PCL1 Memphis Redbirds

Game Notes: Memphis Redbirds (48-32) at Iowa Cubs (29-49)

Published on June 29, 2018 under Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Memphis Redbirds News Release


Memphis Redbirds (48-32) at Iowa Cubs (29-49)

Friday, June 29 - 7:08 p.m. (CT) - Principal Park (11,000) - Des Moines, Iowa

Game #81 - Road Game #41 (24-16)

RHP Kevin Herget (4-6, 4.23 ERA) vs. RHP Alec Mills (3-7, 4.42 ERA)

THE GAME

TODAY'S GAME: The Memphis Redbirds and Iowa Cubs will kick off a five-game set tonight at 7:08 p.m. for the second stop on their nine-game road trip. This will be the third of four series the two teams will play against each other this season. Memphis won the first two series, 3-1 and 3-0, respectively. The 'Birds are coming off a 2-2 series split with Colorado Springs, while Iowa is coming off a 3-1 series win over New Orleans. Yesterday, Memphis players Dakota Hudson, Daniel Poncedeleon, and Patrick Wisdom were all named PCL All-Stars. Hudson will start the game for the PCL squad. Today's game will be broadcast on www.memphisredbirds.com with Steve Selby on the call.

ON THE HILL: Right-hander Kevin Herget will take the mound for the Redbirds. Herget is coming off one of his better starts of the season against New Orleans. After he had struggled through his previous starts, Herget pitched 6.0 innings, allowing four hits and one run, while striking out seven batters. In his previous two starts, Herget had combined to allow 12 earned runs on 16 hits in just 11.2 innings. Herget has appeared against the Iowa Cubs twice this season, both appearances coming in relief before he moved to the starting rotation. In those two appearances, he pitched 3.0 innings, six hits, one earned run, and two walks, while striking out two batters.

The I-Cubs will send right-hander Alec Mills to the mound to battle Herget. Mills comes into tonight's game with a record of 3-7 with a 4.42 ERA in 14 starts this season. In 75.2 innings of work this season, Mills has struck out 67 batters. In his lone start against the 'Birds this season, Mills took the loss. In that game, he tossed 7.0 innings, allowing three earned runs.

HISTORY WITH IOWA: Memphis and Iowa have played every year dating back to 1998 when Memphis joined the PCL. In the all-time series, the Redbirds own the winning record at 159-134. On the road, the Redbirds trail with a 64-83 at Principal Park. In seven games against the I-Cubs this season, the 'Birds own the series with six wins to one. They took the first series of the season in Memphis 3-1, and then swept Iowa the next week in Des Moines 3-0. So far this season, Memphis is outplaying Iowa at the plate and in the field. The 'Birds are hitting .290 compared to their .262, and are posting a 3.41 ERA compared to their 4.86 mark.

BIRD BITES

AROZARENA: Tues. night, hit pinch-hit two-run home run in the ninth to extend lead to 11-4; second homer of year

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

DEJONG: Will be making first appearance with Memphis this year; on rehab assignment from St. Louis

GARCIA: In Sunday's 11-5 win over New Orleans, went 3-for-4 at the plate with a home run, driving in four runners

KELLY: Last night, hit a game-tying two-run home run in the seventh inning to kick off a seven-run inning

MEJIA: Has as many RBI in June (8) as he did in April and May combined; has eight RBI and 11 hits this month

MERCADO: Is hitting a career-high .291 (82-for-282) this season; is tied for third in PCL with 18 stolen bases this season

O'NEILL: Has hit home runs in three-straight games for the 4th time this season; 21 HR between STL and Memphis

RAVELO: Is hitting .451 (37-for-82) with 17 runs scored, 2 doubles, two triples, 8 home runs, and 25 RBI in last 23 games

SCHROCK: Friday night, went 2-for-5 with a double at the plate, notching his third multi-hit game this month

SOSA: Will be making Triple-A debut with the Redbirds; hit .276 with seven homers in 67 games with Springfield

TOVAR: Stole three bases in Sunday's win, doubling his total; first time since July 3, 2009 he stole 3 bases in a game

VOIT: Recently hit home runs in consecutive games for 1st time this season and the first time since June 10-11, 2017

WISDOM: Recently hit HRs in back-to-back games for the first time this year; is hitting .317 (60-for-189) since May 1

BY THE NUMBERS

30 home runs for the Redbirds this month, including nine in the last three games. The most home runs they hit in a month in 2017's record-setting campaign was 34

THE SEASON

ABOUT THE LAST ONE: The Memphis Redbirds came back to beat the Colorado Springs Sky Sox 7-5 last night.

