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PCL1 Memphis Redbirds

Game Notes: Memphis Redbirds (38-59) at Round Rock Express (56-41)

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


Memphis Redbirds (38-59) at Round Rock Express (56-41)

Thursday, July 18 - 7:05 p.m. (CT) - Dell Diamond (12,000) - Round Rock, Texas

Game #98 - Road Game #49 (23-25)

LHP Austin Warner (0-0, 7.02) vs RHP Carson LaRue (0-1, 6.00)

BY THE NUMBERS

17 Number of hits by Johan Mieses in his first 16 career games at the Triple-A level this season. He is currently batting .378 (17x45) with the Redbirds compared to just .212 (46x256) at Double-A Springfield.

5 Number of multi-hit games by Jose Godoy in his first seven career games at the Triple-A level. He has two hits in three-straight and is batting .407 (11x27) with the Redbirds this season.

THE GAME

TONIGHT'S GAME: The Memphis Redbirds continue their seven-game road swing in the fourth and final game in this series against the Round Rock Express at Dell Diamond. The Redbirds dropped last night's game 11-8, after leading by as much as seven runs in the contest. Johan Mieses now has three hits in back-to-back games and is batting .529 (9x17) in eight games during his second stint with the Redbirds this season. With two hits in last night's game, Jose Godoy now has multi-hit games in three-straight and in five of his first seven career Triple-A games. Tonight's game will be broadcast live on www.memphisredbirds.com with Steve Selby on the call.

ON THE HILL: Left-hander Austin Warner is scheduled to take the mound in tonight's series finale and make his fourth start for Memphis and his 18th overall start this season across all levels. In three starts with the Redbirds, Warner has gone 0-0, 7.02 (13 ER/16.2 IP) to go along with 11 strikeouts and eight walks. In his last time out on Friday vs. Oklahoma City, he took no-decision (6.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R/ER, 1 BB, 4 SO, 1 HR) in the Redbirds' 6-3 defeat to the Dodgers. It was his first quality start at the Triple-A level in three outings and his fifth in his last seven overall. He has allowed at least six hits in each start and he has now allowed eight home runs in 16.2 innings of work at the Triple-A level compared to allowing 10 long balls in 82.1 innings at the Double-A level. However, it was the first start with allowing just one long ball. Warner went 4-6, 3.83 (35 ER/82.1 IP) in 15 games, 14 starts with Double-A Springfield this season. In his 14 starts, eight of them were quality starts and he has made four-straight such outings at that level. Warner was named Texas League Pitcher of the Week for the week of June 10-16, where he went 2-0, 2.21 in two starts, struck-out 16 batters during that span. His performances this season led him to be named a TL Mid-Season All-Star, where he pitched a scoreless inning, fanning one in his appearance on June 25. Warner left the TL ranking 2nd with 88 strikeouts in 82.1 innings. He also ranked 8th with a 3.83 ERA. He made one start against Round Rock last season on August 19 at AutoZone Park, where he suffered the loss (4.1 IP, 14 H, 3 R/ER, 0 BB, 0 SO, 3 HR) in the Redbirds' 3-1 defeat to the Express. The Louisville, Ky., native is in his third professional season and has spent them all within the St. Louis organization. He entered the season ranked as the No. 30 prospect in the St. Louis organization by Baseball America and is currently ranked as the No. 26 prospect in the system by MLB.com.

The Express are slated to start right-hander Carson LaRue in tonight's series finale. The 23-year-old is scheduled to make his second start for Round Rock and his 18th appearance overall this season across all levels. LaRue made his Triple-A debut on July 5 in the second game of a doubleheader against Oklahoma City. In that game, he suffered the loss (6.0 IP, 5 H, 4 R/ER, 1 BB, 5 SO, 1 HR) in the Express' 4-3 defeat to the Dodgers. It was just the second time all season that LaRue had worked at least 6.0 innings and his third straight start with allowing at least four earned runs. Before that outing, he went 1-4, 6.14 (45 ER/66.0 IP) in 15 games, 12 starts at Double-A Corpus Christi. During that span, he made just one quality start on June 11 at Arkansas, where he allowed two earned runs in 8.0 innings of work. He also had two outings of allowing 10 hits and overall has allowed an opponent's average of .277 (82x296) all season. In two outings (8.2 innings) against Double-A Springfield this season, LaRue went 0-0, 6.23 (6 ER/8.2 IP). Current Redbirds Jose Godoy, Jose Martinez and Johan Mieses went a combined 3-for-11 against. The Dewey, Okla., native is in his fourth professional season and has spent them all with the Houston organization.

