PCL1 Memphis Redbirds

Game Notes: Memphis Redbirds (68-41) vs Sacramento River Cats (45-64)

Published on August 2, 2018 under Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Memphis Redbirds News Release


Memphis Redbirds (68-41) vs Sacramento River Cats (45-64)

Thursday, August 1 - 7:05 p.m. (CT) - AutoZone Park (10,000) - Memphis, Tennessee

Game #110 - Home Game #54 (32-21)

RHP Jake Woodford (2-2, 3.33 ERA) vs. RHP Tyler Herb (1-3, 6.23 ERA)

THE GAME

TODAY'S GAME: The Memphis Redbirds and Sacramento River Cats will play game two a three-game set tonight at 7:05 p.m. at AutoZone Park. This is the first and only time the two teams will meet in the regular season this year. The Redbirds are coming off a 2-2 series split with the Las Vegas 51s, while Sacramento is coming off a 3-1 series loss to the Iowa Cubs. This series is part of a seven-game homestand for the 'Birds, marking their final seven regular season games against West Coast teams this season. Tonight's game will be broadcast on www.memphisredbirds.com and on KTRS 550 AM in the St. Louis area. The game will also be on WMC-TV's Bounce Channel tonight. Steve Selby will be on the call on all three platforms.

ON THE HILL: Right-hander Jake Woodford will take the mound for the Redbirds in the second game of the series tonight. This will be Woodford's sixth start of the season with the Redbirds. Coming into tonight's contest, the righty is 2-2 with a 3.33 ERA. He has won two-consecutive games. In his last start at Las Vegas, he allowed just one run on five hits and four walks in 5.2 innings of work. Since joining the team, Woodford has been very good at AutoZone Park. He is 1-1 with a 2.92 ERA in two starts spanning 12.1 innings. He is 1-1 with a 3.68 ERA in three starts on the road spanning14.2 innings. Between Memphis and Springfield this season, Woodford is 5-10 with a 4.75 ERA in 108.0 total innings with 77 strikeouts.

The River Cats will send right-hander Tyler Herb to the mound to battle Woodford and the Redbirds. Coming into tonight's game, Herb is 1-3 with a 6.23 ERA in six starts for the River Cats this season. Herb has struggled on the road this season. The righty is 1-2 with a 7.85 road ERA in four starts, compared to 0-1 with a 3.75 ERA in two starts at home.

HISTORY WITH SACRAMENTO: Memphis and Sacramento have played every year dating back to 2000 when the team moved to Sacramento. They were affiliated with the Oakland Athletics until the end of the 2014 season. Since 2015, they have been affiliated with the San Francisco Giants. Last season, the two split the season-series 2-2. Sacramento owns the all-time series record at 44-33, and controls the record both in Memphis, 24-17, and in Sacramento 20-16.

BIRD BITES

AROZARENA: Rejoins Redbirds for his third stint of the season with the team; hitting .396 in 24 games with Springfield

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

GARCIA: Thurs. night, became seventh player in Memphis history to have three home run game; has 11-game hitting streak

KELLY: Is hitting .344 (31-for-90) over last 24 games; has hits in 17 of those games and multiple in 11 of them

MEJIA: Thurs. night hit third home run of the season and his second this month; had just one until July 15

RAVELO: Sun. night, hit his 12th home run of the season, giving him a career-high; previous was 11 set in 2014

SCHROCK: Sunday night, struck out three times in a game for the first time in his career; 129 K's in 1,470 career at-bats

SOSA: Friday night, hit first career Triple-A home run; is hitting .275 (97-for-353) in 93 games between MEM and SPG

THOMAS: In his Triple-A debut Sun. night, went 3-for-6, falling a home run short of the cycle; scored twice and had two RBI

TOVAR: Is hitting .330 (33-for-100) over last 29 games; recently snapped a season-long nine-game hitting streak

WILLIAMS: Joins the team after being a part of the trade that sent Tommy Pham to Tampa Bay

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

BY THE NUMBERS

461 calendar days have passed since the Redbirds were not in first place (April 27, 2017); they have played 229 regular season games since that time.

