PCL1 Memphis Redbirds

Game Notes: Memphis Redbirds (38-26) vs Reno Aces (29-35)

Published on June 11, 2018 under Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Memphis Redbirds News Release


Memphis Redbirds (38-26) vs Reno Aces (29-35)

Monday, June 11 - 12:05 p.m. (CT) - AutoZone Park (10,000) - Memphis, Tennessee

Game #65 - Home Game #36 (21-14)

RHP Chris Ellis (NR) vs. RHP Bradin Hagens (2-3, 6.23 ERA)

THE GAME

TODAY'S GAME: The Memphis Redbirds and Reno Aces will play game the finale of a four-game set today at 12:05 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, while Memphis took game three in shutout fashion yesterday, 6-0. The two teams met for four games last year in Reno, splitting the series 2-2. Today's game will be broadcast on memphisredbirds.com with Steve Selby on the call.

ON THE HILL: Right-hander Chris Ellis will get the ball for Memphis in today's series finale. The righty will be making his Memphis season-debut after being transferred from Double-A Springfield yesterday. Ellis has appeared in 15 games with Springfield this season, including seven starts. He was 4-0 with two saves in 53.2 innings of work. On the season, he has allowed 46 hits and 25 earned runs, while walking 16 and striking out 56, good for a 4.19 ERA. Ellis spent time with the Redbirds last season, as well. With Memphis last year, the righty was 2-3 with a 7.88 ERA in 11 games, including five starts. This will be his first-career appearance against Reno.

The Aces will send right-hander Bradin Hagens to the mound to duel Ellis. Coming into today's game, Hagens has made 11 appearances with the Aces this season, including six starts. Each of his last four appearances have been starts. So far, he is 2-3 with a 6.23 ERA in 39.0 innings pitched, having allowed 45 hits and 27 earned runs, while striking out 35 batters. This will be Hagens' first-career appearance against the Redbirds.

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

KELLY: Hitting .353 (6-for-17) in four games since being optioned from St. Louis; three extra-base hits and three RBI

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

MERCADO: Reached base safely in all five plate appearances Saturday 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: Went 2-for-4 with a home run and three RBI in yesterday's 6-0 win; second time this season he had 3 RBI

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: Saturday 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

6 shutout wins by the Redbirds this season is tied for the most in the league this season, and is more than they had in their record-setting 2017 (5) campaign

ON THIS DATE

In 2005, Memphis beat Omaha 20-4, the largest margin of victory that season, recording 23 hits. Five players had at least three hits, and three had four hits

THE SEASON

ABOUT THE LAST ONE: The Memphis Redbirds won yesterday's game in shutout fashion, 6-0 over the Reno Aces.

Yesterday's starter John Gant was lights-out for Memphis. The righty tossed 7.0 innings, allowing eight hits and one walk, while striking out a season-high eight batters.

The 'Birds jumped out to an early lead, grabbing two runs in the first inning. After Patrick Wisdom reached on an infield hit, Rangel Ravelo launched a home run to centerfield to give Memphis the lead.

In the fifth inning, Adolis Garcia launched his fifth homer of the year to lead off the frame and extend the Memphis lead.

In the eighth, the 'Birds grabbed three insurance runs. Oscar Mercado singled, Max Schrock reached on a fielder's choice error, and Patrick Wisdom walked before Ravelo drove in Mercado with a single before Carson Kelly added a two-run single one batter later. Ravelo and Kelly both collected multi-hit and multi-RBI games.

ONE RUN OR A SHUTOUT: With yesterday's 6-0 win over the Reno Aces, the Redbirds improved to 6-5 in shutout games this season. The six shutout wins puts them tied with New Orleans and Nashville for the most in the PCL. However, the 'Birds have also been shutout five times this season, putting them tied with Nashville and Omaha for the most shutout losses this year. In addition, Memphis is also a PCL-best 13-4 in one-run games this season. Memphis is now 9-6 in its last 15 games. Of those nine wins, five have come in one-run fashion, while the other four have come in shutout fashion, including the last two. In last season's record-setting 91-win season, the Redbirds were just 5-2 in shutout games.

HERE COMES JOHNNY: Yesterday's starter John Gant continued his dominance with Memphis this season, twirling seven shutout innings en route to his fifth win of the season. The righty allowed eight hits and one walk, while striking out a season-high eight batters. His season ERA with Memphis is now 1.67. In seven starts with the 'Birds this season, Gant has tossed six quality starts, and has yet to allow more than three earned runs in a game. In 43.0 innings with Memphis this season, Gant has allowed just 12 total runs, eight earned, on 41 hits and 14 walks, while striking out 35 batters. Gant does not qualify for any league-leads because he spent a month of the season with St. Louis. Between the Cardinals and the Redbirds, Gant has appeared in a total of 14 games, and has made nine starts. He is 6-3 with a 2.79 ERA in 67.2 innings, having allowed just 61 hits and 21 earned runs, while walking 23, and striking out 61 batters. Opponents between both levels are hitting just .237 (61-for-257) off him.

