Sports stats

PCL1 Memphis Redbirds

Game Notes: Memphis Redbirds (49-63) vs El Paso Chihuahuas (66-46)

August 4, 2019 - Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Memphis Redbirds News Release


Memphis Redbirds (49-63) vs El Paso Chihuahuas (66-46)

Sunday, August 4 - 2:05 p.m. (CT) - AutoZone Park (10,000) - Memphis, Tennessee

Game #113 - Home Game #58 (21-36)

RHP Daniel Ponce de Leon (4-4, 3.90) vs LHP Dillon Overton (6-4, 6.37)

BY THE NUMBERS

.446 Randy Arozarena's on-base percentage. This figure would rank 3rd in the Pacific Coast League if he qualified. The two-time reigning Cardinals Minor League Player of the Month has reached base safely in 31-straight starts and has recorded a hit in 26 of those games.

8 Consecutive save chances converted by Redbird relievers after Kodi Whitley earned his first-career save at the Triple-A level last night.

THE GAME

TODAY'S GAME: The Memphis Redbirds continue their seven-game homestand in the third of four games against the El Paso Chihuahuas today. The Redbirds evened up the series with a 5-3 come-back victory over the Chihuahuas in last night's game. John Nogowski broke a 3-3 deadlock in the eighth with a two-run blast for his 11th home run of the year, now just one shy of matching his career-high mark of 12. Yadier Molina opened the scoring for the Redbirds with an RBI-sacrifice bunt in the fourth, bringing home Nogowski. Edmundo Sosa extending his hitting streak to a season-high 10 games with his single in the sixth. Today's game will be broadcast live on www.memphisredbirds.com with Steve Selby on the call.

ON THE HILL: Right-hander Daniel Ponce de Leon is scheduled to take the mound in today's game and make his 12th start with the Redbirds and his 22nd appearance overall this season. Ponce de Leon's last outing came on July 27 vs. Houston, where he suffered the loss (2.1 IP, 3 H, 5 R/ER, 4 BB, 0 SO) in the Cardinals' 8-2 defeat to the Astros. It was his shortest start at the Major League level this season and his second-straight with four walks issued. During his third MLB stint of the season, Ponce de Leon went 1-1, 5.26 (15 ER/25.2 IP) during third MLB stint this season from June 24 - August 1. He fanned 28 batters and issued 13 walks in seven games, four starts and yielded an opponent's average of .245 (23x94). On July 4 at Seattle, he earned his first career MLB win, tossing 2.2 scoreless frames in relief while allowing no hits and whiffing three batters. Today will be his first start for the Redbirds since June 6 at Tacoma. In that start, he took no-decision (3.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R/ER, 3 BB, 2 SO) in the Redbirds' 6-0 victory over the Rainiers. That outing dropped his ERA with the Redbirds to 3.90, which would rank 3rd in the Pacific Coast League if he qualified. He is yielding an opponent's average of .237 (49x207) at the Triple-A level, which would rank 4th if he qualified. Despite the no-decision, Ponce de Leon has still won 10 of his last 16 decisions at the Triple-A level, dating back to May 30, 2018. Ponce de Leon made one start against El Paso last season on June 16 at Southwest University Park, suffering the loss (3.1 IP, 7 H, 8 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 6 SO, 1 HR, 1 HBP) in the Redbirds' 13-1 defeat to the Chihuahuas. The Anaheim, Calif., was ranked as the No. 15 prospect in the Cardinals system by MLB.com prior to making his second and third stints at the big-league level.

