Redbirds Pitching Shuts Down Toledo in Shutout Win

Box Score

TOLEDO, Ohio – *The Memphis Redbirds won an unconventional game at the Toledo Mud Hens (Triple-A affiliate, Detroit Tigers) on Wednesday night, winning 4-0 on the strength of great pitching and timely situational baseball.

After a couple of scoreless innings to start the game, Memphis (17-27) opened the scoring in the top of the third in strange fashion. With runners on second and third with nobody out, Kramer Robertson hit a fly ball onto the center-field warning track. JaCoby Jones made a tremendous catch for Toledo (22-21), hanging onto the ball as he slammed into the padded wall and lost his sunglasses in the process. While all of this was happening, both Juan Yepez at third and Scott Hurst at second tagged up and scored, giving Robertson the extremely-rare sacrifice fly which drove in two runs.

After that, the game settled into a pitcher’s duel. Pedro Payano went six strong innings for Toledo, allowing just those two runs on five hits with four strikeouts. The righthander from the Dominican Republic retired 11 of the final 13 batters that he faced.

On the other side, Connor Thomas was even better, twirling maybe the best start of the season for Memphis. The lefthander worked 5.2 scoreless innings, surrendering just five hits and one walk while striking out seven batters. Thomas left two runners on base with two outs in the sixth, and Roel Ramirez came in to clean up the inning by retiring Jones on a groundout to shortstop.

In the top of the seventh, the ‘Birds put the game on ice via some small-ball. Memphis combined an infield single, a hit batter, a walk, a balk and an RBI groundout to push across two more runs and make the game 4-0. Evan Mendoza and Hurst came home to score in the frame.

The bullpen backed up Thomas and locked the game down late. Ramirez, Connor Jones and Brandon Waddell combined to toss 3.1 scoreless innings out of the bullpen, allowing just one hit while striking out four batters. It was the first shutout of the season for the Redbirds’ pitching staff.

The Memphis Redbirds are the proud Triple-A Affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals. Memphis has claimed four League Championships and one Triple-A National Championship since their affiliation with St. Louis began in 1998. For the latest team news, follow the Redbirds on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Ticket information can be found at memphisredbirds.com/tickets.

Next Game

Thursday, June 24 at Toledo (6:05 p.m. CT)

• Redbirds Probable Starter: LHP Matthew Liberatore
• Mud Hens Probable Starter: RHP Mark Leiter, Jr.

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