KELLY PLAYING WELL: Catcher and Cardinals No. 2 prospect, Carson Kelly has been on fire at the plate since being optioned to Memphis from St. Louis last week. In his first four games back, Kelly has recorded multiple hits in the last three games, notching two hits in each. Kelly has been seen before every game down on the field working with the coaches to make adjustments to his swing, and it is paying off. In his four games back, he is hitting .353 (6-for-17) with two doubles, a home run, two runs scored, three RBI, and two walks, while striking out just once. All three of his extra-base hits and RBI have come in the last two games. With his more consistent approach at the plate since rejoining Memphis, Kelly is now hitting .278 on the season with three home runs and 14 RBI.

STRONG STARTERS: The Memphis starting rotation has been a force to be reckoned with this season, keeping games close, despite some recent offensive struggles. So far this season, starters are 32-15 with a 2.83 ERA through the first 64 games this season. Through the first 64 games, the starters have pitched 359.2 innings, allowing just 132 total runs, only 113 of which have been earned. In addition, they have walked only 126 batters (2.0/game), and have struck out 374 hitters (5.8/game). Five different Memphis starters have also tied or set their career-high strikeout marks. Daniel Poncedeleon struck out 12 (career-high) on April 14, Austin Gomber struck out 16 (career-high and tied franchise record) on April 23, Jack Flaherty struck out 13 (career-high) on May 9, Alex Reyes struck out 13 (tied career-high) on May 24, and Dakota Hudson set his career-high with nine strikeouts on May 26.

The Memphis starting pitching staff has also recorded 33 quality starts this season, more than half the games they have started. Last season, the 'Birds had just 55 total quality starts. The 33 quality starts are the most in the PCL. Dakota Hudson and John Gant lead the team with six quality starts, Austin Gomber has five, Jack Flaherty, Kevin Herget, and Daniel Poncedeleon all have four, Ryan Helsley has three, and Alex Reyes has one quality start. Memphis starters have also recorded eight separate 10-strikeout games. No other team in the PCL has more than three. Oklahoma City has three, while El Paso and Fresno have both had two 10-strikeout games from their starters, while Colorado Springs, Iowa, Las Vegas, Nashville, and Sacramento have all had one. There have been 20 total games with 10-strikeout performances from the starter in the PCL this season, and Memphis owns eight of them. Jack Flaherty and Daniel Poncedeleon have both recorded two such performances, while Alex Reyes, Austin Gomber, and Ryan Helsley, and Kevin Herget have one apiece.

PLAYING LONG BALL AGAIN: Yesterday, for the second-consecutive game, the Redbirds went deep multiple times, giving them five home runs in the last two games. Yesterday, Rangel Ravelo and Adolis Garcia both went deep for the 'Birds for their fifth home runs of the season. Ravelo's homer came in the first inning, a two-run shot, giving Memphis the only runs it would need. Garcia's home run led off the fifth inning, and extended the lead to 3-0. Memphis hit three home runs in the eighth inning Saturday night, snapping 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.

CHASING HISTORY: If the Redbirds win two of the next three games, they will match the 2000 and 2017 Memphis teams as the only teams in franchise history to reach 40 wins by June 14. With the off-day tomorrow, the 'Birds would have to win today, and Wednesday to reach 40 wins by June 13, which would be the best mark in franchise history. The Redbirds also won their 1,400th game in franchise history last season on July 14 last season. Since that time, they have won 71 games, putting them just 29 wins from the 1,500th in franchise history. With 91 wins last season, and 38 so far this season, Memphis manager Stubby Clapp now has 129 wins in his career as Redbirds' manager, putting him nine behind former Memphis manager Mike Shildt for fifth on the all-time managerial win list. Clapp also owns the best winning percentage among Memphis managers at .629 (129-76).

STRONG BEHIND THE PLATE: Yesterday, catcher Carson Kelly caught a man stealing in the fourth inning to erase a threat. The Redbirds catchers have now thrown out 15 of 50 would-be stealers, a 30% clip. The league average is 29.7% this season. There have only been 50 attempted steals against Memphis this season, the tied for the third-lowest mark in the league. The Redbirds have used four catchers this season, Carson Kelly, Steven Baron, Andrew Knizner, and Jeremy Martinez. Martinez has caught three of five (.600), Knizner has caught two of 13 (.154), Kelly has caught five of 20 (.250), and Baron has caught five of 12 (.417). Memphis catchers have allowed the second-fewest passed balls at five.

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 568 batters through the first 64 games (8.9/game), which is only behind Fresno (596) for the best mark in the PCL this season. 'Birds batters are also towards the bottom of the league in total strikeouts by hitters. Memphis batters have struck out just 421 times through the first 64 games (6.6/game), narrowly ahead of Omaha (433) for the lowest mark in the league. Memphis is the only team in the PCL that has struck out under 430 times this season. Two nights ago, the 'Birds struck out just twice, tying their lowest mark this season, and marking the third time they had accomplished the feat, and yesterday, they struck out just three times. With yesterday's shutout performance, Memphis now owns the lowest team ERA in the PCL at 3.38, just ahead of Oklahoma City (3.47).

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 11, 2018


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