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PCL1 Memphis Redbirds

Game Notes: Memphis Redbirds (77-52) vs Nashville Sounds (68-61)

August 24, 2018 - Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Memphis Redbirds News Release


Memphis Redbirds (77-52) vs Nashville Sounds (68-61)

Friday, August 24 - 7:05 p.m. (CT) - AutoZone Park (10,000) - Memphis, Tennessee

Game #130 - Home Game #67 (37-29)

RHP Kevin Herget (8-10, 4.49 ERA) vs. LHP Jesus Luzardo (1-0, 3.46 ERA)

THE GAME

TODAY'S GAME: The Memphis Redbirds and Nashville will kick-off a four-game set tonight at 7:05 p.m. in Memphis. It is the last home series of the regular-season for the Redbirds. If the Redbirds win two games of this series, they will clinch the American Southern Division at home. Memphis is coming off a 2-1 series loss to the New Orleans Baby Cakes and Nashville is coming off a 2-1 series loss to the Round Rock Express. Both teams have 11 games remaining this season, and eight will be played against one another. Earlier today, Daniel Poncedeleon was optioned by St. Louis, and Landon Beck was transferred to Springfield in the corresponding move. Today's game will be broadcast on www.memphisredbirds.com with Steve Selby on the call.

ON THE HILL: Right-hander Kevin Herget will take the mound for Memphis tonight, making his team-leading 21st start. So far this season, he is 8-10 with a 4.49 ERA in 128.1 innings of work. In his last start, Herget took the loss despite pitching well. He threw 6.1 innings, allowing three runs on six hits, but the 'Birds fell 4-2. In his lone start against Nashville this season, Herget took the loss. He threw five innings, five runs on six hits and one walk, while striking out eight batters. With his move to the starting rotation at the end of April this season, Herget has set many career-highs. He already has set marks in wins, losses, innings pitched, and strikeouts. Herget also owns the lowest walks per nine innings pitched ratio in the league at 1.83.

The Sounds will send left-hander Jesus Luzardo to the mound to battle Herget and the Redbirds. Luzardo will be making just his fourth Triple-A start this season. They 20-year-old is 1-0 with a 3.46 ERA in three starts spanning 13.0 innings. He has allowed just five earned runs, while whiffing 17 batters. Across three levels of Oakland's system this season, Luzardo is 10-4 with a 2.29 ERA in 106.1 innings. He has struck out 128, and is holding opponents to a .209 (81-for-388) batting average.

HISTORY WITH NASHVILLE: Memphis and Nashville have played every year dating back to 1998 when Memphis joined the PCL. Nashville has been affiliated with Pittsburgh, Milwaukee, and Oakland in that span, while Memphis has remained affiliated with St. Louis. Both teams have 11 games remaining this season, and eight of them will be played against one another. In the eight games they have played this season, Nashville leads the series 2-6, winning both series 3-1. So far this season, Nashville is outperforming Memphis both on the mound and at the plate. They are hitting .252 and posting a 2.54 ERA against Memphis, while the 'Birds are posting a .243 average and 4.70 ERA against the Sounds.

BIRD BITES

AROZARENA: Has hit safely in five of last seven after having just two hits in his first 10 games back with Memphis

BARON: Has hit safely in 14 of his last 17 games since June; had a season-long eight-game hitting streak in that stretch

GARCIA: Last night, went 1-for-4 at the plate, hitting a solo home run; it was his 22nd of the year and first back with 'Birds

KELLY: Tues. night, snapped five-game walk streak, and has a career-high 43 walks with Memphis this season

MEJIA: Had one RBI Sat. night; now has 24 RBI in last 52 games after having only eight RBI in first 42 games this year

RAVELO: Currently riding 16-game hitting streak, hitting .407 (24-for-59) in that stretch; went on DL Wednesday

SCHROCK: Went 2-for-5 with a double and an RBI Sat. night in his first game back after spending 10 games on DL

SOSA: Wednesday night, went 2-for-4 with two doubles, extending his current hitting streak to three games

THOMAS: Last Thursday night, hit three-run home run in third inning to put Memphis ahead for good; they won 3-2

TOVAR: Wed. night, snapped six-game hitting streak since returning from D.L. last week by going 0-for-3

URIAS: Has recorded at least one hit in 11 of 12 games since rejoining Memphis; riding seven-game hitting streak

WILLIAMS: Drove in all three runs Memphis scored from 8/19-8/22 on a solo home run and two-run home run

WISDOM: Hit home run in first game back with Memphis; recorded ML first hit on 8/12 and first home run on 8/19

BY THE NUMBERS

2 wins in this series against Nashville would allow the Redbirds to clinch the American Southern Division at home.