Memphis starter Dakota Hudson continued his season dominance, allowing two runs over six innings of work en route to his 11th win of the year.

The 'Birds trailed 2-0 entering the seventh inning before exploding for seven runs in the frame. Carson Kelly kicked off the scoring with a two-run bomb to tie up the game.

Tyler O'Neill hit another home run to put the 'Birds up 7-2 and provide the winning runs as Colorado Springs went on to score three more runs. It was the third-straight game he had homered in, marking the fourth time this season he has homered in at least three-straight.

Conner Greene, Andrew Morales, and Tommy Layne combined to throw the final three frames, allowing three runs, to seal the win.

POWER SURGE: In the last three games, Memphis has hit nine home runs, seven of them coming off the bats of Patrick Wisdom, Tyler O'Neill, and Luke Voit, and the other two coming off the bats of Randy Arozarena and Carson Kelly. In last night's win, Kelly tied the game at two in the seventh with a two-run bomb, his fourth of the season. Later in the seven-run seventh, O'Neill launched his 18th bomb of the year to make it 7-2. In the fifth inning of Tuesday's win, Luke Voit crushed his second homer of the year to extend the Memphis lead to 3-1. Entering the seventh inning, the 'Birds trailed 4-3 before rallying for eight unanswered runs. With two outs, Voit doubled and then scored one batter later on Tyler O'Neill's ground-rule double. Patrick Wisdom then launched his 11th bomb of the season to cap off the three-run inning. In the ninth, the 'Birds broke the game wide open with five runs. In the frame, O'Neill smacked his 16th homer of the year, a three-run bomb, before Randy Arozarena came off the bench to hit a pinch-hit, two-run home run to round off the scoring. Wednesday, Wisdom, O'Neill, and Voit all hit solo home runs in the first three innings to contribute to the early 7-0 Memphis lead. The 'Birds have now hit 30 home runs through 25 games this month. They hit just 24 in 30 games in May, and 23 in 25 games in April.

DOMINANT DAKOTA: Last night's starter Dakota Hudson was dominant once again, earning his 11th win of the season. After Hudson allowed a season-high four earned runs on May 31, taking his second loss of the season, he has been lights-out. Last night, the righty twirled 6.0 two-run innings, allowing six hits and two walks, while striking out six batters. Hudson has now pitched at least 6.0 innings in nine of his 14 starts this season. He also has thrown three games where he has allowed no earned runs over 8.0 innings. Hudson now leads all PCL pitchers with 11 wins on the season, and also owns the most wins in all of Triple-A baseball. Hudson now owns a 2.10 ERA, the second-best in the PCL. Hudson has also pitched 94.1 innings this season, the top mark in the PCL, and the second-best in all of Triple-A. Since May 1, Hudson has been particularly dominant. Among qualified pitchers, Hudson's 1.35 ERA in 10 starts since the beginning of May is the best mark in the PCL. In that time frame, he is 8-2 in 66.2 innings pitched, having allowed just 10 earned runs, while striking out 51 batters. He is also holding opponents to a .221 batting average in that span. His 1.35 ERA since May 1 is also the best mark in all of Triple-A baseball. Barely halfway through the 2018 season, Hudson is now tied for sixth for most wins in a season by a Memphis pitcher. The record is 14 wins, set in 2014 by Tim Cooney.

OH HEY, BUDDY: In last night's win, outfielder and Cardinals' No. 4 prospect Tyler O'Neill launched his 18th home run of the season in the seventh inning. The two-run shot put the 'Birds up 7-2, and ultimately provided the winning runs, as Colorado Springs scored three more runs to make the final score 7-5. It was the third-straight night O'Neill had homered after going six-straight games without hitting a home run. It is the fourth time O'Neill has homered in at least three-straight games between Memphis and St. Louis this season. O'Neill now has 30 home runs in 84 career games with the Redbirds. The 30 home runs puts him just outside the top-10 all-time in the Memphis record books. The cutoff is 38 home runs. O'Neill also has 21 home runs between Memphis and St. Louis.

