MEMPHIS, Tennessee – The Memphis Redbirds won a game for the ages on Saturday night, outlasting the Columbus Clippers (Triple-A affiliate, Cleveland Indians) for a 14-12 victory in an absolute slugfest. The two teams combined for 33 hits in one wild affair.
Early on, it did not look like it would be a good night for Memphis (48-53, as Columbus (46-53) raced out to a 6-0 lead entering the bottom of the third inning. The Clippers rapped out eight hits in the first three innings, highlighted by a two-run double for Gabriel Arias and RBI triples from Will Benson and Connor Marabell.
From there, the Redbirds made their thunderous charge. Memphis scored the next nine runs in the game, highlighted by home-run power. First, Juan Yepez hit a no-doubt grand slam in the third inning to close the gap to 6-5. Then, Brendan Donovan and Nolan Gorman added solo dingers to the cause in the fourth inning. Gorman now has 10 round-trippers in 51 games in Triple-A, while Donovan has two homers in hie brief Triple-A career of eight games.
Believe it or not, the scoring in the game was far from finished. It was 9-6 entering the top of the eighth, when the two teams cranked up their offensive machine again. First, Columbus scored twice in the eighth to slim the deficit to 9-8, as Alex Call and Trenton Brooks brought runs home with RBI singles. Then, Memphis scored five more times in the eighth inning, as Yepez launched yet another home run into the night sky (this one a three-run shot). The two homer, seven-RBI night for Yepez puts a capper on a monstrous recent stretch. He is 15-34 (BA of .441) over his last nine games with seven doubles, four home runs and 15 runs driven in.
Not to be lost among the herculean Yepez effort were other excellent performances at the plate for the ‘Birds. Kramer Robertson went 4-5 with three runs scored and three runs driven in, Donovan and Dennis Ortega each had two-hit games, and Nick Plummer doubled and scored three runs. Every single batter in the Memphis starting lineup had at least one hit.
Columbus made one last valiant charge in the top of the ninth, scoring four times on four hits (including home runs from Nolan Jones and Benson). However, the game finally was secured when Brandon Dickson struck out Trenton Brooks swinging to end a truly insane game.
