Yadier Molina, playing his fourth game at AutoZone Park on an injury rehab assignment from the St. Louis Cardinals, hit a three-run home run and finished with four RBI as the Memphis Redbirds thumped the El Paso Chihuahuas in the series finale Monday night in Downtown Memphis, 10-4.
The Redbirds (51-63) have won six of their last seven games and 13 of their last 17 overall. Memphis has won five-straight series.
Molina clubbed a three-run home run in the sixth inning, and he also had an RBI single in the third. The Redbirds tied a season high with five home runs in the game, as Ramon Urias hit two and Edmundo Sosa and Rangel Ravelo each had one in addition to Molina.
Memphis pitching held El Paso (66-48), one of the best-hitting teams in the Pacific Coast League, to just four hits in the last two games.
The Chihuahuas led 3-0 after two-and-a-half innings, before the Redbirds exploded for six runs in the bottom of the sixth, all with two outs, thanks in part to three home runs in the inning. Sosa and Ravelo went back-to-back after Molina singled home the Redbirds’ first run of the game, and Urias hit his first of the night two batters later.
Memphis put up four more runs in the bottom of the sixth, as Urias led off the inning with another home run before Molina clubbed his three-run shot a few batters later with two outs.
The Redbirds bullpen continued its strong end-of-game work, as Kodi Whitley, Junior Fernandez, and Dominic Leone closed out the win with 4.0 scoreless innings of work. Whitley struck out three in his 2.0 innings, Fernandez had a strikeout in the eighth, and Leone fanned two in the ninth.
Randy Arozarena was 1-for-5 and has now reached base in 33-straight starts. With his home run, Sosa is now on a 12-game hitting streak.
The Redbirds next hit the road for Sacramento and Fresno, starting Wednesday night at 9:05 (CT), before returning to AutoZone Park on Thursday, Aug. 15.
