PCL1 Memphis Redbirds

Game Notes: Memphis Redbirds (62-37) vs Colorado Springs Sky Sox (54-43)

Published on July 21, 2018 under Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Memphis Redbirds News Release


Memphis Redbirds (62-37) vs Colorado Springs Sky Sox (54-43)

Saturday, July 21 - 6:35 p.m. (CT) - AutoZone Park (10,000) - Memphis, Tennessee

Game #100 - Home Game #51 (30-20)

RHP Jake Woodford (0-2, 4.70 ERA) vs. LHP Nick Ramirez (2-1, 3.20 ERA)

THE GAME

TODAY'S GAME: The Memphis Redbirds and Colorado Springs Sky Sox will play the second game of a three-game set tonight at 6:35 p.m. It is the final series the two teams will play against each other this season. Memphis has won nine of 14 games against the Sky Sox this season. The Redbirds are coming off a 3-1 series win over the Iowa Cubs, while Colorado Springs is coming off a 2-2 series split with the Round Rock Express. Earlier today, pitchers Luke Weaver and John Brebbia were recalled by St. Louis, while pitcher Matt Bowman was optioned to Memphis. Pitcher Landon Beck was also transferred to Memphis from Springfield. Today's games will be broadcast on www.memphisredbirds.com with Steve Selby on the call.

ON THE HILL: Right-hander Jake Woodford will take the mound for the Redbirds in tonight's contest. Woodford, transferred to Memphis yesterday, will be making his fourth start with the Redbirds this season, and his second against the Sky Sox. With Memphis this season, the righty is 0-2 with a 4.70 ERA in 15.1 innings of work. Woodford's first start with Memphis, also his Triple-A debut, was against the Sky Sox. He took the loss, allowing four runs on six hits and one walk, while striking out five batters. Between Memphis and Springfield this season, he is a combined 3-10 with a 5.14 ERA in 96.1 innings of work, spanning 19 starts.

The Sky Sox will send left-hander Nick Ramirez to the mound to battle Woodford and the Redbirds. Coming into tonight's game, Ramirez is 2-1 with a 3.20 ERA in 10 appearances with Colorado Springs, only one of which has been a start. His lone start came in his last appearance against Round Rock. He pitched 4.0 innings, allowing just one hit and one walk, while striking out two.

HISTORY WITH COLORADO SPRINGS: Memphis and Colorado Springs have played every year since 1998 when Memphis joined the PCL. In the all-time series, Memphis leads 102-86, while both teams lead the series at their home ballparks. The Redbirds lead in Memphis with a 58-34 record, while Colorado Springs leads 44-52 at their park. In 13 games against each other this season, the Redbirds lead the series 9-4, guaranteeing them their first season series victory over the Sky Sox since 2015 when they went 11-5. So far this season, the 'Birds are outhitting the Sky Sox .285 to .248, and out-pitching them with a 3.60 ERA compared to their 5.70 mark.

BIRD BITES

BARON: Currently has a 7-game hitting streak, his longest of year and longest since 8-game streak July12-23, 2018

GARCIA: Drove in game-winning run in game one Thursday against Iowa; hitting .292 36-for-124 since June 1

KELLY: Is hitting .333 (22-for-66) over last 17 games; has hits in 13 of those games and multiple in eight of them

MEJIA: Mon. night, hit game-winning 2-run single; 15 RBI in last 27 games after having just eight in his first 46 games

MERCADO: Now has 26 steals this season, the most in the PCL this season, and fifth-most in a season in Redbirds history

O'NEILL: Thurs. night in game one, game Redbirds two insurance runs with his 20th homer of the season with Memphis

RAVELO: Recently won Cardinals Minor League Player of the Month honors after hitting .449 (31-for-69) in 20 June games

SCHROCK: Sunday, hit fourth home run of the season and his first since June 9 against Reno; it was a two-run shot

SOSA: Is hitting .274 (90-for-329) in 87 games between Double-A Springfield and Triple-A Memphis this season

TOVAR: Is hitting .333 (23-for-69) over last 20 games; recently snapped a season-long nine-game hitting streak

VOIT: Is hitting just .167 (3-for-18) in his last seven games, having hits in just one of them; hitting .285 this season

WISDOM: Tues. night, drove in game-winning run with a single in the sixth inning; 170 career RBI with Memphis (4th most)

BY THE NUMBERS

142 transactions through 99 games this season, 1.4 per game. The Redbirds did not reach 142 transactions until September 1 last season

THE SEASON

ABOUT THE LAST ONE: The Memphis Redbirds dropped last night's game to the Colorado Springs Sky Sox 1-0. It was the third time Memphis has lost a game 1-0 this season.

