PCL1 Memphis Redbirds

Game Notes: Memphis Redbirds (41-28) at El Paso Chihuahuas (34-35)

Published on June 17, 2018 under Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Memphis Redbirds News Release


Memphis Redbirds (41-28) At El Paso Chihuahuas (34-35)

Sunday, June 17 - 7:05 p.m. (CT) - Southwest University Park (9,000) - El Paso, Texas

Game #70 - Road Game #34 (20-13)

RHP Chris Ellis (0-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. RHP Seth Simmons (0-0, 1.69 ERA)

THE GAME

TODAY'S GAME: The Memphis Redbirds and El Paso Chihuahuas will play game two of a four-game set tonight at 7:05 p.m. in El Paso. This is the first time the two teams have met since Memphis defeated El Paso in the PCL Championship Series three games to two last September. Memphis is coming off a 3-0 sweep of the Albuquerque Isotopes, while El Paso is coming off a 2-1 series loss to the Nashville Sounds. El Paso won the opener 13-1 last night. Memphis will return to AutoZone Park after this series to begin a four-game series against New Orleans on June 21. 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 the 'Birds tonight. Ellis has made one appearance for Memphis this season since being transferred from Double-A Springfield. In his lone start for the 'Birds, Ellis pitched 4.0 shutout innings, allowing three hits and one walk, while striking out two batters. With Springfield this season, Ellis has split time between relieving and starting. In seven starts with Springfield, his was 2-0 with a 5.02 ERA in 37.2 innings, allowing 31 hits and 21 earned runs, while striking out 34 batters. Ellis faced El Paso in one game last season during his stint with the Redbirds. In that game, he pitched 1.2 innings in relief, allowing one hit and one walk, while striking out two batters.

The Chihuahuas will send right-hander Seth Simmons to the mound to battle Ellis. Coming into tonight's game, Simmons has appeared in three games for El Paso, all three being starts. In those starts, he has pitched a total of 16.0 innings, allowing 10 hits and three earned runs, while striking out nine. This will be his third-career appearance, first since 2015, against Memphis, and his first start.

HISTORY WITH EL PASO: Memphis and El Paso have played every season dating back to 2014 when Tucson moved its team to El Paso and became the Chihuahuas. The two teams have evenly split the all-time series, both winning and losing eight games apiece. Last year, Memphis took the regular-season series 3-1, and then topped El Paso in the Pacific Coast League Championship Series 3-2 to advance to the Triple- A National Championship game.

BIRD BITES

AROZARENA: Has two multi-hit games in last three after having just two total in previous 20 games

BARON: In Monday's loss, drove in two runs in Memphis' six-run second; first multi-RBI game this season

GARCIA: Now has a seven-game hitting streak for the first time this season; leads PCL with 10 outfield assists

KELLY: Hitting .379 (11-for-29) in six games since being optioned from St. Louis; five extra-base hits and six RBI

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

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

O'NEILL: Hit two home runs Wed. night for fourth time this season; now has 18 homers between Memphis and St. Louis

RAVELO: Is hitting .357 (20-for-56) with 12 runs scored, a double, triple, six home runs, and 16 RBI in last 15 games

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: Hitting just .217 (10-for-46) in 14 games this month; is hitting just .223 (27-for-121) since May 1

URIAS: Friday night, went 2-for-5 at the plate, scoring two runs, and hitting a home run, his third with Memphis

WISDOM: Drove in game-winning run in 10th inning Thursday night; is hitting .325 (49-for-151) since May 1

BY THE NUMBERS

-104 run differential in 28 losses this season and +151 run differential in 41 wins this season

ON THIS DATE

In 2004, outfielder Colin Porter led off the game against New Orleans with a home run, and hit another one in the second. He finished the game 3-for-4 and tied the franchise record with four runs scored

THE SEASON

ABOUT THE LAST ONE: The Memphis Redbirds dropped the series-opener to the El Paso Chihuahuas 13-1 last night .

Memphis starter Daniel Poncedeleon lasted 3.1 innings, allowing eight runs, only two earned, on seven hits and two walks, while striking out six.

El Paso scored six runs in the second inning, started by an error on Memphis. They then scored three runs in the fourth and two in the seventh and eighth innings to put the game out of reach.

Hector Mendoza and Landon Beck combined to throw 4.2 innings in relief, allowing eight hits, five earned runs, and two walks, while striking out three.

Offensively, the 'Birds had four players notch multi-hit games, but they could not bring runners in.

Carson Kelly (2-for-4) drove in the only run of the night for Memphis in the sixth inning. Max Schrock (2-for-4), Adolis Garcia (2-for-4), and Randy Arozarena (2-for-4) also recorded multi-hit games.

CHAMPIONSHIP REMATCH: This weekend's four-game series between the Memphis Redbirds and the El Paso Chihuahuas marks the first time the two teams have played since Memphis defeated El Paso in the PCL Championship Series last September. In that series, Memphis defeated El Paso three games to two to advance to the Triple-A National Championship game where they fell to the Durham Bulls 5-3. In the Championship Series, the Redbirds won the first two games, and El Paso won the middle two games, making them play the decisive Game 5 at El Paso. The 'Birds took the lead in Game 5 on a two-run home run off the bat of Patrick Wisdom. Memphis went on to win 3-1. Wisdom was named the Most Valuable Player of the 2017 PCL playoffs due to his heroics throughout the championship run, as well as the home run in Game 5. El Paso won the series-opener by a score of 13-1 last night.

A LITTLE ROUGHED UP: Last night's 13-1 loss to El Paso was the largest margin of defeat for the Redbirds this season. El Paso scored six unearned runs in the win. The largest margin of defeat of the season for Memphis before last night was seven runs. It was the largest margin of defeat for the 'Birds since they lost 16-3 (13 runs) to Nashville on June 15, 2016. Last night, the Redbirds stranded 10 runners and were just 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position.

