PCL1 Memphis Redbirds

Game Notes: Memphis Redbirds (65-38) at Salt Lake Bees (55-48)

Published on July 26, 2018 under Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Memphis Redbirds News Release


Memphis Redbirds (65-38) At Salt Lake Bees (55-48)

Thursday, July 26 - 8:05 p.m. (CT) - Smith's Ballpark (15,411) - Salt Lake City, Utah

Game #104 - Road Game #52 (33-18)

RHP Chris Ellis (2-2, 3.18 ERA) vs. TBA

THE GAME

TODAY'S GAME: The Memphis Redbirds and Salt Lake Bees will play the finale 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 in theirs. 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 Chris Ellis will get the ball for the Redbirds tonight in the series finale. Ellis will be making his ninth start for Memphis this season. Coming into tonight's game, he is 2-2 with a 3.18 ERA in 45.1 innings of work. Ellis has been particularly good over his last three starts. In that span, he has posted three-consecutive quality starts, and pitched 20.0 innings. Over his last three starts, he is just 1-2 after having received very little run support. In the last three starts, Ellis has allowed just four earned runs, giving him a 1.80 ERA in that span. In his last two starts, Ellis has pitched 7.0 innings both times, and only allowed one run in both games. Memphis was shutout 1-0 in both contests.

As of this afternoon, the Salt Lake Bees have not announced a starter for tonight's series finale.

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 56-42, and leads it both at home and on the road. They are 27-21 in Memphis and 29-21 in Salt Lake.

BIRD BITES

BARON: Last night, snapped an 8-game hitting streak; was his longest since 8-game streak July12-23, 2016

GARCIA: Tues. 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 .307 (23-for-75) over last 20 games; has hits in 14 of those games and multiple in eight of them

MEJIA: Has been driving in runs over last month; 15 RBI in last 29 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: Tues. 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 .273 (93-for-341) in 90 games between Double-A Springfield and Triple-A Memphis this season

TOVAR: Is hitting .342 (27-for-79) over last 23 games; recently snapped a season-long nine-game hitting streak

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

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

BY THE NUMBERS

455 calendar days have passed since the Redbirds were not in first place (April 27, 2017); they have played 223 regular season games since that time.

ON THIS DATE

Three Memphis pitchers combined to one-hit Sacramento, LHP Chris Narveson, RHP Matt Ginter, and LHP Troy Cate. Memphis won 1-0 after a Nick Stavinoha's RBI single in the ninth.

THE SEASON

ABOUT THE LAST ONE: The Memphis Redbirds dropped last night's game to the Salt Lake Bees 7-5.

Last night's starter Dakota Hudson exited the game after facing two batters in the second inning. Both batters reached and scored later in the inning.

When Hudson left the game, Tyler Webb came in to pitch, allowing both inherited runners to score and three of his own, putting Memphis in a 5-0 hole early on.

Conner Greene pitched 3.2 innings for Memphis, allow two runs, while Tommy Layne and Edward Mujica pitched the final 2.2 frames, holding Salt Lake scoreless.

Offensively, Oscar Mercado led the charge, going 2-for-5 at the dish, scoring twice and driving in two. After scoring once in each the fourth and sixth innings, Memphis rallied for three in the seventh, but couldn't complete the comeback.

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 Tuesday 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 hitting for Salt Lake won the battle after Memphis' pitching won out in game one. Salt Lake jumped all over the Memphis pitching early, climbing to a 7-0 lead before the fifth inning. Coming into tonight's game, Memphis still has the best ERA at 3.31, and Salt Lake still holds the best batting average at .292.

MERCADO LOCKED IN: After going hitless in five of six games from July 13-19, Oscar Mercado has been on fire at the plate and on the base paths. Since then, he has had an official at-bat in four games, and has recorded hits in three of them, and multiple hits in two of them. Last night, Mercado went 2-for-5 at the plate, notching a double, driving in two runners, and scoring twice. On July 21 against Colorado Springs, Mercado became the first player in Memphis history to record five hits and three steals in a game. He went 5-for-5 with two runs and two RBI in that game. Mercado is now hitting .286 (104-for-364) this season with 21 doubles, one triple, seven home runs, 70 runs scored, 39 RBI, and 29 stolen bases. With over 30 games left to play in the regular season, Mercado is just 33 hits short of his career-high, is just two doubles short of his career-high, seven RBI short of his career-high, and six runs short of his career-high. He also leads the league in stolen bases, has scored the second-most runs, has the fourth-most at-bats (364), and is tied for the fourth-most hits (104). He has played in 95 of Memphis' 103 games, most on the team, and has recorded the most multi-hit games among Redbird players at 29.

