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PCL1 Memphis Redbirds

Game Notes: Memphis Redbirds (47-62) vs Albuquerque Isotopes (45-64)

August 1, 2019 - Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Memphis Redbirds News Release


Memphis Redbirds (47-62) vs Albuquerque Isotopes (45-64)

Thursday, August 1 - 7:05 p.m. (CT) - AutoZone Park (10,000) - Memphis, Tennessee

Game #110 - Home Game #55 (19-35)

LHP Austin Warner (1-1, 7.00) vs RHP Jeff Hoffman (6-5, 7.32)

BY THE NUMBERS

38 Number of home runs hit by the Redbirds in July, matching the franchise record. Joe Hudson's three-run home run in the fourth inning tied that mark and was his tenth long ball of the season. Hudson entered 2019 with 23 home runs in his career.

4 Consecutive series won by the Redbirds after last night's win. It is the first time this season that they have won four-straight series and the first time since July 12-26, 2018 they have accomplished this.

THE GAME

TONIGHT'S GAME: The Memphis Redbirds continue their seven-game homestand in the finale of this three-game set against the Albuquerque Isotopes. The Redbirds clinched their fourth-straight series win with last night's 7-6 victory. They have also won three consecutive home games for the first time all season. Edmundo Sosa's two-out single in the eighth scored Randy Arozarena for the go-ahead run in the contest. Sosa went 4-for-4 on the night for his first four-hit game of the season. Arozarena scored twice and had three hits for his 20th multi-hit game of the season with the Redbirds. Joe Hudson homered for the second-straight night with his three-run blast in the fourth. Ryan Helsley tossed three perfect frames to open the game, striking out four. 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 game and make his sixth start for Memphis and his 20th overall start this season across all levels. In five starts with the Redbirds, Warner has gone 1-1, 7.00 (21 ER/27.0 IP) to go along with 24 strikeouts and 16 walks. In his last time out on July 24 vs. New Orleans, he suffered the loss (4.1 IP, 8 H, 4 R/ER, 4 BB, 6 SO, 2 HR) in the Redbirds' 5-2 defeat to the Baby Cakes. Warner has allowed at least six hits in each of his starts and has allowed exactly eight in three of those games. He has also fanned at least six batters in two-straight. In 27.0 innings of work at the Triple-A level, he has allowed 11 home runs compared to allowing just 10 long balls in 82.1 innings at the Double-A level. Tonight will be his first start against the Isotopes in his career. 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 his 2019 Memphis debut on June 30 vs. New Orleans, where he took no-decision (6.0 IP, 6 H, 5 R/ER, 3 BB, 3 SO, 3 HR) in the Redbirds' 10-6 victory over the Baby Cakes. 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 Isotopes are scheduled to start right-hander Jeff Hoffman in tonight's series finale. The 26-year-old has gone 6-5, 7.32 (51 ER/62.2 IP) in 12 games, 11 starts with Albuquerque this season. In his last time out on July 25 at Washington, Hoffman took no-decision (5.0 IP, 4 H, 3 R/ER, 4 BB, 4 SO, 1 HR, 1 HBP) in the Rockies' 8-7 victory over the Nationals. It was his first big-league start since June 20 and his third-straight start at that level with three earned runs allowed or fewer. Overall with the Rockies this season, Hoffman has gone 1-3, 6.57 (28 ER/38.1 IP) and has whiffed 40 batters while issuing 17 walks. He made his last start with Albuquerque on July 17 vs. Fresno, where he earned the win (6.0 IP, 8 H, 4 R/ER, 1 BB, 4 SO, 1 HR) in the Isotopes' 9-4 victory over the Grizzlies. He has won his last two decisions at the Triple-A level and has four earned runs or fewer in three of his last five at this level. Tonight will be his first start against the Redbirds in his career. At the big-league level, he has gone 0-1, 13.50 (6 ER/4.0 IP) against the St. Louis Cardinals in one start. The Latham, N.Y., native is in his fifth professional season and his fourth with the Colorado organization. He had spent the first year of his career within the Toronto organization.

HISTORY WITH ALBUQUERQUE: The Redbirds have faced off against the Albuquerque Isotopes every year since 2003. The Redbirds trail in the all-time series 89-109 and trail by a narrow 49-50 margin at AutoZone Park. Prior to the Isotopes moving to the Pacific Conference in 2014, the 'Birds went 72-108 from 2003-13 when the teams met 16 times each season. During that span, the Redbirds won the season series just once (2006) and split the series in two other seasons (2011, 2012). Following the move, the Redbirds have gone 9-7 against the Isotopes, but have lost the series here at this facility in two of the three years the teams have met here.

The two teams have squared off twice in the postseason, with the Redbirds coming away victorious in both matchups. They first met in the 2000 American Conference Finals, where the 'Birds took the series 3-2 and later in the 2009 American Conference Finals where Memphis swept Albuquerque 3-0.

This is 22nd-straight year that the Redbirds have faced off against the Colorado Rockies' Triple-A affiliate. Albuquerque has been the Rockies' top affiliate since 2015 and Memphis has a 7-8 record during that span. From 1998-2014, the now defunct Colorado Springs Sky Sox was the organization's top affiliate, where the Redbirds went 66-61. Overall, Memphis is 75-69 against the Rockies' Triple-A club.