HISTORY WITH ROUND ROCK: The two clubs have met every year since 2005, with the Redbirds taking a slight 123-110 edge overall. The 'Birds also hold a 63-51 advantage at AutoZone Park and have gone 11-6 in downtown Memphis the past two seasons. The Redbirds and Express finished all-square at 8-8 in 2018, which was only the second time in 14 seasons that the two teams had split the season series. Memphis has not lost a season series to Round Rock since 2015.

On the road at Dell Diamond, the Redbirds have a slim 60-58 advantage, but have gone 11-4 at this facility the past two seasons. The Redbirds and Express finished all-square at 8-8 in 2018, which was only the second time in 14 seasons that the two teams had split the season series. Memphis has not lost a season series to Round Rock since 2015.

After eight years as the Rangers Triple-A affiliate, the Express are the Astros top affiliate for the first time since 2010. The Express spent their first six years in the Pacific Coast League as the Astros Triple-A team, where the Redbirds went 55-38 from 2005-10, including 12-4 in each of the last two seasons before the Express switched affiliations.

THE SEASON

ABOUT THE LAST ONE: A great start turned into a tough ending for the Memphis Redbirds, as the Round Rock Express (Astros) flipped a 7-0 deficit into an 11-7 lead en route to an 11-8 victory Wednesday night in Round Rock, Texas.

Memphis (38-59) scored five times in the first inning and twice more in the second, before Round Rock (57-40) started its comeback. The Redbirds had four extra-base hits in their first two at-bats, including a three-run home run by Johan Mieses, to spearhead opening a 7-0 advantage.

But the Express scored five times in the bottom of the second, three more in the fourth, and three more in the seventh to take control of the night.

Mieses finished 3-for-4 with two runs and three RBI for his second-straight three-hit game, and Randy Arozarena, Lane Thomas, Jose Godoy, and Kramer Robertson had two-hit games for the Redbirds.

ROSTER MOVES: The following roster move was made prior to Tuesday's game: Edmundo Sosa was recalled by St. Louis.

Sosa will be headed to big leagues for the first time this season and made his first Major League appearance since Sept. 30, 2018 at Chicago-NL last night vs. Pittsburgh, making a pinch-hit appearance. During his first MLB stint last season, Sosa appeared in three games, entering each game in the eighth inning as a defensive replacement. He made his debut on September 23 vs. San Francisco and drew a walk in first plate appearance. He is still in search of his first MLB hit.

In 83 games with Memphis this season, Sosa posted a .252/.304/.424/.728 slash-line and had 10 home runs and 34 RBI. The 10 long balls so far this season are just two shy of matching last season's total between Memphis and Double-A Springfield. He ranked 4th on the Redbirds this season with 78 hits.

OKLAHOMA CITY SERIES WRAP: The Memphis Redbirds lost their series to the Oklahoma City Dodgers 3-1 in the final meeting at AutoZone Park this season. The Redbirds finish 2019 with a 1-7 record at home against the Dodgers, making it the first time in franchise history that they had won just one game at home in a season against the Oklahoma City franchise. It is also the sixth time in the last seven seasons that Memphis have finished with a losing record at home against Oklahoma City. The Redbirds have not won a home series since June 12-14 vs. Salt Lake. All four games of this series were decided by three runs or fewer.