ON THIS DATE

In 2009, Troy Glaus, Allen Craig, Mark Hamilton, and Daniel Descalso hit four-consecutive homers in the eighth inning to beat Round Rock 12-7.

THE SEASON

ABOUT THE LAST ONE: The Memphis Redbirds won last night's season finale against the New Orleans Baby Cakes 5-3, avoiding their first sweep since 2016.

In his return to the rotation, Chris Ellis threw four shutout innings, allowing four hits and a walk, while striking out eight batters.

Tyler Webb, Giovanny Gallegos, and Andrew Morales combined to throw the final five innings for Memphis. Webb through 1.1 innings, allowing two runs on four hits. Gallegos allowed one run on two hits in 1.2 innings. Morales earned the win, throwing two scoreless innings.

Adolis Garcia started the scoring by hitting a solo home run in the second inning. Patrick Wisdom followed suit with a two-run home run in the third innings. The 'Birds scored another run on an error in the fifth, and another on a groundout in the eighth.

Urias went 2-for-3, extending his hitting streak to seven games. Max Schrock also went 2-for-4 in the game.

STRUGGLES WITH THE DIVISION: Despite having a strong overall record of 77-52, Memphis has struggled mightily against its own division this season. The 'Birds are 2-6 against Nashville, 7-9 against New Orleans, and 7-6 against Round Rock. Memphis has 11 games remaining this season. They lost the season series with New Orleans after dropping their most recent series, they have three more against Round Rock, and eight more against Nashville. Nashville is the closest to the 'Birds, sitting nine games behind Memphis. While the 'Birds batters hold similar lines against divisional and non-divisional opponents, the biggest difference is pitching. Memphis is hitting .274 (859-for-3136) against opponents in other divisions, and are hitting a slightly lower .262 (323-for-1231) against the division. However, Memphis pitchers are posting a 3.93 ERA (141ER, 323.0IP) against the division, while posting a 3.42 ERA (308ER, 811.2IP) against everyone else.

WIZ IS BACK WITH A BANG: Last night, Patrick Wisdom started for Memphis at third base in his first start after getting the first big league callup of his career. Wisdom made an immediate impact, going 1-for-3 with a two-run home run in the game. With the Cardinals, Wisdom hit .333 (4-for-12), hitting one home run, scoring four times, and driving in three runs. With his performance for the 'Birds last night, he is still hitting a career-best .289 (104-for-360) this season. Having spent the better part of the last three seasons with Memphis, Wisdom is in the top-10, or just outside it, for many Redbird records. He has the fourth-most home runs at 51, the third-most RBI at 179, the fifth-most extra-base hits at 123, is tied for the sixth-most doubles at 69, has the eight-most total bases at 504, has played the 10th-most games at 309, and has the 10th-most at-bats at 1,078. Additionally, he is just outside the top-10 in runs at 162, hits at 276, and walks at 106. He needs just two more runs scored to get into the top-10, 13 more walks, and 27 more hits to reach the top-10. However, he has struck out 332 times in his Redbird career. With three more strikeouts, he will tie John Nelson for the most strikeouts in Memphis history.

URIAS PUTTING ON A SHOW: Since rejoining Memphis for his third stint of the season, utility infielder Ramon Urias has been solid at the plate. Last night, he went 2-for-3, scoring two runs and walking once in his fourth start at first base for Memphis. In his first 12 games back with the 'Birds, Urias has hit safely in 11 of them, and recorded multiple hits in five of them. With his two-hit performance last night, he has now hit in seven-consecutive games with Memphis for the first time this season. With Rangel Ravelo on the Disabled List, he has the longest active streak on the team right now. Over this streak, he is hitting .333 (9-for-27) with one double and five runs scored. In 40 games with Memphis this season, Urias is hitting .280 (33-for-118). Since rejoining the team two weeks ago, he has raised his batting average by 59 points from .221 to .280.

GARCIA GOES DEEP: Last night, outfielder Adolis Garcia kicked off the scoring with a solo home run in the second inning. It was his 22nd home run of the season, extending his career-high. It was his first home run since returning from his first big league stint with St. Louis. After going hitless in his first four games back with Memphis, Garcia has been clicking at the plate. After last night's performance, he has now hit safely in four of his last five and has recorded multiple hits in two of those games. Over the last five games, he is hitting .300 (6-for-20) at the plate.