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 a few weeks ago. In last night's lopsided loss to El Paso, Kelly went 2-for-4 at the dish, driving in the only Memphis run of the night. Since being optioned, Kelly has started seven games and has recorded at least one hit in all but the first one. In his current six-game hitting streak, Kelly has recorded multiple hits in five of them, and at least one RBI in five. Since being optioned, Kelly is hitting .407 (11-for-27) with three doubles, a triple, a home run, six RBI, and two walks, while striking out just once. With his recent hot streak, Kelly is now hitting .294 (32-for-109) in 30 games with the Redbirds this season.

CHASING HISTORY: With Thursday night's win over Albuquerque, the Redbirds matched the 2000 and 2017 Memphis teams as the only teams in franchise history to reach 40 wins by June 14. Despite losing last night, the Redbirds are just one game behind the pace of the 2017 and 2000 teams with a 41-28 record through 69 games. The 2017 and 2000 teams were 42-27 through the first 69 games, the best mark in franchise history. The earliest any Memphis team has reached 50 wins was June 30. That feat was accomplished by the 2000 team. The Redbirds also won their 1,400th game in franchise history last season on July 14 last season. Since that time, they have won 74 games, putting them just 26 wins from the 1,500th in franchise history. With 91 wins last season, and 41 so far this season, Memphis manager Stubby Clapp now has 132 wins in his career as Redbirds' manager, putting him six 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 (132-78).

KEEP IT GOING, ADOLIS: In last night's loss to El Paso, Adolis Garcia went 2-for-4 at the plate, extending his season-long hitting streak to seven games. In Friday's win, Garcia went 1-for-4 at the plate, recording a sac fly and a season-high three RBI to provide half of the runs Memphis scored. Garcia has now recorded a hit in seven-straight games for the first time this season. The strong-fielding outfielder leads the PCL with 10 outfield assists, but has struggled at the plate in the last six weeks. However, since the calendar flipped to June, Garcia has recorded hits in 11 of his 12 games. While it is just a .273 average over those 12 games, it is a good sign after he saw his average dip to a season-low .203 on May 31. Over his current seven-game hitting streak, Garcia is hitting .333 (8-for-24).

RAVELO CAN'T BE STOPPED: After homering in three-straight games for the first time in his career, Rangel Ravelo has gone 3-for-10 with two walks at the plate the last three nights. Despite his five-game hitting streak ending last night, he still reached base safely, recording two walks. Friday night, Ravelo extended his hitting streak to five with a 10th inning single to score the winning run for Memphis. Monday, Ravelo hit a grand slam in the second inning to give Memphis a 6-0 lead, and in Sunday's 6-0 win, Ravelo hit a two-run shot in the first inning, as well. His grand slam in Monday's game was the first of his 10-year career. With four RBI on the day, Ravelo also fell just one RBI short of his career-high of five, which he accomplished on August 30, 2011 with the Kannapolis Intimidators. He has now recorded exactly four RBI in a game six times in his career. It was also the second time this season that Ravelo had homered in consecutive games. Before this season, he had only homered in consecutive games twice in his career, July 31 and August 4, 2014 while with the Birmingham Barons, and July 17 and 18, 2013 while with the Winston-Salem Dash. Since going hitless in back-to-back games on May 21 and 22, Ravelo has been a force at the plate. In that 15-game span, Ravelo is hitting .357 (20-for-56) with 12 runs scored, a double, a triple, six home runs, five walks, and 16 RBI.

SOLID WEEKEND FOR RANDY: With last night's 2-for-4 performance at the plate, outfielder Randy Arozarena continued his dominance at the plate this weekend. After going just 1-for-18 (.056) in last week's homestand, Arozarena has been on fire. He has recorded hits in each of the last three games, including two multi-hit games, good for a .385 (5-for-13) average since Thursday. In Thursday's comeback win over Albuquerque, Arozarena drove in the tying two runs in the ninth inning to send the game to extras, where the Redbirds completed the comeback, winning 7-6. Arozarena now has two multi-hit games in his last three contests. He had just two multi-hit games over his previous 20 contests since returning from Springfield in May.

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 611 batters through the first 69 games (8.9/game), which is only behind Fresno (641) for the best mark in the PCL this season. Memphis and Fresno are the only two teams that have struck out over 600 batters this season. 'Birds batters are also towards the bottom of the league in total strikeouts by hitters. Memphis batters have struck out just 445 times through the first 69 games (6.5/game), not only the lowest mark in the PCL, but also all of Triple-A. Memphis and Omaha are the only two teams in the PCL that have struck out under 500 times this season, and two of just six teams in all of Triple-A that have struck out under 500 times. Memphis is the only team in Triple-A baseball that has struck out under 450 times this season. Memphis also owns the second-best ERA in the PCL at 3.47, behind only Oklahoma City (3.37). They are the only two teams in the PCL with ERAs under 4.00.

MUJICA SETTLING IN: After going through a rough, three-game stretch in mid-May, Memphis reliever Edward Mujica seems to be settling in. In three appearances from May 17-22, Mujica went 0-2. The righty allowed 11 hits, 13 runs, nine earned runs, a walk and a home run in just 3.0 innings of work, giving him a 27.00 ERA in that stretch. Opponents hit .500, with an on-base percentage of .522. Since those three outings, Mujica has been lights-out. In seven appearances since that time, Mujica is 1-0 with three saves. The righty has tossed 8.1 innings, allowing just three hits, one run, earned, and one walk, while striking out six batters. In that stretch, opponents are hitting just .115 (3-for-26) off him, and he is posting a 1.08 ERA.

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 17, 2018


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