MEMPHIS, Tennessee – The Memphis Redbirds raced out ahead early and hung on late, surviving with a 7-6 win over the Gwinnett Stripers (Triple-A affiliate, Atlanta Braves) on a muggy July night in Memphis. The ‘Birds have now won 17 of their last 18 games.
Miles Mikolas looked sharp in his rehab start. The righthander tossed four scoreless frames, allowing just three hits while striking out two and walking one. Mikolas continued a truly phenomenal string of starting pitching success for Memphis (38-37) recently. In the last ten games, the ‘Birds starters have allowed exactly one earned run in 36.0 innings.
Memphis batters gave the pitching staff plenty of early run support. They pounded out seven runs on nine hits in the first four innings, highlighted by more magic from Juan Yepez and Clint Coulter. Yepez’s two-run home run in the bottom of the 1st was his third in the past two games and his sixth in the past seven games. Coulter has performed his best at AutoZone Park this season. The former first-round pick has hit five of his seven homers this season in Memphis.
For the second straight night, Gwinnett (38-37) battled back late in the game. The Stripers scored three times in the sixth, twice in the seventh, and one more time in the eighth to make it 7-6 entering the ninth. William Contreras smacked a two-run homer in the sixth, Johan Camargo had RBI singles in the seventh and eighth and Drew Waters scored runs in the seventh and eighth en route to a 4-5 night at the plate.
Kodi Whitley came out of the bullpen to get the final out of the eighth and clinched the victory with a scoreless ninth. The Stripers certainly had their chances late in the game. They left a combined seven runners on base in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings. Gwinnett left a combined 12 runners on base for the entire game.