TWO MORE FOR MAX: Last night, Max Schrock went 2-for-4 at the plate, scoring once in the win. He came back to the Memphis lineup after a 10-game stint on the Disabled List August 18, and has provided a spark in his first five games back. He notched back-to-back multi-hit games in his first two games back for the first time since he recorded back-to-back multi-hit games on July 1 and 2. His two hits in his first game back marked his first multi-hit game since July 24. Schrock got off to a hot-start this season, his first at the Triple-A level. He hit .296 (55-for-286) in the first two months of the season before hitting a deep slump. He has hit just .234 (46-for-199) over the last two plus months.

ELLIS PHENOMENAL IN RETURN: Last night, Chris Ellis returned to the starting rotation, making his first start since August 6. He made two relief appearances in his hiatus from the rotation, earning the win both times while piggy-backing Tyler Lyons in his quest to get stretched out. Last night, the righty threw four shutout innings, allowing just four hits and one walk, while whiffing eight batters. It was his third-straight scoreless outing. In his two relief outings, the righty combined to throw 7.2 shutout innings, allowing just three hits and no walks, while striking out 11 batters. Ellis is now 5-4 with a 4.13 ERA in 14 appearances and 12 starts this season. He has thrown 72.0 innings, and has struck out 65 batters. His eight strikeouts last night tied his season-high with Memphis, and fell just short of his season-high of 10 from Double-A Springfield.

MORALES LOCKED IN: In last night's win, relief pitcher Andrew Morales was phenomenal in long-relief for the Redbirds, earning the win over New Orleans. The righty threw two strong innings, striking out one. He allowed just one base runner, who only reached because of an error. Since allowing four runs on June 24 against New Orleans, Morales has been dominant. He has made 20 appearances in that span, throwing 23.1 innings, and is 1-1 with six saves. In that time, he has allowed just six total runs, five of them earned, on 14 hits, and nine walks, while striking out 22 batters. He is posting a 1.93 ERA in that span, and is holding opponents to a .169 (14-for-83) batting average.

SOLID NIGHT FOR EDMUNDO: Infielder Edmundo Sosa went 1-for-4 at the plate last night, one night after he went 2-for-4 at the dish. Both of his hits in the game were doubles. With the two-hit performance Wednesday night, Sosa notched his first multi-hit game since August 11 at Oklahoma City. After going hitless in three straight last week, Sosa has now hit safely in five of his last six, and has hit safely in four-straight games.

BETTER SIDE OF THE STRIKEOUTS: With another 10-plus strikeout performance by the Memphis pitching staff last night, they have now struck out 1,070 batters (8.3/game) as a team this season, fourth-most in the PCL. Additionally, Memphis batters have struck out just 874 times this season, second-fewest in the PCL this season. They are also just one of two PCL teams with under 900 strikeouts by their hitters this season, along with Omaha (871). Despite some recent struggles, Memphis still owns the best ERA in the PCL at 3.56, .30 points ahead of the second-best team, Oklahoma City.

THREE STRAIGHT SERIES LOSSES: The Redbirds have struggled to an 9-12 record in the month of August. They have played six series this month, winning just two of them. They won the opening series of the month over Sacramento 2-1, and their series against Oklahoma City a few days later at 3-1. Between those two series, they dropped their series to Fresno 3-1, and since topping Oklahoma City, they have dropped three consecutive series for the first time this season. They lost three of four to New Orleans last week, two of three to Round Rock, and with last night's win, finished their final series with New Orleans by losing two of three. This is the first time Memphis has lost three-consecutive series since they lost four-straight from mid-August to early-September in 2016. From August 17-19, they fell 3-1 to Reno, from August 20-23, they fell 3-1 to Iowa, from August 24-28, they fell 4-1 to Nashville, and from August 29-September 1, they fell 2-1 at Oklahoma City.

AUGUST PITCHING WOES: After dropping Wednesday night's game, the Memphis pitching staff continued their struggles in the month of August. The starters in particular have struggled. So far this month, the starters are 4-9 with a 6.02 ERA in 21 games. They have allowed 69 earned runs in just 103.1 innings of work. In all 25 games of April, the Memphis starters allowed only 39 total earned runs in 135.2 innings. They have now allowed their season-high for earned runs in a month with eight games left to play in August. They have allowed 17 home runs this month, also a season high. With all the recent transactions, the Memphis hitters have struggled to keep up with the opposition at the plate as well. The pitching staff, bullpen included, has allowed 107 runs this month (5.1/game). The Redbirds have scored only 95 total runs this month (4.5/game). Additionally, the pitchers have allowed 25 home runs this month, while the hitters have notched just 15.

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.

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