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PCL1 Memphis Redbirds

Game Notes: Memphis Redbirds (51-65) at Sacramento River Cats (62-54)

August 9, 2019 - Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Memphis Redbirds News Release


Memphis Redbirds (51-65) at Sacramento River Cats (62-54)

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

Game #117 - Road Game #58 (28-29)

RHP Daniel Ponce de Leon (4-4, 3.64) vs RHP Yoanys Quiala (6-7, 6.43)

BY THE NUMBERS

.111 The Redbirds average with runners in scoring position during this series with the River Cats. Batters have gone 1-for-9 in such situations and 10 baserunners have been stranded.

.220 The Redbirds pitching staff has held opponents to a .220 average through seven games in August (48x218), which is lowest figure among Pacific Coast League teams. Among all Triple-A clubs, that number ranks 2nd.

THE GAME

TONIGHT'S GAME: The Memphis Redbirds continue their seven-game west coast road trip in the third and final game of this series against the Sacramento River Cats. The Redbirds look to avoid the sweep after falling in last night's contest 5-2. Harrison Bader homered for the first time with the Redbirds this season with a solo shot in the sixth and would also drive in Jose Martinez with a single in the eighth. It was his first multi-RBI effort since joining the Redbirds on July 30. Randy Arozarena went 1-for-4 and has now reached base safely in his last 35 starts. Edmundo Sosa's season-high hitting streak of 13 games came to an end after going 0-for-4 with two strikeouts. He came just one game shy from matching his career high. Tonight'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 13th start with the Redbirds and his 23rd appearance overall this season. Ponce de Leon's last outing came on Sunday vs. El Paso, where he took no-decision (4.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R/ER, 3 BB, 8 SO) in the Redbirds' 2-0 defeat to the Chihuahuas. It was his first start for the Redbirds since June 6 at Tacoma and he has now allowed just one hit and no runs in his last 7.0 innings pitched at the Triple-A level. His eight strikeouts matched a season-high with the Redbirds, which he set on April 17 vs. San Antonio. Ponce de Leon has now been a part of the last two games where the Redbirds have one-hit their opponent. He helped the Redbirds complete that feat last season on July 15 at Omaha in a solo effort. Prior to that start, Ponce de Leon completed his third Major League stint of the season. During that span, 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. Tonight will be his first start against Sacramento in his career. Over his last two starts with Memphis, he has lowered his ERA to 3.64, which would rank 2nd in the Pacific Coast League if he qualified. He is also yielding an opponent's average of .224 (49x219) at the Triple-A level, which would rank 2nd in the PCL 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. The Anaheim, Calif., native 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 River Cats are scheduled to start right-hander Yoanys Quiala in tonight's series finale. The 25-year-old has gone 6-7, 6.43 (66 ER/92.1 IP) in 18 starts for Sacramento this season and has yielded an opponent's average of .300 (121x404). The River Cats have gone 9-9 in games that he has pitched. In his last time out on Sunday at Round Rock, Quiala suffered his second-straight defeat (5.0 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 4 BB, 8 SO, 1 HR) in the River Cats' 7-3 defeat to the Express. Quiala has lost three of his last five starts but has allwed four in runs or fewer in three games during that span. He has fanned at least seven batters in two of his last four but has allowed at least six hits in four of his last five. Quiala has issued two walks or more in five straight starts as well. He has allowed a home run in 13 of his 18 starts for the River Cats. He began the season at Double-A Richmond, where he made two starts and went 0-0, 1.13 (1 ER/8.0 IP). Tonight will be his first start against Memphis in his career. Quiala made just 13 appearances and nine starts four Double-A Corpus Christi in 2018, as he served an 80-game suspension for violating the Minor League Drug Prevention and Treatment Program. While with the Hooks, he made two starts against the Springfield Cardinals, where he faced current Redbirds Jose Godoy and Edmundo Sosa. The pair went a combined 0-for-5 with a walk. The Mayari, Cuba, native is in his fifth professional season and his first within the San Francisco organization. He spent the first four years of his career within various levels of the Houston organization.

HISTORY WITH SACRAMENTO: The Redbirds have faced off against the Sacramento River Cats every year since 2000. Memphis trails in the overall series 35-46 and trails at this facility 16-22. 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 52-45 against the Giants' Triple-A club.

THE SEASON

ABOUT THE LAST ONE: Harrison Bader homered and drove in another run in the eighth inning, but the Memphis Redbirds could not muster any more offense in a 5-2 defeat at the Sacramento River Cats (Giants) Thursday night in Sacramento, Calif.

Bader went deep in the sixth inning and had an RBI single that scored Jose Martinez in the eighth to account for Memphis' (51-65) scoring in the game. The Redbirds grounded into four double plays in the game, including one to end the contest.

Randy Arozarena singled in the eighth to extend his streak of 35-straight starts reaching base. Edmundo Sosa went 0-for-4, ending his hitting streak at 13 games.

Genesis Cabrera went 6.1 innings in a start for the Redbirds, allowing all five of Sacramento's (63-53) runs to score. He struck out seven and walked two. Seth Elledge finished the game for Memphis with 1.2 scoreless innings.

Sacramento led 4-0 after four innings before the Redbirds scored in the sixth.

The loss snapped Memphis' streak of five-straight series victories.

ROSTER MOVES: The following roster move was made prior to last night's game: Yadier Molina's injury rehab was transferred to Springfield. Molina went 2-for-8 with two runs scored, one home run and five RBI during his first appearances with the Redbirds since 2004.

The following roster moves were made Tuesday: 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, 2018 at Omaha.

SOSA'S STREAK SNAPPED: After going 0-for-4 in last night's game, Edmundo Sosa's season-high 13 game hitting streak was snapped. His single in Saturday's contest marked the first time since Aug. 23 - Sept. 3, 2017 that Sosa has posted a 10-game hitting streak and he came just one game 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. During his hitting streak, Sosa had raised his batting average from .257 to .275, his highest mark since June 26.

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 35 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 August 1 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: On August 1, the Redbirds' 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 on August 2, 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.

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