BY THE NUMBERS

162 transactions for the Redbirds through 109 games this season, 1.5 per game. It is already the most transactions in franchise history with 31 games left to play.

THE SEASON

ABOUT THE LAST ONE: The Memphis Redbirds dropped last night's series opener to the Sacramento River Cats 6-3.

Last night's starter Chris Ellis was solid through four innings before getting hit hard in the fifth and sixth innings. He had allowed just two runs in the game prior to those two innings. He allowed a two-run home run in the fifth, and was pulled from the game after allowing two batters to reach in the sixth. Both scored.

Adolis Garcia provided all of the offense for the Redbirds. He tied the game with a two-run home run in the third inning, his 20th of the season. Later in the game, he went deep again. It was his 21st home run of the season, and his third multi-home run game this season. He now has an 11-game hitting streak

Conner Greene pitched the final two innings for Memphis, retiring all six batters he faced. Dominic Leone, on Major League Rehab, pitched a scoreless inning with two strikeouts. Newest Redbird Giovanny Gallegos threw one inning as well.

GARCIA MAKES IT 11 IN A ROW: In last night's loss, Adolis Garcia went 2-for-4 at the plate, hitting two home runs and driving in all three Memphis runs. The performance continued Garcia's recent dominance at the plate and extended his season-high 11-game hitting streak. He has the fourth 10-game hitting streak by a Redbird this season. Tyler O'Neill (10), Yairo Munoz (10), and Patrick Wisdom (16) have also accomplished the feat this season. Thursday night, the outfielder became the seventh player in Memphis history, and the second in four games, to hit three home runs in a game. Tyler O'Neill hit three home runs against Colorado Springs on July 22, and with Thursday night's performance, the two have 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. Garcia was the first player to hit a grand slam in a three-home run performance in Memphis history. Thursday night, Garcia also tied the franchise record with eight RBI in a game. He joins Tagg Bozied (8/1/07) as the only Redbirds to drive in eight runs in a game. Since the last day of May, Garcia has appeared in 47 games for the Redbirds, and is hitting a solid .335 (58-for-173) in that stretch. He has now raised his batting average to .269 on the season. Garcia has collected hits in 35 of his 47 games since June began, and has notched multiple hits in 17 of those games. In those 47 games, he has scored 34 runs, hit 12 doubles, a triple, and 17 home runs, all while driving in 47 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 94 games this season, he already has 21 home runs and 64 RBI. He is just outside the top-10 in the PCL in both home runs and RBI.

REDBIRDS' HOT JULY: Despite losing their final game of July on Monday night in Las Vegas, the Redbirds still finished the month with a record of 18-8, their best this season. In July, the 'Birds hit .295 as a team with 36 home runs. They also owned a 2.66 ERA and converted 10 of 11 save opportunities. Their .295 average in July was their highest of any month this season by .26 points (.269). It was also tied with Salt Lake for the second-best team average in the PCL in July, trailing only Reno (.300). Their 18-8 record was the second-best in franchise history, behind only last year's team's 22-6 record. They 36 July home runs were also tied for the second-most in franchise history (38, 2008, 2009).

WHOLE NEW ROTATION: With all the activity over the last few weeks in St. Louis, Memphis has lost its entire Opening Day starting rotation. When the season opened on April 5, the rotation was RHP John Gant, RHP Dakota Hudson, LHP Austin Gomber, RHP Jack Flaherty, and RHP Daniel Poncedeleon. Gant has been optioned and recalled a handful of times this season, but has spent the majority of the season with St. Louis. Flaherty started the season with St. Louis, was optioned and then recalled and optioned once more. He has been with St. Louis since May. Gomber has also spent significant time with St. Louis, mainly out of relief. Hudson and Poncedeleon were both recalled in recent weeks to make their Major League debuts. With all five of those pitchers being in St. Louis, not only have the Redbirds lost their entire starting rotation, but they have also lost the majority of their quality starts, wins, and strikeouts. The five pitchers have combined for 60 starts, 33 quality starts, 38 wins, 11 loses, 352.2 innings, and 349 strikeouts, good for a 2.45 ERA. Without those five pitchers, Memphis starters are 16-13 with 19 quality starts in 255.1 innings, with only 234 strikeouts, giving them a 3.77 ERA. Only one current Memphis starter was with the team on Opening Day, Kevin Herget. He did not move to the starting rotation until the last day of April.