Memphis starter Chris Ellis was dominant in seven innings of work, making just one mistake on the night. The righty allowed one run, a solo home run, on seven hits without issuing a walk, and striking out eight batters, his season-high with Memphis.

The offense struggled, managing just six hits on the night. Rangel Ravelo, Tyler O'Neill, Adolis Garcia, Edmundo Sosa, Wilfredo Tovar, and Ellis all managed one hit.

Relievers Conner Greene and Tyler Webb combined to throw the two final innings, allowing just one hit.

Oscar Mercado, who came in to pinch run for Ravelo in the eighth, stole his league-leading 26th base of the season.

MORE TOUGH-LUCK FOR ELLIS: Last night, Memphis starter Chris Ellis took the loss, despite turning in one of his finest performances of the season. The righty was lights-out over seven innings of work, allowing just one earned run on seven hits. The run came on a solo home run in the sixth inning. In the outing, he did not allow a walk, while striking out eight batters, his season-high with Memphis. In his last two starts, Ellis has taken the loss both times, despite pitching extraordinarily well. The righty has combined to throw 14.0 innings in his last two games, allowing just two runs on 12 hits, while striking out 13 batters. He is now 6-2 in 23 games between Memphis and Springfield this season, posting a 3.73 ERA between both teams, and a 3.18 ERA with Memphis. Last night was the sixth start in which he had allowed one earned run or less. In his last three games combined, he is 1-2 with a 1.80 ERA in 20.0 innings of work, allowing just four earned runs, and striking out 16.

QUALITY STARTS GALORE: After Chris Ellis' performance last night, 'Birds starters have thrown 51 quality starts in 99 games this season. They threw 55 total in 2017. Earlier this season, the Redbirds staff had a streak of 11-straight quality starts, and are currently riding a streak of three-straight, and 10 in the last 14 games. Of the 13 pitchers that have made a start for Memphis this season, 10 of them have thrown at least one quality start. Sam Tuivailala, Sean Gilmartin, and Luke Weaver combined for eight starts, and did not throw a quality start. Dakota Hudson has 11 in 18 starts, Kevin Herget has nine, John Gant has seven, Daniel Poncedeleon has six, Austin Gomber has five, Jack Flaherty and Chris Ellis have four apiece, Ryan Helsley has three, and Alex Reyes and Jake Woodford have one apiece. The 51 quality starts are the most in the PCL.

GREAT PITCHING ALL AROUND: After last night's one-run performance, the Redbirds' pitching staff continued its season-long dominance on the mound. The entire pitching staff owns the best ERA in the league at 3.28, 0.59 points lower than the next closest team, Oklahoma City. The 'Birds staff has pitched the second-most innings this season at 868.2, while allowing the fewest hits at 794, and have racked up the second-most strikeouts at 853 through 99 games, 8.6 per game. The pitching staff has also allowed just 368 total runs this season, the fewest in the league. Memphis is the only team in the league that has allowed fewer than 400 runs this season. The Redbirds have allowed just 317 earned runs, also the fewest in the league. They have allowed 42 fewer earned runs than Oklahoma City, the next closest team. They have also walked the third-fewest batters in the league at 293. Additionally, two Memphis pitchers hold the top two spots in the league wins list, Dakota Hudson (13) and Poncedeleon (9). The 'Birds also have three players in the top-10 in ERA this season. Poncedeleon is second at 2.15, Hudson is third at 2.36, and Kevin Herget is eighth at 3.81. This season, Memphis starters are 49-21 with a 2.91 ERA and 50 quality starts.

Additionally, after Kevin Herget's 11-strikeout performance in game two of the doubleheader Thursday, Redbird starters have now struck out at least 10 batters nine different times this season, the most in all of Triple-A baseball. Fresno has had seven such performances this season. Louisville of the International League is the only other team with five such performances. Jack Flaherty has struck out double digits twice this season, as has Kevin Herget and Daniel Poncedeleon. Austin Gomber, Ryan Helsley, and Alex Reyes have the other three.

WHACKY LINES: Last night, the Redbirds were shutout for the second-consecutive game. It is the first time they have been shutout in back-to-back games this season, and the first time since April 24-25 last season when they were shutout in consecutive games by Oklahoma City. The 'Birds were shutout for the ninth time this season as well. They are now 8-9 in shutout games this season. The nine shutout losses are the most in the PCL, while the eight shutout wins are tied for second-most. Additionally, the 'Birds have now lost 1-0 three times this season. The last time they lost three games by a score of 1-0 was 2014 when they went 4-3 in 1-0 games. The last time they lost four games by a score of 1-0 was 2009 when they went 1-4. In the 21-year history of the Memphis Redbirds, they have played in a 1-0 ballgame in every year except 2012. In that span, they have never gone one season without winning a 1-0 game. The Redbirds are also 19-10 in one-run games this season. The 19 wins are the most in the league, narrowly ahead of the 18 wins for both Nashville and Colorado Springs in one-run games this season.

