IL Memphis Redbirds

Memphis Redbirds Game Notes: July 8, 2021

July 8, 2021 - International League (IL)
Memphis Redbirds News Release


Thursday, July 8th 6:00 p.m. CT Memphis Redbirds (21-35) at Louisville Bats (23-32) Game 3 of 6

Louisville Slugger Field / Louisville, KY Game #57 of 130 Road Game #27 of 65

RHP Tommy Parsons (1-5, 6.19 ERA) vs. RHP Riley O'Brien (3-3, 4.99 ERA)

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

Last Time Out: The Memphis Redbirds lost a heartbreaker at the Louisville Bats by a 4-3 final in 10 innings on Wednesday night. Early on, the Redbirds looked in line for victory, taking a 3-1 lead into the eighth inning. However, the game unraveled late. Memphis left the bases loaded in the eighth and ninth innings, while Louisville scored single runs in the eighth, ninth, and tenth innings to rally and win the game.

Memphis Starter: Tommy Parsons will make his 11th appearance and seventh start of the season for the Redbirds today. Parsons' last outing was a solid bounce-back start against Jacksonville last Friday, when he allowed three runs in 5.0 innings with six strikeouts and just one walk. The 25-year-old had hit a rough patch over his prior six outings, allowing 26 earned runs in 26.2 innings during that stretch. Parsons started against Louisville at AutoZone Park on May 22nd, allowing just two earned runs in 7.0 innings with five strikeouts, no walks and five hits allowed. At the time, it was the longest outing of the season for any Redbirds starting pitcher.

Louisville Starter: Riley O'Brien gets the ball for Louisville tonight to make his 10th start of 2021. He enters Thursday night sporting an ERA of 4.99 in 48.2 IP (27 earned runs) with 51 strikeouts and 27 walks. O'Brien started against the Redbirds at AutoZone Park on May 20th, allowing two earned runs and four hits in 5.1 innings pitched with five strikeouts and two walks. The 26-year-old was the Rays' eighth round pick in 2017 out of the College of Idaho and was traded to the Reds in August of 2020 for Cody Reed. MLB Pipeline ranks O'Brien as the 14th-best prospect in the Reds' organization

Headed to the Mile High City: Matthew Liberatore and Nolan Gorman were named to the Sirius XM Futures' Game roster last week. Those two 'Birds will be competing at Coors Field in Colorado on July 11 against the premier prospects in professional baseball.

Going for the Gold: Brandon Dickson has been named to the United States National Team that will be competing at the Olympic Games in Tokyo later this month. After pitching eight seasons in Japan, Dickson will return to the Land of the Rising Sun with Team USA. The Olympic baseball tournament begins in July 27.

Sánchez is Showing Off: Ali Sánchez has been red hot recently at the plate, entering Thursday night on a nine-game hitting streak. He went 3-5 on Wednesday to extend his hitting streak, including a double. Sánchez was on fire last week against the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp. The catcher went 9-16 in the series with a double, a home run and three RBIs. During his current hitting streak, he's batting .444 (16-36).

Juan's the One: Juan Yepez is one of the hottest hitters in Triple-A baseball right now. The 23-year-old has hits in 15 of his last 17 games, batting .360 (18-50) with five home runs, 11 RBI, 13 runs, two doubles and six walks over that span. Yepez has hit three home runs, driven in four runs and scored three times in the first two games of this week's series in Louisville. On the season, the 23-year-old is slashing .291/.384/.512 with five home runs and 14 RBIs in 30 games with Memphis. Yepez began the year with Springfield (Double-A), hitting five homers and driving in 14 runs in 19 games.

Check out the Memphis Redbirds Statistics



International League Stories from July 8, 2021


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central