PCL1 Memphis Redbirds

Game Notes: Memphis Redbirds (69-41) vs Sacramento River Cats (45-65)

Published on August 3, 2018 under Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Memphis Redbirds News Release


Memphis Redbirds (69-41) vs Sacramento River Cats (45-65)

Friday, August 3 - 7:05 p.m. (CT) - AutoZone Park (10,000) - Memphis, Tennessee

Game #111 - Home Game #55 (33-21)

LHP Austin Warner (0-0, 4.50 ERA) vs. RHP Jordan Johnson (0-4, 7.29 ERA)

THE GAME

TODAY'S GAME: The Memphis Redbirds and Sacramento River Cats will play the finale and rubber-match of 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 with Steve Selby will be on the call.

ON THE HILL: Left-hander Austin Warner will take the mound for the Redbirds tonight in his second Triple-A start. In his first start against Las Vegas last week, he was solid in four innings of work. The lefty allowed two earned runs, five total runs, on seven hits and three walks, while striking out four batters. Warner, who was signed out of Independent League ball last June has risen rapidly through the system. Last season, he appeared with Palm Beach, the Gulf Coast Cardinals, and Peoria, going 4-4 in 13 games, including 11 starts. He posted a 2.44 ERA in 62.2 innings of work, striking out 73 batters. With Palm Beach, Springfield, and Memphis this season, the lefty is 5-6 with a 4.01 ERA in 19 starts. He has struck out 106 batters in 110.0 innings of work.

The River Cats will send right-hander Jordan Johnson to the mound to battle Warner and the Redbirds. Coming into tonight's series finale, Johnson is 0-4 with a 7.29 ERA in five starts with Sacramento this season. Johnson has particularly struggled on the road. In three road starts, he is 0-2 with a 9.82 ERA in 11.0 innings of work. He had his best start with Sacramento his last time out. He threw five innings of one-run ball, but the River Cats were shutout.

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 44-34, and controls the record both in Memphis, 24-18, 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: Last 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 12-game hitting streak

KELLY: Is hitting .337 (31-for-92) over last 25 games; has hits in 17 of those games and multiple in 11 of them

MEJIA: Last 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; currently has nine-game hitting streak

SCHROCK: Sunday night, struck out three times in a game for the first time in his career; 129 K's in 1,475 career at-bats

SOSA: Friday night, hit first career Triple-A home run; is hitting .273 (99-for-363) in 96 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 .337 (35-for-104) 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 14th home run of the season; has the fourth-most home runs and RBI in franchise history

BY THE NUMBERS

462 calendar days have passed since the Redbirds were not in first place (April 27, 2017); they have played 230 regular season games since that time.

BY THE NUMBERS

92 different players have appeared in a Memphis uniform in the last two seasons, with 26 of them appearing in both seasons. 31 have made their Triple-A debuts with Memphis, while 13 players have been promoted to make their MLB debuts from the Redbirds.

THE SEASON

ABOUT THE LAST ONE: The Memphis Redbirds won last night's game in shutout fashion over the Sacramento River Cats by a score of 4-0.

Starter Jake Woodford was dominant for the Redbirds in his sixth start with the team. The righty tossed six shutout innings, allowing just three hits and one walk, while striking out six batters.

Matt Bowman (1.1IP) and Tommy Layne (1.2IP) pitched the final three innings for the 'Birds, retiring all nine batters they faced. They combined to strikeout four batters. Layne earned the save, his third of the year.

Offensively, Adolis Garcia and Patrick Wisdom led the way, both driving in two runs. Garcia hit two doubles in the game, scoring the first two runs of the game. In the eighth, Wisdom went deep hitting his 14th home run of the season, scoring Carson Kelly.

Garcia now has a 12-game hitting streak. During that streak, he is hitting .436 (24-for-55) with eight doubles, nine home runs, and 22 RBI. Wilfredo Tovar and Lane Thomas also had two-hit performances last night, while Rangel Ravelo extended his hitting streak to nine games.

GARCIA MAKES IT 12 IN A ROW: In last night's win, Adolis Garcia went 2-for-4 at the plate, hitting two doubles and driving in two runs. The performance continued Garcia's recent dominance at the plate and extended his season-high 12-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. Last Thursday, 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. Last Thursday, 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 48 games for the Redbirds, and is hitting a solid .339 (60-for-177) in that stretch. He has now raised his batting average to .271 on the season. Garcia has collected hits in 36 of his 48 games since June began, and has notched multiple hits in 18 of those games. In those 48 games, he has scored 34 runs, hit 124doubles, a triple, and 17 home runs, all while driving in 49 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 95 games this season, he already has 21 home runs and 66 RBI. He is just outside the top-10 in the PCL in both home runs and RBI.

WOODFORD DOMINATES: In last night's win over Sacramento, starting pitcher Jake Woodford was phenomenal. The righty threw six shutout innings, allowing just three hits and one walk, while hitting a batter and striking out six batters. He threw 85 pitches in the game, 57 of which were strikes, 67 percent. Since being transferred to Memphis from Springfield, Woodford has been dominant. In six starts with the Redbirds, he is 3-2 with a 2.73 ERA in 33.0 innings of work. In his six starts, he has allowed just 26 total hits and 10 earned runs, while striking out 27 batters. Opponents are hitting just .213 (26-for-122) against him. He has three quality starts with Memphis, and last night, recorded the first quality start for the team since July 21. He also earned the quality start on July 21. He has pitched at least five innings in each of his starts with Memphis, except for one when the game was suspended after four innings. He has allowed more than three runs once, his Triple-A debut.