The Chihuahuas are scheduled to start left-hander Dillon Overton in today's game. The 27-year-old has gone 6-4, 6.37 (59 ER/83.1 IP) in 19 games, 16 starts with El Paso this season. In his last time out on Tuesday at Nashville, Overton took no-decision (6.0 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 SO, 1 HR, 1 HBP) in the Chihuahuas' 6-4 victory over the Sounds. It was his longest outing of the season since tossing 7.0 innings on June 1. He has also allowed three earned runs or fewer in four-straight starts. This outing was also his first quality start since June 1 as well. Overton has earned a win in three of his last five starts, taking no-decision in two. Today will be Overton's first start against Memphis since Aug. 27, 2016, while he was a member of the Nashville Sounds. He earned the win in that contest (6.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R/ER, 1 BB, 4 SO, 1 HR) in the Sounds' 2-1 victory over the Redbirds at AutoZone Park. The Clinton, Okla., native is in his sixth professional season and his third within the San Diego organization. He has also spent time within the Oakland, and Seattle organizations. The University of Oklahoma product last appeared at the big-league level in 2017, going 0-1, 6.65 (17 ER/23.0 IP) in 10 games, two starts with the Mariners and Padres.

HISTORY WITH EL PASO: The Redbirds have faced off against the El Paso Chihuahuas every year since 2014. The two clubs are tied in the overall series 11-11 and tied at this facility 5-5. The Chihuahuas last visited downtown Memphis in 2017, where the Redbirds took three-of-four to claim a series win. The teams met last season at Southwest University Park, where they split a four-game set 2-2.

The two teams have squared off in the postseason once, with the Redbirds coming away victorious in in the 2017 Pacific Coast League Championship. The Redbirds captured their first PCL title since 2009 by winning the series 3-2, winning the finale on the road 3-1. Current Redbird Adolis Garcia went 5-for-20 with three runs scored, a double, a home run and two runs driven in during the series.

This is 22nd-straight year that the Redbirds have faced off against the San Diego Padres' Triple-A affiliate. El Paso has been the Padres' top affiliate since 2014 and Memphis has a 10-10 record during that span. From 1998-2000, the Las Vegas Stars were was the organization's top affiliate, where the Redbirds went 12-8. From 2001-10, the 'Birds went 27-10 against the Portland Beavers and from 2011-13 they went 7-5 against the Tucson Padres. Overall, Memphis is 57-34 against the Padres' Triple-A club.

THE SEASON

ABOUT THE LAST ONE: John Nogowski crushed a two-run home run in the bottom of the eighth inning to break a 3-3 tie and power the Memphis Redbirds to a 5-3 win over the El Paso Chihuahuas (Padres) Saturday night in front of 10,004 fans at AutoZone Park.

Nogowski finished with three RBI for the Redbirds (49-63) and scored two runs. Justin Williams also had two hits. Harrison Bader was on base three times with a single, a walk, and a hit by pitch. He also stole a base.

Edmundo Sosa extended his hitting streak to 10 games with a 1-for-4 showing.

Nine-time Major League Baseball All-Star Yadier Molina continued his injury rehab assignment from the St. Louis Cardinals, and he drove in a run with a safety squeeze bunt in the bottom of the fourth. Molina caught five innings before leaving the game.

Molina is scheduled to continue his injury rehab work at AutoZone Park tomorrow afternoon.

Genesis Cabrera tossed 7.0 strong innings in a start for the Redbirds, allowing three runs on four hits with nine strikeouts. He walked just one. Jesus Cruz and Kodi Whitley followed out of the bullpen and got the win and the save, respectively, with scoreless innings of work.

Memphis trailed 2-0 before scoring its first run on Molina's bunt in the fourth inning and two more in the bottom of the sixth to open a 3-2 lead into the seventh. El Paso's (66-46) Ty France hit his second home run of the game in the top of the seventh to knot the game at 3.

That set up Nogowski's late-inning heroics, as the Redbirds sent the huge crowd home happy with their fourth win in the last five games and 11th in their last 15 games overall.

ROSTER MOVES: The following roster moves were made prior to today's game: Matt Carpenter's Major League rehab assingment ended, Ryan Helsley was recalled by St. Louis and Rangel Ravelo was optioned to Memphis.

Over four games with the Redbirds, Carpenter went 2-for-11 with two runs scored, a double and three RBI.