ADOLIS SURGING FORWARD: After seeing his batting average drop to a season-low .203 on May 31, Adolis Garcia has steadily been improving that mark. In last night's game, Garcia went 1-for-4 at the plate. This came one night after he went 2-for-3 in game one of the doubleheader against Iowa, driving in the game-winning run. Since the last day of May, Garcia has appeared in 37 games for the Redbirds, and is hitting a solid .291 (37-for-127) in that stretch. He has now raised his batting average to .240 on the season. Garcia has collected hits in 25 of his 37 games since June began, and has notched multiple hits in 10 of those games. In those 37 games, he has scored 18 runs, hit six doubles, a triple, and eight home runs, all while driving in 27 runners. After hitting home runs in consecutive days last week, he is now tied with Patrick Wisdom for second-most long balls on the season (12), behind only Tyler O'Neill (20). Between Springfield and Memphis last season, his first in America, he hit 15 home runs and drove in 65 runners in 124 games. Through 83 games this season, he already has 12 home runs and 43 RBI.

SPEED DEMONS: Last night, pinch-runner Oscar Mercado swiped third against the Sky Sox. Through 99 games this season, the 'Birds now have 87 steals, surpassing last year's mark of 84 steals. The franchise record for steals in a season is 110. Mercado leads the PCL with 26 steals this season. Mercado is now in sole possession of the fifth-most steals in a season in franchise history. He needs just seven more steals to move into the top-10 all-time in Memphis history. This is just his first season in Memphis. At this point in the season, the Redbirds have the second-most steals behind only the Colorado Springs Sky Sox, who have 126. The Redbirds have been caught just 27 times this year, giving them a 76.3 percent success rate on the base paths. Additionally, Memphis one of just 10 teams in the league to have multiple players steal at least 10 bases this season. At this point in the season, Mercado has 26, Randy Arozarena and Patrick Wisdom have 11, and Wilfredo Tovar has 10. Colorado Springs is the only other team in the league to have four separate players notch at least 10 steals.

1,500 WITHIN REACH: After going 1-1 in Thursday's doubleheader, Memphis now has 62 wins this season, the second-most through 98 games in franchise history. On July 14 last season, Memphis won the 1,400th game in franchise history. Since that time, they have won 95 regular season games, giving them 1,495 wins.

'BIRDS LIKE THE AMERICAN NORTH: In its last three series before the All-Star Break, Memphis split a series 2-2 with Colorado Springs, swept Iowa 5-0, and topped Omaha in a series 3-2. Since the All-Star Break, they have three out of four games against both Omaha and Iowa. Despite losing last night, Memphis is 41-17 against the American Northern Division this season. The Redbirds are 14-2 against the Iowa Cubs after the last series, 9-5 against Colorado Springs, 7-5 against Oklahoma City, and 11-5 against Omaha. They have secured season series wins against Iowa, Omaha, and Colorado Springs. They would have to win two of the last four games against Oklahoma City this season to secure the season series win. Memphis is just 13-14 against its own division, 3-4 against the Pacific Northern Division, and 5-2 against the Pacific Southern Division. Memphis has now played its last 23 games against the American Northern Division and will play its next two against the division, making it 25-straight games against the American North. They don't play a team from a different division until Tuesday when they travel west to play Salt Lake and Las Vegas. After the next two games, Memphis will play just four more against the American North this season.

MORE HONORS FOR THE 'BIRDS: Earlier this week, starting pitcher Daniel Poncedeleon was named PCL Pitcher of the Week for the week of July 9-15. It is the third time a Redbird has won a Weekly Honor this season. Fellow starter Austin Gomber earned the honor once in April and once in May. It is one of just many honors that have come in the last couple weeks for the Redbirds. Earlier this month, Poncedeleon, Dakota Hudson, and Patrick Wisdom were all named PCL All-Stars, while Hudson and outfielder Randy Arozarena participated in the MLB Futures Game. Hudson was also named the Cardinals Minor League Pitcher of the Month for June, the second Memphis pitcher to earn that accolade this season after Gomber earned it in April. Infielder/outfielder Rangel Ravelo was also named the Cardinals Minor League Player of the Month for June.

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.

Check out the Memphis Redbirds Statistics

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Pacific Coast League Stories from July 21, 2018


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