MEMPHIS, Tennessee – Tyler O’Neill crushed three home runs in the Memphis Redbirds (64-37) 7-4 win over the Colorado Springs Sky Sox (Brewers), Sunday afternoon at AutoZone Park. Memphis finished the season 11-5 against the Sky Sox.
O’Neill launched home runs in the first, third, and seventh innings in the win. In the first, Luke Voit hit a home run with one out, his eighth, before O’Neill followed suit with his 21st blast of the season. In the third inning, O’Neill came to the plate with two outs before launching his second bomb of the game. Adolis Garcia followed him two pitches later by launching his 13th homer of the season. It was the second time this season the ‘Birds have gone back-to-back multiple times in one game.
The game was knotted up heading into the seventh when Memphis put it away. Patrick Wisdom led off the inning with a single, and moved to second on a sac bunt. Wisdom came around to score on Voit’s RBI single, giving the ‘Birds the lead for good. O’Neill was up next, and launched a no-doubter over the left field wall to give him his first-career three home run game.
O’Neill is now one of six players in Memphis history to hit three home runs in a game. He joins Chris Haas (8/3/99), Bill Selby (6/16/03), Rick Ankiel (6/16/07), Josh Phelps (7/29/08), and Jamie Romak (4/8/13) as the only players to do so. O’Neill has 23 home runs with Memphis and three with St. Louis this season. He is now tied with Jabari Blash of Salt Lake for the most home runs in the PCL this season.
Voit finished the game 4-for-5 with two RBI, Garcia went 2-for-4 with an RBI, Alex Mejia went 2-for-4, and Steven Baron went 2-for-4 to provide the rest of the offense for Memphis. Memphis has 28 hits in the last two games after being shutout in back-to-back games.
Six Memphis pitchers combined to earn the hard-fought win for the ‘Birds. Tyler Webb got the spot-start today. He pitched 3.2 innings of scoreless ball. He did not allow a hit, while walking two and striking out four batters. Landon Beck pitched an inning, allowing three runs on one hit and two walks, while striking out one.
Matt Bowman allowed an unearned run before ending the last Colorado Springs threat. Tommy Layne, Andrew Morales, and Edward Mujica finished off the game for the ‘Birds. Layne earned his first win of the season, while Mujica earned his 12th save.
The Redbirds have an off-day tomorrow before traveling west for a seven game road trip against Salt Lake and Las Vegas. For more information on single-game tickets and ticket mini-memberships, visit www.memphisredbirds.com.
