One night after falling short in 11 innings, the Memphis Redbirds would not be denied on Wednesday afternoon, scoring three runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to rally back and beat the Louisville Bats (Triple-A affiliate, Cincinnati Reds), 6-5, on a sunny day at AutoZone Park.
Matt Szczur opened the scoring in the bottom of the third. He unloaded on the first pitch he saw from Vladimir Gutiérrez, hitting a no-doubt home run high onto the hill beyond the left-field fence at AutoZone Park. Szczur has hits in three straight games, including a triple and a home run.
Louisville (4-9) scratched across a run in the top of the sixth, tying the game on three singles and an error. The Bats couldn’t unknot the tie score, however, leaving two runners on base in the top of the sixth.
Lars Nootbaar gave Memphis (5-9) the lead back with a screaming line drive over the right-field fence while leading off the bottom of the sixth inning. The outfielder has hits in three straight games and has six RBIs in his past five games.
Louisville went on a brief spurt after that, scoring four combined runs between the seventh and eight innings to open up a 5-2 lead. In the process, they chased Angel Rondón from the ballgame in the seventh inning. Memphis’ starter finished with a sharp line – 6.1 innings pitched with three runs allowed (all earned) and four strikeouts. Two of the three earned runs charged to Rondón came in his final inning of work, the seventh.
The ‘Birds came to the plate in the bottom of the eighth trailing by three runs, and that’s when the rally began. First, José Rondón doubled home Nootbaar in the eighth, slimming the deficit to 5-3.
Then, in the ninth, the magic happened. A single by Rayder Ascanio and a double by Irving Lopez leading off the inning put two runners in scoring position with nobody out. With one out, Evan Mendoza sliced an opposite-field single into shallow right field, scoring both runners to tie the game. Mendoza promptly stole his way to second, and then with two outs, Rondón looped a single into left field to score Mendoza and send the crowd home happy.
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