RAVELO STILL ON FIRE: After homering in three-straight games for the first time in his career and hitting his first-career grand slam earlier this month, Rangel Ravelo has continued his dominance at the plate. Last night, Ravelo went 3-for-3 at the dish, notching a double and two RBI to extend his season-long hitting streak to eight-games. Three nights ago, he went 2-for-3 at the plate, driving in one run. This came the day after he went 4-for-4 at the plate, scoring two runs and driving in four runs, while also taking a walk. In the third inning Sunday, he started the scoring by launching his ninth home run of the season over the leftfield wall. On Saturday night, Ravelo also drove in both Memphis runs with a solo home run and an RBI single. Ravelo also had a triple in the game. After his performances over the weekend, Ravelo finished 9-for-11 with two home runs, a triple, and six RBI in the three games he played against New Orleans. After last night's performance, he is now 16 for his last 23. Ravelo now has hits in 20 of his last 24 games, including multiple hits in 13 of those contests. Since going hitless in back-to-back games on May 21 and 22, Ravelo is hitting .451 (37-for-82) with three doubles, two triples, eight home runs, 16 runs scored, 25 RBI, and 10 walks, while striking out just six times. Ravelo now has nine long balls this season, the second-highest mark of his career after hitting a career-high 11 in 2014. His season batting average of .321 puts him just outside the top-10 in the PCL.

SOLID NIGHT FOR CARSON: In last night's win, catcher Carson Kelly kicked off the Memphis scoring. Trailing 2-0 in the top of the seventh inning, Patrick Wisdom singled to lead off before Kelly launched his fourth homer of the year to tie the game at two. The Redbirds went on to score five more runs in the frame en route to their 7-5 win. Kelly now has hits in consecutive games after going six-straight without a hit over the last week and a half. Kelly went 2-for-3 with a run, 2 RBI, and a walk.

'BIRDS LIKE THE AMERICAN NORTH: After splitting their most recent series with Colorado Springs 2-2 this week, Memphis is now 27-12 against the American Northern Division this season. The Redbirds are 6-1 against the Iowa Cubs, 9-4 against Colorado Springs, 7-5 against Oklahoma City, and 5-2 against Omaha. Memphis is just 13-14 against its own division, 3-4 against the Pacific Northern Division, and 5-2 against the Pacific Southern Division.

BULLPEN STRUGGLES: In yesterday's win, Wednesday's loss and Monday's loss, the Memphis bullpen has struggled mightily. In Monday's loss, the bullpen pitched three innings, allowing four earned runs on four hits, while walking three, and striking out two. They also allowed a home run in the game. In Wednesday's walk-off loss, the bullpen pitched 2.2 innings, allowing seven hits, five runs, four earned runs, and two walks, while also allowing two home runs. In yesterday's win, the bullpen took over after the sixth inning to pitch the final three frames. They combined to allow three runs, two earned on three hits and one walk, while striking out five batters.

QUALITY STARTS GALORE: After Dakota Hudson's performance last night, 'Birds starters have thrown 40 quality starts in 80 games this season. They threw 55 total in 2017. Earlier this season, the Redbirds staff had a streak of 11-straight quality starts. Of the 12 pitchers that have made a start for Memphis this season, nine of them have thrown at least one quality start. Sam Tuivailala, Sean Gilmartin, and Jake Woodford have combined for eight starts, and have not thrown a quality start. Dakota Hudson has 10 in 15 starts, John Gant has seven, Austin Gomber has five, Jack Flaherty, Kevin Herget has five, Daniel Poncedeleon has four, Ryan Helsley has three, and Alex Reyes and Chris Ellis have one apiece. The 40 quality starts are the most in the PCL this season.

TRIO OF ALL-STARS: Yesterday, Memphis pitchers Dakota Hudson and Daniel Poncedeleon, and Memphis infielder Patrick Wisdom were named to the PCL All-Star team. Hudson is 11-2 with a 2.10 ERA, Poncedeleon is 6-3 with a 2.75 ERA, and Wisdom is hitting .299 with 12 home runs this season.

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 29, 2018


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