PCL1 Memphis Redbirds

Game Notes: Memphis Redbirds (45-61) at Oklahoma City Dodgers (48-57)

Published on July 28, 2019 under Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Memphis Redbirds News Release


Memphis Redbirds (45-61) at Oklahoma City Dodgers (48-57)

Sunday, July 28 - 6:05 p.m. (CT) - Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark (13,066) - Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Game #107 - Road Game #55 (28-26)

RHP Mike Hauschild (1-2, 8.62) vs RHP Dustin May (2-0, 2.53)

BY THE NUMBERS

35 Number of home runs hit by the Redbirds this month. They are three homers away from matching the franchise record for most home runs hit in July (38), set by the 2008 and 2009 teams.

17.1 Consecutive scoreless innings tossed by the Redbirds bullpen over the last three games. They have allowed just 26 earned runs in 96.2 innings (2.43 ERA) in 23 games in July.

THE GAME

TONIGHT'S GAME: The Memphis Redbirds conclude their brief three-game set against the Oklahoma City Dodgers at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark tonight. This is the final meeting between the two teams this season. The Redbirds earned a series win by taking a 9-4 victory in last night's contest. Lane Thomas became the eighth Redbird in franchise history to homer three times in a game and has back-to-back four-RBI games. Thomas has now driven in 22 RBI against the Dodgers this season in 13 games. Max Schrock went 1-for-4 with a run, double and an RBI, and has hit safely in each game since returning from the injured list on Tuesday. Tonight's game will be broadcast live on www.memphisredbirds.com with Steve Selby on the call.

ON THE HILL: Right-hander Mike Hauschild is scheduled to take the mound in tonight's series finale and make his ninth start and tenth appearance overall of the season. Hauschild has gone 1-2, 8.62 (30 ER/31.1 IP) in his nine outings this season. In his last time out on Tuesday at New Orleans, he earned the win (6.2 IP, 4 H, 4 R/ER, 1 BB, 7 SO, 1 HR, 1 HBP) in the Redbirds' 6-4 victory over the Baby Cakes. His 6.2 innings pitched was the most innings he's worked this season and the most since working 8.0 innings on July 4, 2018 while at Triple-A Fresno. He fanned a season-high seven batters and ended a run of five-straight starts of issuing at least two walks. He has allowed a home run in two-straight starts. He also earned his first win as a starter since Aug. 14, 2018. Prior to his start on June 20 at Oklahoma City, Hauschild made his first appearance on June 17 vs. Las Vegas after a lengthy stint on the Injured List. In that outing, he tossed 0.2 scoreless, but his outing was cut short due to a 1:20 rain delay following the third inning. Hauschild's first start prior to that night was on April 8 vs. the Omaha Storm Chasers. In that start, he suffered the loss (1.2 IP, 6 H, 9R/ER, 4 BB, 0 K) in the Redbirds' 14-3 defeat to the Storm Chasers. Hauschild matched a career high with nine earned runs allowed in that outing, and did so for the first time since 2017. The 29-year-old has made three starts against Oklahoma City this season and two at this facility. His most recent start against OKC came on July 11 at AutoZone Park, where he took no-decision (5.0 IP, 6 H, 3 R/ER, 3 BB, 3 SO) in the Redbirds' 8-6 defeat to the Dodgers. The Dayton, Ohio., native is in his eight professional season and his first within the St. Louis organization. Hauschild also spent time within the Houston, Texas and Toronto organizations.

The Dodgers are scheduled to start right-hander Dustin May to close out this series. The 21-year-old has gone 2-0, 2.53 (6 ER/21.1 IP) in his first four career Triple-A starts. In his last time out on Tuesday at Nashville, May earned the win (6.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R/ER, 1 BB, 4 SO) in the Dodgers' 16-1 victory over the Sounds. It was his first quality start at the Triple-A level and he has allowed three earned runs or fewer in each of his four starts with the Dodgers. May has made one start against Memphis this season on July 11, taking no-decision (5.0 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 3 SO, 3 HBP) in the Dodgers' 8-6 victory over the Redbirds. In 15 starts at Double-A Tulsa, May went 3-5, 3.74 (33 ER/79.1 IP) to go along with 86 strikeouts compared to just 20 walks. He made quality starts in his last three starts and has made four such outings this season. In his last start for the Drillers on June 22, May took no-decision, but allowed no runs and just two hits over 7.0 innings of work and fanned a career-high 14 batters. That performance led him to be named Texas League Pitcher of the Week for June 17-23. May entered the season ranked as the No. 4 prospect in the Los Angeles-NL organization by Baseball America and he is currently ranked as the No. 3 prospect in the Dodgers system by MLB.com. He is also ranked as the No. 51 overall prospect by MLB.com as well. He recently participated in the 2019 All-Star Futures Game on Sunday, tossing a one-two-three third inning. The Justin, Texas, native is in his fourth professional season and has spent them all within the Los-Angeles-NL organization.