RAVELO ON FIRE: In last night's win over Sacramento, infielder Rangel Ravelo went 1-for-4 at the plate, extending his season-long hitting streak to nine games. During this stretch, he is hitting .400 (12-for-30), scoring 10 runs, hitting one double, three home runs, driving in six runs, walking six times, and striking out just five times. If he gets a hit in his next game, he will become the fifth Memphis player to record a 10-game hitting streak this season. If both he and Adolis Garcia continue their hitting streaks, it will be the first time this season that Memphis has had multiple 10-game hitting streaks at once. Ravelo, in the midst of one of his finest seasons, is hitting .298 (84-for-282) in 82 games with a career-high 12 home runs.

LANE IS PRETTY GOOD: Last night, centerfielder Lane Thomas continued his hot-hitting with the Redbirds. Since being transferred from Springfield four games ago, Thomas has been a force at the plate. Last night, he went 2-for-4 at the plate, hitting two doubles. He has recorded a hit in each game he has played with Memphis, and has notched multiple hits in three of the four games. In his debut, he went 3-for-6, falling a home run short of the cycle. He hit a home run the next night. With Memphis, he is hitting .400 (8-for-20). Five of his eight hits have been for extra bases.

TOVAR'S TIME: Last night, infielder Wilfredo Tovar hit in the leadoff spot for the fourth time this season. In the win, he went 2-for-4 at the plate, while scoring a run, continuing his dominance at the plate from July. In July, he appeared in 20 games for the 'Birds, hitting .329 (24-for-73) and posting a .380 on-base percentage. Since July began, he has hit safely in 16 of his 21 games, and has recorded multiple hits in nine of those games. He has a .381 on-base percentage in that span.

QUALITY STARTS GALORE: After Jake Woodford's performance last night, 'Birds starters have thrown 53 quality starts in 110 games this season. They threw 55 total in 2017. Earlier this season, the Redbirds staff had a streak of 11-straight quality starts. Last night was the first quality start for Memphis since Woodford earned one on July 21. That was the longest stretch of the season without a quality start for Memphis. Of the 16 pitchers that have made a start for Memphis this season, 10 of them have thrown at least one quality start. Sam Tuivailala, Sean Gilmartin, Luke Weaver, Tyler Webb, Connor Jones, and Austin Warner combined for 11 starts, and have not thrown a quality start. Dakota Hudson has 11 in 19 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 and Jake Woodford have three apiece, and Alex Reyes has one.

WISDOM CONTINUES TO MAKE HISTORY: Last night, Patrick Wisdom snapped a four-game hitless streak, going 1-for-4 at the plate, hitting a two-run home run. Wisdom is now hitting a career-high .288 (96-for-333) this season. Wisdom's career-high in hits came last season with Memphis when he recorded 111. With 30 games left to play this season, Wisdom is very near his career mark. With his career-year, Wisdom is now in the top-10 or just outside it for many offensive categories in Redbird history. Wisdom has played the 10th-most games in franchise history (301), is now tied for the seventh-most doubles in franchise history (66), has the fourth-most home runs (50), has the fourth-most RBI (174), the fifth-most extra-base hits (119), and the eighth-most total bases (490). He is also outside the top-10 in multiple other categories, including at-bats, runs scored, hits, walks, and hit-by-pitches. He needs just 14 more at-bats, six more runs scored, and 13 more walks. Unfortunately, Wisdom is also just nine strikeouts from passing John Nelson for the most in franchise history. Wisdom has also hit 28 home runs at AutoZone Park in his career, tied for the second-most in Redbird history.

BETTER SIDE OF THE STRIKEOUTS: With another 10-strikeout performance by the Memphis pitching staff last night, they have now struck out 935 batters (8.5/game) as a team this season, second-most in the PCL. Additionally, Memphis batters have struck out just 737 times this season, fewest in the PCL this season. They are also just one of two PCL teams with under 800 strikeouts by their hitters this season, along with Omaha (751). Of the 16 teams in the PCL, the Redbirds are one of just seven whose pitchers have more strikeouts than their batters do. Oklahoma City, Fresno, New Orleans, Omaha, Tacoma, and Salt Lake are the other six. Memphis pitchers have struck out 198 more batters than times Memphis hitters have struck out. That is the best differential in the league. Fresno is narrowly behind the 'Birds with a +197 differential. None of the other five teams have a differential greater than +85. The 'Birds also have the best team ERA at 3.32.

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 17-13 with 20 quality starts in 261.1 innings, with only 240 strikeouts, giving them a 3.69 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. Three of the five Memphis pitchers in the starting rotation right now just recently made their Triple-A debuts, Jake Woodford, Connor Jones, and Austin Warner.

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Pacific Coast League Stories from August 3, 2018


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