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Memphis Redbirds

Game Notes: Memphis Redbirds (65-37) at Salt Lake Bees (54-48)

July 25, 2018 - Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Memphis Redbirds News Release


Memphis Redbirds (65-37) At Salt Lake Bees (54-48)

Wednesday, July 25 - 8:05 p.m. (CT) - Smith's Ballpark (15,411) - Salt Lake City, Utah

Game #103 - Road Game #51 (33-17)

RHP Dakota Hudson (13-2, 2.36 ERA) vs. RHP Sean Isaac (1-1, 10.80 ERA)

THE GAME

TODAY'S GAME: The Memphis Redbirds and Salt Lake Bees will play game two of a three-game set tonight at 8:05 p.m. This is the first and only time the two teams will meet in the regular season this year. Salt Lake is tied with El Paso for first in their division, while the 'Birds sit in first place. The Redbirds are coming off a 2-1 series win over the Colorado Springs Sky Sox, while Salt Lake is coming off a 3-0 series sweep of Tacoma. After this seven game road trip against Salt Lake and Las Vegas, the 'Birds will return home to play Sacramento and Fresno to finish off games against the West Coast. Today's game will be broadcast on www.memphisredbirds.com and on KTRS 550 AM in the St. Louis area with Steve Selby on the call.

ON THE HILL: Right-hander Dakota Hudson will take the mound for the 'Birds tonight. Coming into tonight's contest, Hudson owns a league-best 13 wins, and the third-best ERA at 2.36. He is just one win shy of tying the Memphis single-season record. In his 18 starts this season, Hudson has pitched at least five innings in all but one start, and has pitched at least six innings in 12 starts. The righty has posted a team-high 11 quality starts this season. With over a month left to play, Hudson has already set his career-high in wins, is approaching his career-high in innings pitched, and strikeouts. Earlier this season, he started for the PCL in the All-Star Game, and threw a perfect inning in the MLB Futures Game.

The Bees will send right-hander Sean Isaac to the mound to face Hudson and the Redbirds. Isaac has appeared in five games for the Bees this season, making just one start. He is 1-1 with a 10.80 ERA. In his lone start against Oklahoma City, he pitched 3.1 innings, allowing four earned runs on six hits, while hitting a batter, and striking out two.

HISTORY WITH SALT LAKE: Memphis and Salt Lake have played at least once a year dating back to 1998 when Memphis joined the PCL. Beginning in 2003, the teams have played each other once per year, alternating ballparks every other year. Last year, Memphis won the season-series 3-1 in Memphis. The last time they went to Salt Lake in 2016, they split the series 2-2. Overall, Memphis leads the all-time series 56-41, and leads it both at home and on the road. They are 27-21 in Memphis and 29-20 in Salt Lake.

BIRD BITES

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

GARCIA: Last night, went 2-for-6 at the plate, hitting 14th home run and third triple of the season; 2nd most HR on team

KELLY: Is hitting .319 (23-for-72) over last 19 games; has hits in 14 of those games and multiple in eight of them

MEJIA: Mon. night, hit game-winning 2-run single; 15 RBI in last 28 games after having just eight in his first 46 games

MERCADO: Saturday night, became first player in Memphis history to record five hits and three steals in a game

O'NEILL: Sunday, became sixth player in Memphis history to hit three home runs in a game; five HR in last two games

RAVELO: Last night, hit two home runs in game for the first time in his career; now has tied career-high with 11 home runs

SCHROCK: Last 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 .276 (93-for-337) in 89 games between Double-A Springfield and Triple-A Memphis this season

TOVAR: Is hitting .342 (26-for-76) over last 22 games; recently snapped a season-long nine-game hitting streak

VOIT: Last night, went 2-for-5 at the plate with a triple and a home run; second-straight game going BTB with O'Neill

WISDOM: Tuesday night, hit 13th home run of the season, snapping nearly a month-long home run drought

BY THE NUMBERS

454 calendar days have passed since the Redbirds were not in first place (April 27, 2017); they have played 222 regular season games since that time.

BY THE NUMBERS

11 home runs hit by Memphis in the last two games. It is the second time in franchise history they have hit at least 11 homers between two-straight games (July 27-28, 2009, 12 HR).

THE SEASON

ABOUT THE LAST ONE: The Memphis Redbirds slugged their way over the Salt Lake Bees 14-4 last night in Salt Lake City. The 'Birds tallied season-highs in hits and home runs.