HISTORY WITH OKLAHOMA CITY: The Redbirds have faced off against the Oklahoma City Triple-A franchise every year since 1998. The Redbirds trail in the all-time series 168-181 and trail 74-100 on the road. The 'Birds have just winning records at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark in just three seasons (2018, 2013, 2000). The Redbirds have winning records against Oklahoma City in just six of 21 seasons, but only have losing records in 10 seasons. Last year, the teams faced off in the American Conference Finals of the Pacific Coast League playoffs, with the Redbirds winning the series 3-1.

This is 22nd-straight year that the Redbirds have faced off against the Los Angeles Dodgers' Triple-A affiliate. Oklahoma City has been the Dodgers' top affiliate since 2015 and Memphis has a 34-34 record during that span. From 2009-14, the Albuquerque Isotopes was the organization's top affiliate and the Redbirds went 37-49. The Redbirds were also 12-20 against the Albuquerque Dukes from 1998-2000. From 2001-08, the Redbirds went 19-21 against the Las Vegas 51's. Overall, Memphis is 105-130 against the Dodgers' Triple-A club.

THE SEASON

ABOUT THE LAST ONE: Lane Thomas slugged three home runs, giving him four long balls and eight RBI in the last two games, and the Memphis Redbirds won for the seventh time in their last nine games with a 9-4 triumph over the Oklahoma City Dodgers (Dodgers) Saturday night in Oklahoma City, Okla.

Thomas went deep in the third, fifth, and seventh innings to complete the eighth three-homer game in Redbirds history and third in the last two seasons. Tyler O'Neill and Adolis Garcia had three-home run games four days apart last season, and Thomas' comes one year and one day after Garcia's.

Thomas' history-tying performance follows Randy Arozarena having the third cycle in Redbirds history yesterday.

In addition to Thomas' offensive showing, Edmundo Sosa also homered for Memphis (45-61). Sosa also doubled, as did Max Schrock and John Nogowski.

Genesis Cabrera was activated off the Injured List earlier in the day and got the win with 6.0 innings of work, striking out nine and walking one, and allowing four runs on eight hits.

For the second-straight night, the Redbirds pitching staff shut out Oklahoma City (48-57) over its final four at-bats after the Dodgers had a multi-run fifth. Cabrera, Kodi Whitley, and Hunter Cervenka fired four scoreless innings to keep an 8-4 Redbirds lead en route to the 9-4 victory.

The Redbirds have won three-straight series.

ROSTER MOVES: The following roster moves were made prior to Saturday's game: Genesis Cabrera was reinstated off of the 7-Day Injured List and Chris Beck was unconditionally released.

Cabrera missed 10 games after being placed on the IL following his start on July 15 at Round Rock. The Redbirds went 6-4 during that span.

Cabrera has gone 3-4, 6.42 (44 ER/61.2 IP) in 14 games, 12 starts with Memphis and 0-2, 6.17 (8 ER/11.2 IP) in five games, two starts with St. Louis this season.

Beck had gone 0-7, 6.10 (28 ER/41.1 IP) in 37 relief appearances for the Redbirds this season. He led the team with six saves.

A HAT-TRICK FOR THOMAS: In last night's game, Lane Thomas homered three times, launching two solo shots and one two-run blast. He became the eighth Redbird to homer three times in a game, matching a franchise record. He is the first player to accomplish this feat since Adolis Garcia slugged three home runs on July 26, 2018 at Salt Lake.