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 Wednesday 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. Tuesday, 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 performance over those two games, O'Neill now has 25 home runs with Memphis this season, and 28 total between St. Louis and Memphis. He now has six multi-home run games this season.

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 95 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 ON FIRE: 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, hitting a double. Since the last day of May, Garcia has appeared in 41 games for the Redbirds, and is hitting a solid .315 (46-for-146) in that stretch. He has now raised his batting average to .254 on the season. Last night, Garcia hit in the cleanup spot for the 10th time this season. He has been dominant out of that spot, and that continued last night. He is now hitting .488 (20-for-41) in the four spot, scoring 11 times, hitting six doubles, and two home runs, while driving in nine runs. He is posting an on-base percentage of .512, a slugging percentage of .780, and an OPS of 1.292 in the cleanup spot this season. Garcia has collected hits in 29 of his 41 games since June began, and has notched multiple hits in 13 of those games. In those 41 games, he has scored 23 runs, hit eight 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 88 games this season, he already has 14 home runs and 47 RBI.

TREAT YOURSELF: Last night, reliever Conner Greene ate up 3.2 innings for the 'Birds, saving more bullpen arms. In his 3.2 innings of work, he allowed three hits, two earned runs, and two walks, while striking out one. In addition to his pitching performance, he also came to the plate twice for Memphis, driving in one run. Greene was traded to the St. Louis organization in January for Randal Grichuk after having spent his entire career in the Toronto organization. In his first season in National League organization, Greene now has two hits in five at-bats. Last night, he recorded the first RBI of his career.

1,500 WITHIN REACH: Despite losing last night, Memphis has 65 wins this season, the second-most through 103 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.

FUN STUFF: Through the first 103 games this season, the Redbirds have already posted some pretty incredible numbers. They have had three separate five-hit performances, two by Luke Voit, and one by Oscar Mercado. Voit is the only player in Redbird history to have multiple five-hit games. It is also the first time since 2012 that Memphis has had multiple five-hit games in the same season. Additionally, Tyler O'Neill has six multi-home run games this season, the second-most in Memphis history since at least 1999. O'Neill also became the sixth player in franchise history to hit three home runs in a game. The 'Birds starters have also had nine separate 10-strikeout performances, two by Jack Flaherty, Kevin Herget, and Daniel Poncedeleon, and one each by Austin Gomber, Ryan Helsley, and Alex Reyes. Three Memphis players, Oscar Mercado, Randy Arozarena, and Wilfredo Tovar, have all recorded games with three steals this season, tying the franchise record for steals in a game. Additionally, Mercado became the first player in franchise history to record five hits and three steals in a game. Patrick Wisdom also had a 16-game hitting streak earlier this season, tied for the sixth-longest streak in franchise history. Wisdom also became the first Memphis player to participate in the Triple-A Home Run Derby this season.

The Redbirds have also posted 52 quality starts this season, just three shy of the mark they had in 2017. The 'Birds also have 91 steals as a team this season, just 19 short of the franchise record with 37 games left to play. Two weeks ago, Daniel Poncedeleon threw a complete-game, one-hit shutout. It was just the 17th complete-game shutout in franchise history, and the 11th one-hit performance by Memphis. It was the fifth complete-game, one-hitter by a single Memphis pitcher in franchise history, and the first since 2014.

SEASON-HIGHS: After Tuesday night's win, Memphis was a season-high 28 games over .500 (65-37). In Tuesday 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.

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.

FOR THE RECORD:

- Memphis' 91 wins in 2017 were the 10th-most in 119 seasons of professional baseball in Memphis dating back to 1877, and the season's .645 winning percentage was fourth-best

- Memphis was one of four teams in MiLB in 2017 with 90+ wins (Trenton Thunder [AA], 92-48; West Michigan Whitecaps [A], 91-45; Chattanooga Lookouts [AA], 91-49; Memphis Redbirds [AAA], 91-50)

- Memphis went 41 games over .500 during the regular season, the most by a PCL club since Albuquerque was 56 games over at 94-38 in 1981

- The Redbirds won the PCL American Southern Division by 22.0 games, and since divisions were established in the PCL in 1963, only two other teams won their division by 20 or more games (1970 Spokane Indians, 26.0 games; 1981 Albuquerque Dukes, 25.0 games)

- Memphis ended the season with its best ERA in franchise history (3.77) (3.89, 1998 and 2003), matched its best fielding percentage (.984) (.984, 2014), and had its third-best batting average (.278) (.284, 1999; .279, 2004)

Check out the Memphis Redbirds Statistics

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Pacific Coast League Stories from July 26, 2018


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