THE SEASON

ABOUT THE LAST ONE: Edmundo Sosa was 4-for-4, Randy Arozarena had three hits, and Joe Hudson homered for the second-straight game in a 7-6 Memphis Redbirds victory over the Albuquerque Isotopes (Rockies) Wednesday night at AutoZone Park.

The Redbirds have won nine of their last 12 games.

Sosa's four-hit game matches a career high, and he has hits in seven-straight games and 11 of his last 12. Arozarena has reached base in 29-straight starts.

The Redbirds (47-62) opened up a quick 3-0 lead after the first inning, with Arozarena doubling and scoring on a Harrison Bader single. Sosa plated Bader with a single a couple of batters later, and rehabbing St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Marcell Ozuna scored on a Ramon Urias groundout after he walked.

Ryan Helsley started for Memphis and tossed 3.0 perfect innings with four strikeouts before being lifted. He fanned four of the last five Isotopes (45-64) he faced in the game.

Albuquerque got two runs off Memphis reliever Chris Ellis in the top of the fourth, but the Redbirds answered right back in the home-half with a three-spot thanks to Hudson's 10th home run of the season.

The score remained 6-2 in favor of Memphis until the top of the sixth inning, when the long ball turned into Memphis' bugaboo as the Isotopes went back-to-back to tie the game at 6. After that, however, Memphis pitching retired 12 of the final 13 Isotopes of the game to help set up the victory.

In the bottom of the eighth, Arozarena singled, went to second on a balk, and scored on a Sosa single to give the Redbirds a 7-6 lead.

Kodi Whitley allowed the potential tying run to reach with a leadoff single in the top of the ninth, but he got a flyout, a strikeout, and a groundout to end the ballgame.

In between Ellis and Whitley, Seth Elledge worked a flawless seventh inning for the Redbirds.

ROSTER MOVES: The following roster moves were made prior to last night's game: Matt Carpenter was transferred to Memphis from Double-A Springfield as he continues his rehab assignment.

In seven games between Memphis and Springfield, Carpenter has gone 0-for-21 and has drawn five walks. This is his second stint with the Redbirds during his rehab assignment, which he began on July 23 vs. New Orleans. He went 0-for-6 in two games played against the Baby Cakes.

A HAT-TRICK FOR THOMAS: In Saturday 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 that night was his third such game for the Redbirds this season, which leads the team.

OKLAHOMA CITY SERIES WRAP: The Memphis Redbirds took two of three games from the Oklahoma City Dodgers in the final meeting between the two teams this season. The Redbirds finish 2019 with a 7-9 record overall against the Dodgers, making it the sixth time in the last seven seasons that the Redbirds have dropped the season series. However, they won six of eight at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark and are unbeaten in the season series on the road in three-straight seasons. The Redbirds have now won three-straight series for the first time since winning series against San Antonio, Round Rock and Omaha from April 16-28.

In Friday's series opener, Randy Arozarena became the third Redbird in franchise history to hit for the cycle. He accomplished the feat by the fifth inning in his first-four at-bats of the game. Arozarena went 7-for-14 in the series with four runs scored and four extra-base hits. He has now reached safely in 28-straight starts. In Saturday's contest, Lane Thomas became the eighth Redbird to homer three times in a game, matching a franchise record. Against Dodger pitching this season, Thomas slugged seven homers and drove in 22 runs in 14 games. Edmundo Sosa and Ramon Urias combined to go 10-for-23 with six runs scored and six RBI while batting from the No. 3 and No. 2 spots respectively. In the series opener on Friday, every Redbird started recorded at least one hit. Five different players posted multi-hit performances and there were nine total multi-hit games. Overall in the series, the Redbirds batted .292 (31x106) against Dodgers pitching and launched six home runs.

The 'Birds starting staff went 1-1, 9.50 (17 ER/16.1 IP) fanning 18 batters while issuing 10 walks. They allowed six home runs and just 12 total extra-base hits. Genesis Cabrera and Mike Hauschild each turned in starts of 6.0 innings, with Hauschild earning his first quality start of the season in Sunday's series finale. Cabrera matched his season-high with nine strikeouts and has issued one walk or fewer in five of his last eight starts. Jake Woodford allowed a career-high 10 earned runs on Friday. Redbird relievers went 1-0, 4.89 (5 ER/9.2 IP) in the series and whiffed 14 batters. The bullpen began the series by tossing 7.2 scoreless frames, extending their scoreless innings streak to 17.1 innings in the process before Seth Elledge allowed five runs on Sunday. Hunter Cervenka converted his fourth save of the season on Friday and Junior Fernandez tossed another scoreless inning to bring his season-ERA down to 0.55. The staff overall yielded an opponent's average of .280 (28x100).

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-2nd in the Pacific Coast League with 12 dingers with two outs and 9th with 29 RBI in similar situations.

CLIMBING THE LEADERBOARDS: In 24 games in July, Adolis Garcia launched eight home runs and drove in 22 runs and posted a slash-line of .237/.283/.570/.853. 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), T-7th in strikeouts (263), 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 slashed .378/.455/.592/1.047 in 26 games. He has hit safely in 18 of those games and has also reached base safely in 29-straight starts. He has 12 multi-hit games during that span as well.

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