AROZARENA HITS FOR THE CYCLE: In Friday night's contest, Randy Arozarena became the third Redbird in franchise history to hit for the cycle. He opened up the game with a bunt single, doubled in the third, homered in the fourth and completed the cycle with a triple in the fifth. After an 18-year gap between the first two cycles in franchise history (Mark Little, June 23, 2000; Luke Voit, June 30, 2018), the Redbirds have now had a player hit for the cycle in consecutive years. Arozarena's four-hit game was his third such game for the Redbirds this season, which leads the team.

NEW ORLEANS SERIES WRAP: The Memphis Redbirds took two of three games from the New Orleans Baby Cakes in the final meeting between the two teams at AutoZone Park this season. The Redbirds finish 2019 with a 4-4 record at home against the Baby Cakes, making it the seventh-straight season that Redbirds have not dropped the season series at home between the two clubs. The Redbirds have won back-to-back series for the first time since winning series against San Antonio and Round Rock from April 16-22.

Adolis Garcia continued his July power surge by homering Thursday night and driving in four total runs during the series. His home run in last night's finale was his 23rd of the season, setting a career-high and it is also the 18th-highest season total in Redbirds franchise history. He leads the team with 23 long balls and 74 RBI this season. Randy Arozarena reached safely in all three games and has now reached safely in each of his last 25 starts. He posted multi-hit games in the final two games of the series and now has 17 such games this season in just 39 games with the Redbirds. Max Schrock returned to the lineup after missing 14 games while on the injured list and went 4-for-8 with two runs scored and two RBI, hitting safely in all three games. Four different players posted multi-hit performances and there were five total multi-hit games. Overall in the series, the Redbirds batted .255 (24x94) against Baby Cakes pitching and launched one home run.

The 'Birds starting staff went 1-1, 6.18 (9 ER/13.1 IP) fanning 15 batters while issuing seven walks. They allowed three home runs and just five total extra-base hits. Mike Hauschild earned his first win of the season and his first win as a starter since Aug. 14, 2018 while pitching at Triple-A Buffalo. He had the longest outing of any Redbird starter during the series (6.2 IP) and the most strikeouts (7). Redbird relievers went 1-0, 0.68 (1 ER/13.2 IP) in the series and whiffed 14 batters. They also converted both of their save opportunities. Kodi Whitley made his AutoZone Park debut on Wednesday, allowing three hits and one run in 1.2 innings of work to go along with three strikeouts. Junior Fernandez earned his first-career Triple-A victory Thursday night by tossing 2.0 scoreless frames to bring his season-ERA to 0.59. The staff overall yielded an opponent's average of .248 (25x101).

ADOLIS' BIG DAY: On June 21, Adolis Garcia put on an impressive display of power at Werner Park by homering twice and driving in eight runs. His eight RBI matched a franchise record that he also matched last season on July 26 at Salt Lake. In the third inning with two outs, he launched his second grand slam of the season. After homering again in the eighth inning, it was his third game in his last eight that he has homered twice. Garcia ranks T-1st in the Pacific Coast League with 12 dingers with two outs and 8th with 29 RBI in such situations.

CLIMBING THE LEADERBOARDS: In 21 games in July, Adolis Garcia has launched eight home runs and driven in 22 runs while posting a slash-line of .262/.311/.631/.942. As result, he has entered and climbed into the Top-10 in several batting categories on the Redbirds all-time lists. His first home run on Friday moved him into 5th with 44 and his second blast that day moved him just six long balls away from matching Patrick Wisdom for 4th. His three RBI last night moved him to 10th place at 155. He also ranks T-5th in triples (11), 8th in strikeouts (261), 8th in hit by pitches (16) and 8th in extra-base hits (111).

THE AMAZING RANDY: Reigning Cardinals Minor League Player of the Month Randy Arozarena has continued his form all throughout July and is slashing .360/.447/.573/1.020 in 23 games. He has hit safely in 16 of those games and has also reached base safely in 27-straight starts. He has 10 multi-hit games during that span as well.

LET'S GET IT STARTED: Redbirds players batting first in the order this season are hitting .316 overall, which ranks 2nd in the Pacific Coast League. They also rank T-2nd in hits (141), 4th in OBP (.381), 6th in OPS (.890) and 5th in SLG (.509).

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.

Check out the Memphis Redbirds Statistics

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Pacific Coast League Stories from July 28, 2019


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