The 'Birds jumped out to an early lead in the first and never looked back. Oscar Mercado led off the game with a double and scored immediately on Luke Voit's home run. Tyler O'Neill followed Voit with a home run of his own to give Memphis a 3-0 lead.

In the third, Rangel Ravelo went deep to extend the lead. In the fourth, Adolis Garcia launched a solo home run and a few batters later, Ravelo went deep again, belting a three-run shot.

In the seventh inning, Memphis grabbed six more runs. Ravelo drove in another run with a single early on, and Edmundo Sosa singled after him to load the bases. Voit then cleared the bases with his second triple of the season. O'Neill followed Voit with his second home run of the game.

Kevin Herget earned the win for Memphis, pitching five strong innings, allowing just three earned runs. Matt Bowman pitched two scoreless innings, and Landon Beck pitched two innings of one-run ball to seal the win.

TOP PITCHING VS TOP HITTING: This three-game set between Memphis and Salt Lake features the top pitching and hitting teams in the PCL this season. Coming into the opener last night, Memphis had the best ERA in the league at 3.26, while Salt Lake had the best batting average at .292. In last night's game, the pitching for Memphis won the battle. Three Memphis pitchers limited the high-paced Bees' offense to just four runs, holding them to just 3-for-14 with runners in scoring position, and stranding 11 runners. The 'Birds meanwhile jumped all over the Salt Lake pitching, pounding out 18 hits, 11 extra-base hits, and 43 total bases. Coming into tonight's game, Memphis still has the best ERA at 3.27, and Salt Lake still holds the best batting average at .292.

MAN OH MAN, BUDDY: After making history Sunday afternoon by becoming the sixth player in franchise history to hit three home runs in a game, Tyler O'Neill continued his hot-hitting last night. Sunday, he joined Chris Haas (8/3/99), Billy Selby (6/16/03), Rick Ankiel (6/16/07), Josh Phelps (7/29/08), and Jamie Romak (4/8/13) as the only Redbirds to accomplish the feat. It was the first three-home run game of his career. Last night, O'Neill went back-to-back with Luke Voit in the first inning for the second-consecutive game, making the score 3-0. He went deep again in the seventh inning, bringing in Voit, who had tripled to clear the bases. With his performances the last two days, O'Neill now has 25 home runs with Memphis this season, and 28 total between St. Louis and Memphis. It was the sixth time this season he had posted a multi-home run game.

O'Neill holds the outright lead for home runs in the PCL, and in all of Triple-A baseball. Since being traded to the organization on July 21 last season, O'Neill has appeared in 94 regular season games with the 'Birds and has hit 37 home runs in that span. His 37 home runs in a Redbirds uniform puts him just outside the top-10 all-time in Memphis history for home runs. O'Neill is now the 22nd player in Memphis history to hit at least 20 home runs in a season, and the 16th player in franchise history to hit 25 home runs in a season. O'Neill now has six multi-home run games this season. It is the third time since at least 1999 that a Redbird has had at least five multi-home run games, and the first time since 2002 when Ivan Cruz had seven such games.

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 2-for-6 at the plate, hitting a home run and a triple, while driving in one run, and scoring once. Since the last day of May, Garcia has appeared in 40 games for the Redbirds, and is hitting a solid .317 (45-for-142) in that stretch. He has now raised his batting average to .254 on the season. Sunday, Garcia hit in the cleanup spot for the second-consecutive game and the ninth time this season. He has been dominant out of that spot, and that continued Sunday. He is now hitting .514 (19-for-37) in the four spot, scoring 11 times, hitting five doubles, and two home runs, while driving in nine runs. He is posting an on-base percentage of .538, a slugging percentage of .811, and an OPS of 1.349 in the cleanup spot this season. Garcia has collected hits in 28 of his 40 games since June began, and has notched multiple hits in 13 of those games. In those 40 games, he has scored 23 runs, hit seven doubles, a triple, and 10 home runs, all while driving in 30 runners. Between Springfield and Memphis last season, his first in America, he hit 15 home runs and drove in 65 runners in 124 games. Through 87 games this season, he already has 14 home runs and 47 RBI.

VROOM, VROOM, VOIT: Last night, Luke Voit went 2-for-5 at the plate, hitting a two-run home run in the first inning and a bases-clearing triple in the seventh to drive in five runners. This came after he went 4-for-5 at the plate Sunday, hitting a home run, driving in two, and scoring twice. Last night, Tyler O'Neill followed his first inning home run with a bomb of his own, marking the second-consecutive game the two had gone back-to-back. It was Voit's second Since June 26, Voit has also hit eight home runs in 25 games after having hit just one through his first 34 games with Memphis this season.

