PCL1 Memphis Redbirds

Game Notes: Memphis Redbirds (51-63) at Sacramento River Cats (61-53)

Published on August 7, 2019 under Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Memphis Redbirds News Release


Memphis Redbirds (51-63) vs Sacramento River Cats (61-53)

Wednesday, August 7 - 9:05 p.m. (CT) - Raley Field (14,414) - Sacramento, California

Game #115 - Road Game #56 (28-27)

LHP Austin Warner (1-1, 7.24) vs RHP Dereck Rodriguez (2-0, 3.97)

BY THE NUMBERS

4 Number of hits allowed by the Redbird pitching staff over the final two games of the series against El Paso. The Redbirds followed up their one-hit effort on Sunday by holding the Chihuahuas to three hits on Monday. The Chihuahuas were held to a .160 (19x119) average in the series.

33 Consecutive starts that Randy Arozarena has reached base safely. During that span, he has 14 games with at least two hits.

THE GAME

TONIGHT'S GAME: The Memphis Redbirds begin a seven-game west coast road trip with a three-game set against the Sacramento River Cats. The Redbirds claimed their fifth-straight series win in Monday's 10-4 victory over the Chihuahuas. The 'Birds matched a season-high by launching five home runs, including one from the rehabbing Yadier Molina. Randy Arozarena went 1-for-5 with a run scored and has now reached base safely in his last 33 starts. Edmundo Sosa extended his hitting streak to a season-high 12 games with his home run in the third. 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 seventh start for Memphis and his 21st overall start this season across all levels. In six starts with the Redbirds, Warner has gone 1-1, 7.24 (26 ER/32.1 IP) to go along with 28 strikeouts and 18 walks. In his last time out on Thursday vs. Albuquerque, he took no-decision (5.1 IP, 7 H, 5 R/ER, 2 BB, 4 SO, 1 HR, 2 HBP) in the Redbirds' 13-8 victory over the Isotopes. Warner has allowed at least six hits in each of his starts and has allowed exactly eight in three of those games. He has allowed at least four earned runs in three-straight and in five of his six outings with Memphis. In 32.1 innings of work at the Triple-A level, he has allowed 12 home runs compared to allowing just 10 long balls in 82.1 innings at the Double-A level. Warner made one start against the River Cats last season on August 3, where he earned his first-career Triple-A win (7.0 IP, 8 H, 1 R/ER, 2 BB, 5 SO) in the Redbirds' 7-3 victory at AutoZone Park. 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 River Cats are scheduled to start right-hander Dereck Rodriguez in tonight's series opener. The 27-year-old has gone 2-0, 3.97 (10 ER/22.2 IP) in five starts for Sacramento this season and has yielded an opponent's average of .249 (70x281). In his last time out on Thursday at Philadelphia, Rodriguez suffered the loss (3.0 IP, 8 H, 7 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 0 SO, 1 HR) in the Giants' 10-2 defeat to the Phillies. With the Giants, he has allowed at least four earned runs in four of his 10 starts this season. Overall in 19 total appearances at the big-league level, Rodriguez has gone 4-6, 5.32 (38 ER/64.1 IP) with 42 strikeouts and 25 walks. He made his last start with Sacramento on July 25 at Fresno, where he took no-decision (6.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R/ER, 3 BB, 7 SO) in the River Cats' 3-1 defeat to the Grizzlies. He has allowed three earned runs or fewer in four of his five Triple-A starts, including allowing two-or-fewer earned runs in three. Tonight will be Enns' first start against in his career. The Arlington, Texas, native is in his fifth professional season and his second within the San Francisco organization. He spent the first three years of his professional career within various levels of the Minnesota organization. Son of Hall of Fame catcher Ivan Rodriguez, Dereck made his Major League debut on May 29, 2018 vs. Colorado.

HISTORY WITH SACRAMENTO: The Redbirds have faced off against the Sacramento River Cats every year since 2000. Memphis trails in the overall series 35-44 and trails at this facility 16-20. Memphis last came to Sacramento in 2017, where the two teams split a four-game set. The teams met last season at AutoZone Park, where the Redbirds took two-of-three games for a series win.