Helsley heads to the big leagues for his fifth stint with the Cardinals this season. In his last appearance for the Redbirds on Wednesday vs. Albuquerque, he twirled three perfect frames in the start, fanning four batters. He has gone 0-0, 2.92 (4 ER/12.1 IP) to begin his MLB career.

Ravelo returns to the Bluff City and is line to make his first appearance for the Redbirds since July 18. During his thrid MLB stint of the season from July 21 - August 3, Ravelo went 2-for-11 with a double over eight games.

HANG TEN: With his single in the sixth inning of last night's game, Edmundo Sosa extended his hitting streak to a season-high 10 games. It is the first time since Aug. 23 - Sept. 3, 2017 that Sosa has posted a 10-game hitting streak and he is now four games shy of matching his career-high mark of 14, which he set from April 10-26, 2016 while playing at Single-A Peoria. He is also the fifth different Redbird this season to have a hitting streak of at least 10 games.

RANDY REPEATS: After slashing .374/.456/.607/1.063 in 28 games between Double-A Springfield and Triple-A Memphis in June en route to being named Cardinals Minor League Player of the Month, Randy Arozarena won the award for the second-straight month after posting a slash of .378/.455/.592/1.047 in 26 games in July. Arozarena became the third Redbird in franchise history to hit for the cycle on July 26 at Oklahoma City and accomplished that feat in his first four at-bats and had 12 total multi-hit games in July. He has also reached base safely in his last 31 starts and has 13 multi-hit games during that span.

BIG BIRDS ON THE MEND: A pair of rehabbing St. Louis Cardinals had big games on Thursday to help give the Redbirds their first three-game series sweep of the season. Matt Carpenter went 2-for-3 with a run, double and three RBI and Marcel Ozuna went 3-for-4 with two runs scored, a double, home run and five RBI. Ozuna also reached safely five times in the contest by drawing a walk and being hit by a pitch. Carpenter's two-run single in the sixth cut the Isotopes' lead to 6-5 and Ozuna followed up with a three-run blast to give the 'Birds the lead for good. Carpenters' double in the third also snapped an 0-for-22 stretch to open his rehab assignment.

PULLING AN ALL-NIGHTER: Thursday night's game against the Albuquerque Isotopes lasted four hours and seven minutes, making it the longest game of the season for the Redbirds. It also became the second-longest nine-inning game in franchise history, falling just two minutes short of matching the record of 4:09, set on June 15, 2013 against the Isotopes at Isotopes Park. It was also the first four-hour game the Redbirds have played in since June 11, 2017 vs. Nashville in a 12-inning affair.

YADI RETURNS: With Yadier Molina's start in Friday night's game, he took the field for the first time with a Redbirds jersey for the first time since June 1, 2004, which was here at AutoZone Park against the Colorado Springs Sky Sox. Molina went 1-for-4 in that game. He would make his Major League debut two days later vs. Pittsburgh, going 2-for-4 with a run and a double. From there, the rest is history. Yadi's storied career has seen him turn into one of baseball's all-time greats as he has won two World Series titles, nine Gold Gloves, four Platinum Gloves and a Silver Slugger. He has also been named to nine MLB All-Star teams. He has appeared in 1,941 games in a Cardinal uniform and has posted a career slash of .282/.333/.404/.737, collecting 1,918 hits.

A HAT-TRICK FOR THOMAS: On June 27 at Oklahoma City, 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: On June 26 at Oklahoma City, 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.

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 five that he had homered twice. Garcia ranks T-2nd in the Pacific Coast League with 12 dingers with two outs and T-10th 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 July 26 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 on July 25 moved him to 10th place at 155. He also ranks T-5th in triples (11), 7th in strikeouts (264), 8th in hit by pitches (16) and 8th in extra-base hits (112).

Check out the Memphis Redbirds Statistics



Pacific Coast League Stories from August 4, 2019


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

Other Recent Memphis Redbirds Stories



Sports Statistics from the Stats Crew
OurSports Central