Edmundo Sosa and Lane Thomas each had five hits in the series as they combined to go 10-for-29 (.345) at the plate with one home run and 10 RBI. Sosa finished the series riding a four-game hitting streak, his longest such stretch since posting an eight-game streak from June 21-28. Thomas was optioned back to Memphis on July 5 following his third big-league stint and responded by hitting safely in a season-high five straight games, including in three of four against Oklahoma City. He had his streak ended in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader, but had a three-run, pinch-hit double in the night cap. He totaled seven RBI in the series, with three multi-RBI games. His home run on Friday was his third against the Dodgers this season, which ranks 2nd on the Redbirds. Randy Arozarena reached safely in all four games of the series and has now reached safely in his last 15 starts. In 29 games with Memphis following the series, he is slashing .369/.441/.559/1.000 and failed to reach safely when he starts just twice (27 G). Jose Godoy made his first start for the Redbirds since June 8 in the second game on Saturday and went 2-for-4. In his first six career Triple-A contests, Godoy has multi-hit performances in four games. Overall in the series, the Redbirds batted .237 (28x118) against Dodgers pitching.

The 'Birds starting staff went 0-1, 7.60 (12 ER/14.2 IP) fanning 10 batters while issuing five walks. They allowed one home run and eight total extra-base hits. Austin Warner delivered his first quality start with Memphis this season on Friday, tossing 6.0 innings of two-run ball while allowing six hits and fanning four. He has allowed at least one home run in all three of his starts with the Redbirds, but Friday was his first start with allowing just one. Mike Hauschild matched a season-high with 5.0 innings pitched in the series opener and had three strikeouts. He has whiffed 10 batters in his last 14.0 innings after only having two strikeouts in his first 9.0 innings. Junior Fernandez made two appearance during the series, tossing 1.1 total scoreless innings and he has not and in his first six Triple-A appearances, he has allowed four hits and one run in 9.1 innings. He struck out the side in his inning of work in the second game of the doubleheader Saturday. The staff overall yielded an opponent's average of .318 (41x129).

GARCIA RAKING AGAINST ROUND ROCK: After hitting two more home runs against Round Rock pitching on Monday, Adolis Garcia now leads the Pacific Coast League with five home runs in 10 games against the Express this season. He also ranks T-3rd among PCL batters with 12 RBI. With both long balls coming with two outs in the inning, he also ranks T-2nd in the PCL with 10 home runs in such situations.

THE AMAZING RANDY: After slashing .374/.456/.607/1.063 in 28 games between Double-A Springfield and Triple-A Memphis in June, Randy Arozarena was named Cardinals Minor League Player of the Month. He also had five home runs, eight doubles, 20 RBI, and four stolen bases.

Making his Memphis debut on June 12 after arriving from Springfield, Arozarena proceeded to hit in 13-of-18 games in the month with the Redbirds, including a five-game hitting streak to end the month that included a pair of four-hit games. He had his eight-game hitting streak snapped on July 4, but has reached base safely in each of his last 18 starts. He also has five games with at least three hits during that span.

On July 4, among prospects with at least 100 plate-appearances over the last 30 days he ranked 1st in hits (40) and average (.414), 2nd in OBP (.484) and total bases (70), T-3rd in doubles (10) and 5th in OPS (1.115). (Credit: MLB Pipeline)

This is Arozarena's second-career monthly honor from the Cardinals after being honored in June 2017 while playing for Advanced-A Palm Beach.

LET'S GET IT STARTED: After Randy Arozarena went 2-for-4 with a double against Round Rock last night, Redbirds players batting first in the order are now hitting .311 overall, which ranks 2nd in the Pacific Coast League. They also rank 5th in hits (127), T-4th in OBP (.374), 5th in OPS (.876) and 5th in SLG (.502).

WOODFORD SHINES IN EL PASO: Jake Woodford tossed 2.0 perfect innings to start the 2019 Triple-A All-Star Game and earned the win in the Pacific Coast League All-Stars' 9-3 win over the International League All-Stars on July 10. Woodford fanned two batters and three of the other four outs were recorded via ground-outs. He was the sixth Redbirds pitcher to start the All-Star Game and second-straight to earn the honor.

Andrew Knizner, who was added to the PCL All-Star roster on July 5 did not make an appearance in the game.

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