CURTAIN CALL: Last night, Rangel Ravelo went 3-for-4 at the plate, scoring three times, driving in five runs, and hitting two home runs. In his 10-year Minor League career, it was the first time he had ever gone deep twice in one game. Ravelo's first home run was a solo shot in the second inning to make the score 4-0. His second home run was a three-run bomb in the fifth inning. With his performance last night, Ravelo has 11 home runs this season, tied for his career-high mark.

POWER SURGE: Last night, the 'Birds went deep six times in the win over Salt Lake. This came one game after they went deep five times on Sunday. Last night, they went back-to-back in the first inning, and Sunday, they went back-to-back in both the first and third innings. It was the third time the 'Birds had hit at least five home runs as a team in one game this season, the other time coming on June 13 at Albuquerque. Sunday, they also went back-to-back multiple times in the same game for the second time this season. Through June 8 this season, the 'Birds had hit just 49 home runs as a team. June 8 was the 62nd game this season. In the 40 games since then, Memphis has hit 56 home runs, giving them 105 total on the season. They have hit the seventh-most home runs in the PCL this season, and have hit the most homers out of PCL teams not located on the West Coast. With the six-home run performance last night, Memphis also registered the 26th game in Redbird history where the team had hit at least five homers, and the fifth game in franchise history where the team hit at least six homers. This year's team has already hit the 11th most home runs on the road in franchise history. Last night was also just the second time in franchise history the 'Birds had hit at least five home runs in consecutive games. They hit five on July 27, 2009 and hit seven the next day. Those two games also came against different teams.

HERGET STEADY AGAIN: Last night's starter Kevin Herget turned in another solid start. Herget was steady, throwing five innings and earning his seventh win of the season. He allowed three earned runs on nine hits and three walks, while striking out two batters. Herget has been solid in his last six starts after struggling through three of his previous four starts dating back to the beginning of June. In four starts from June 3-19, Herget was 0-2 with a 6.00 ERA in 24.0 innings. Excluding his second start in that span, in which he pitched seven scoreless innings while striking out 10, he allowed 16 runs over 17.0 innings of work. On June 3, he allowed four earned runs in 5.1 innings of work on nine hits, on June 14, he allowed five earned runs in 6.0 innings, and on June 19, he allowed seven earned runs in 5.2 innings. Since that rough, four-game stretch, Herget is 4-1, posting a 2.84 ERA in six starts. He had posted five-consecutive quality starts in that stretch. In that span, he has thrown 38.0 innings, allowing just 34 hits and five walks, while striking out 36 batters. In his last six starts, opponents are hitting just .238 (34-for-143) off him, and his 3.88 season ERA is tied for seventh-best in the league.

SEASON-HIGHS: After last night's win, Memphis is now a season-high 28 games over .500 (65-37). In last night's contest, they also pounded out a season-high 18 hits and six home runs. Additionally, two players, Luke Voit and Rangel Ravelo, both drove in five runs, tying the season-high. It was the second time this season Voit had driven in five runs. Ravelo and Tyler O'Neill also both went deep twice in the game, marking the first time this season that multiple Memphis players posted multi-home run performances in the same game. Memphis also had a season-high 11 extra-base hits, and 43 total bases as a team.

1,500 WITHIN REACH: After winning last night, Memphis now has 65 wins this season, the second-most through 102 games in franchise history. On July 14 last season, Memphis won the 1,400th game in franchise history. Since that time, they have won 98 regular season games, giving the franchise 1,498 wins.

GREAT PITCHING ALL AROUND: After holding Salt Lake's high-powered offense to just four runs last night, the Redbirds' pitching staff continued its season-long dominance on the mound. The entire pitching staff owns the best ERA in the league at 3.27, 0.61 points lower than the next closest team, Oklahoma City. The 'Birds staff has pitched the second-most innings this season at 895.2, while allowing the fewest hits at 815, and have racked up the second-most strikeouts at 878 through 102 games, 8.6 per game. The pitching staff has also allowed just 377 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 and became the final team to allow 800 hits. The Redbirds have allowed just 325 earned runs, also the fewest in the league. They have allowed 48 fewer earned runs than Oklahoma City, the next closest team. They have also walked the third-fewest batters in the league at 305. 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 tied for seventh at 3.88. This season, Memphis starters are 51-21 with a 2.88 ERA and 52 quality starts.

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