The two teams have squared off in the postseason once, with the Redbirds coming away victorious in in the 2009 Pacific Coast League Championship. The Redbirds captured their first PCL title since 2000 by winning the series 3-0, winning the finale on the road 6-0. The teams have combined to win eight PCL championships since realignment in 1998, making them two of the most successful franchises of the modern PCL era.

This is 22nd-straight year that the Redbirds have faced off against the San Francisco Giants' Triple-A affiliate. Sacramento has been the Giants' top affiliate since 2015 and Memphis has a 10-5 record during that span. From 1998-2014, the Fresno Grizzlies were was the organization's top affiliate, where the Redbirds went 42-38. Overall, Memphis is 52-43 against the Giants' Triple-A club.

THE SEASON

ABOUT THE LAST ONE: Yadier Molina, playing his fourth game at AutoZone Park on an injury rehab assignment from the St. Louis Cardinals, hit a three-run home run and finished with four RBI as the Memphis Redbirds thumped the El Paso Chihuahuas in the series finale Monday night in Downtown Memphis, 10-4.

The Redbirds (51-63) have won six of their last seven games and 13 of their last 17 overall. Memphis has won five-straight series.

Molina clubbed a three-run home run in the sixth inning, and he also had an RBI single in the third. The Redbirds tied a season high with five home runs in the game, as Ramon Urias hit two and Edmundo Sosa and Rangel Ravelo each had one in addition to Molina.

Memphis pitching held El Paso (66-48), one of the best-hitting teams in the Pacific Coast League, to just four hits in the last two games.

The Chihuahuas led 3-0 after two-and-a-half innings, before the Redbirds exploded for six runs in the bottom of the sixth, all with two outs, thanks in part to three home runs in the inning. Sosa and Ravelo went back-to-back after Molina singled home the Redbirds' first run of the game, and Urias hit his first of the night two batters later.

Memphis put up four more runs in the bottom of the sixth, as Urias led off the inning with another home run before Molina clubbed his three-run shot a few batters later with two outs.

The Redbirds bullpen continued its strong end-of-game work, as Kodi Whitley, Junior Fernandez, and Dominic Leone closed out the win with 4.0 scoreless innings of work. Whitley struck out three in his 2.0 innings, Fernandez had a strikeout in the eighth, and Leone fanned two in the ninth.

Randy Arozarena was 1-for-5 and has now reached base in 33-straight starts. With his home run, Sosa is now on a 12-game hitting streak.

ROSTER MOVES: The following roster moves were made yesterday: Junior Fernandez had his contract purchased by St. Louis and Mike Mayers was outrighted to Memphis.

Fernandez will become the seventh Redbird this season to make his Major League debut when he makes his first appearance. In 15 relief appearances with the Redbirds this season, he went 1-0, 1.31 (3 ER/20.2 IP) and whiffed 23 batters. He made his Triple-A debut on June 25 vs. Nashville and fanned five batters in 3.1 innings of work. The 22-year-old is currently ranked as the No. 10 prospect in the Cardinals system by MLB.com.

Mayers begins his second stint with the Redbirds this season after being outrighted. During his Major League rehab assignment with the 'Birds, Mayers went 0-1, 4.50 (5 ER/10.0 IP) in 10 games, one start. After completing his rehab, he made four relief appearances for the Cardinals and allowed six earned runs in 5.1 innings (10.13 ERA) and issued five walks compared to two strikeouts. He was designated for assignment by the Cardinals on Sunday.

'BIRDS SILENCE BATS: Memphis Redbird pitchers held the El Paso Chihuahuas, one of the most potent offenses in the Pacific Coast League, to just one hit in Sunday's 2-0 shut-out win. Daniel Ponce de Leon began the game with four hitless frames and fanned eight. Seth Elledge followed and allowed a single to the second batter he faced to end the no-hit bid, but he, Chasen Shreve and Junior Fernandez retired 13 of the next 14 batters to end the game. It was the 12th one-hitter in franchise history and first since Ponce de Leon's solo effort on July 15 at Omaha.

HANG TEN TWELVE: With his home run in the third inning of Monday night's game, Edmundo Sosa extended his hitting streak to a season-high 12 games. His single in Saturday's contest marked the first since Aug. 23 - Sept. 3, 2017 that Sosa has posted a 10-game hitting streak and he is now two 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 33 starts and has 14 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.

Check out the Memphis Redbirds Statistics

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Pacific Coast League Stories from August 7, 2019


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