis organization to win the Baseball America award. Clapp also earned the organization's prestigious George Kissell award.

FOR THE RECORD:

- Memphis' 91 wins in 2017 were the 10th-most in 119 seasons of professional baseball in Memphis dating back to 1877, and the season's .645 winning percentage was fourth-best

- Memphis was one of four teams in MiLB in 2017 with 90+ wins (Trenton Thunder [AA], 92-48; West Michigan Whitecaps [A], 91-45; Chattanooga Lookouts [AA], 91-49; Memphis Redbirds [AAA], 91-50)

- Memphis went 41 games over .500 during the regular season, the most by a PCL club since Albuquerque was 56 games over at 94-38 in 1981

- The Redbirds won the PCL American Southern Division by 22.0 games, and since divisions were established in the PCL in 1963, only two other teams won their division by 20 or more games (1970 Spokane Indians, 26.0 games; 1981 Albuquerque Dukes, 25.0 games)

- Memphis ended the season with its best ERA in franchise history (3.77) (3.89, 1998 and 2003), matched its best fielding percentage (.984) (.984, 2014), and had its third-best batting average (.278) (.284, 1999; .279, 2004)

Check out the Memphis Redbirds Statistics

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Pacific Coast League Stories from June 10, 2018


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.

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