IL Memphis Redbirds

Memphis Redbirds Game Notes: August 28, 2021

Published on August 28, 2021 under International League (IL)
Memphis Redbirds News Release


Saturday, August 28th 6:35 p.m. CT Memphis Redbirds (47-53) vs. Columbus Clippers (46-52) Game 5 of 6

AutoZone Park / Memphis, TN Game #101 of 130 Home Game #53 of 65

LHP Connor Thomas (5-2, 3.63 ERA) vs. RHP Heath Fillmyer (2-5, 7.62 ERA)

MiLB.tv & First Pitch App: Evan Stockton & Justin Gallanty

Last Time Out: The Memphis Redbirds fended off the Columbus Clippers by a 4-2 final on Friday night. Memphis opened the scoring early when Juan Yepez pummeled a two-run home run over the left-field fence in the first inning. The game remained tight late into the evening, as the 'Birds took a 3-2 lead into the bottom of the eighth. They scored a sorely needed insurance run in the eighth when Evan Mendoza brought home Nolan Gorman via a sacrifice fly, and that was all the support the relief pitchers needed. Austin Warner and Jesús Cruz combined to throw three scoreless innings out of the bullpen, allowing just two hits in the process.

Memphis Starter: Connor Thomas will make his 17th appearance and 10th start of the season for the Redbirds today. Thomas struggled mightily last Sunday afternoon against Nashville, not lasting past the first inning in his start. The lefthander lasted just 0.2 of the inning, allowing seven runs on five hits. Outside of last week and a rocky outing on July 30 against Gwinnett, Thomas has allowed three runs or fewer in all 12 of his appearances since June 11. A native of Tifton, GA, Thomas was the Cardinals' fifth-round pick in the 2019 MLB Draft out of Georgia Tech.

Columbus Starter: Heath Fillmyer makes his 16th appearance and 11th start of the season for the Clippers. So far in the campaign, the righthander's ERA is 7.62 in 52.0 IP (44 earned runs) with 51 strikeouts and 23 walks. Fillmyer struggled in his last outing, allowing five earned runs on six hits in 2.1 innings at Omaha last Sunday. The 27-year-old made his MLB debut with the Kansas City Royals during the 2018 season and appeared 29 times with the club between the 2018 and 2019 seasons.

Coming Back: The Memphis Redbirds posted their largest comebacks of the season last week. The 'Birds came back from 5-1 down to win 7-6 in 10 innings on Wednesday night before overcoming a 10-5 deficit to win 12-11 in 10 innings on Thursday. To cap it all off, the 'Birds rallied back from down 8-0 on Sunday afternoon to eventually tie the game at 9-9 before falling 13-12.

New No. 1 Prospect: Nolan Gorman has been on fire since being named the new top prospect in the Cardinals' organization. In his last ten games, Gorman is 14-37 (.378) with three home runs, nine RBI, 11 runs and six walks. The 21-year-old former first-round pick is slashing .318/.371/.557 in August.

Juan Gone: Juan Yepez has been utterly amazing at the plate recently for the Redbirds. He's 13-29 (BA of .448) in his last eight games with seven doubles, two home runs and eight runs driven in. Yepez had another double and home run in Friday night's win.

Welcome to Memphis: Nick Plummer has impressed in four games with the Redbirds since being promoted from Double-A Springfield on Monday. Plummer is 4-12 with an RBI, a run, a double, a stolen base and three walks this week. The former first-round pick has reached base in eight of 16 plate appearances in the four games.

Meet the New Guy: The Columbus Clippers make their first-ever regular-season trip to AutoZone Park this week. Cleveland's Triple-A affiliate was in the International League from 1977-2020. Affiliated with Cleveland since 2009, the Clippers were also the long-time affiliate of the New York Yankees (1979-2006).

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