HIT HARD AT THE DEADLINE: With the trade deadline passing Tuesday, St. Louis made many moves, resulting in a very different roster for the Redbirds. This season's leader in games played, at-bats, steals, multi-hit games, and hits, Oscar Mercado was traded to Cleveland. Tommy Pham was also traded to Tampa Bay, resulting in Tyler O'Neill being recalled to St. Louis. Luke Voit was traded to the Yankees earlier in the week. With Mercado and Voit being traded, and O'Neill being recalled, the Redbirds lost three consistent hitters and a lot of their power. Mercado (.285), Voit (.299), and O'Neill (.311) had three of the highest averages on the team. The three combined to hit 43 of the Redbirds ' 117 home runs through Tuesday, and combined for 139 RBI, and 166 runs scored.

HI, WHAT'S YOUR NAME?: After all the activity over the last week with the Trade Deadline passing, the Redbirds have almost an entirely different roster than the one they had opening night. Only three of the original 13 pitchers are still with Memphis. John Brebbia, Jack Flaherty, John Gant, Austin Gomber, Dakota Hudson, and Daniel Poncedeleon are all with St. Louis. Meanwhile, Derian Gonzalez is with Springfield, and Sean Gilmartin, Preston Guilmet, and Arturo Reyes are no longer in the organization. Only Kevin Herget, Andrew Morales, and Edward Mujica remain among Opening Day pitchers. Additionally, three Opening Day position players are no longer with the team. Tyler O'Neill has been recalled to St. Louis, while Oscar Mercado was traded to Cleveland, and Luke Voit traded to the Yankees. The Redbirds have had 162 transactions this season, 58 total players, 16 players who have made their Triple-A debuts, and four players who have made their Major League debuts. The 162 transactions this season are already the most in franchise history with over a month left to play.

DEFENSIVE WOES: In Monday's loss, the Redbirds committed a season-high five errors. It was the first time they had at least five errors in a game since June 15, 2013 at Albuquerque when they had a franchise-record six errors. In the game, Oscar Mercado, Adolis Garcia, and Wilfredo Tovar all had an error, while Max Schrock had two. It was just the third time in Schrock's career that he had committed two errors in a game. With the shaky performance on defense Monday and making another error last night, the 'Birds are now tied for fourth in the league in fielding percentage at .981.

POWER SURGE: After hitting two home runs last night, the Redbirds continued to post some insane home run numbers over the week and a half. Last Thursday night, they hit five home runs, and last Tuesday night, they hit six home runs in the win over Salt Lake. This came one game after they went deep five times last Sunday. Last Tuesday night, they went back-to-back in the first inning, and Sunday, they went back-to-back in both the first and third innings. Thursday night, the 'Birds hit home runs in the first, second, sixth, seventh, and eighth innings. Adolis Garcia was responsible for three of those home runs, while Oscar Mercado and Alex Mejia hit the other two. It was the fourth time this season the 'Birds have hit at least five home runs in a game, the other time coming on June 13 at Albuquerque. Last 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 46 games since then, Memphis has hit 70 home runs, giving them 119 total on the season, giving them the fifth-most home runs in the PCL this season, and the most homers out of PCL teams not located on the West Coast. With the performance Thursday night, Memphis also registered the 27th game in Redbird history where the team had hit at least five homers. This year's team already is tied for the seventh-most home runs on the road (77) in franchise history.

1,500 WINS: After winning Friday night, Memphis won the 1,500th game in franchise history. The 'Birds now have 68 wins this season, the second-most through 107 games in franchise history. The Redbirds have now reached a milestone win in each of the last three seasons. On June 12, 2016, they won game number 1,300, on July 14, 2017, they won game number 1,400. Manager Stubby Clapp played for Memphis from 1999 to 2002, and has been the manager since last season. He has coached the 'Birds to wins 1,400 and 1,500, and was part of the teams that won games 100, 200, and 300.

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)

Check out the Memphis Redbirds Statistics

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Pacific Coast League Stories from August 2, 2018


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