Memphis starts series with big win

Memphis starts series with big win

Memphis Redbirds NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana – The Memphis Redbirds and New Orleans Zephyrs (Triple-A Marlins) needed 10 innings in the first game of a six-game, four-day series, but the Redbirds prevailed Sunday night in New Orleans, 5-2, thanks in part to a four-run top of the 10th.

Memphis (56-58) has won four-straight games. Jeremy Hefner worked 8.0 innings and allowed just one run on seven hits, and he struck out six and walked one. In his first two starts prior to tonight after missing 54 games due to injury, Hefner worked a total of 10.1 innings and gave up nine earned runs with eight hits and eight walks.

Harrison Bader had a pinch-hit, two-run home run in the top of the 10th, and Efren Navarro, Jose Martinez and Dean Anna all had two hits. Randal Grichuk had an RBI in the top of the 10th, and he threw out a runner at the plate in the bottom-half. Breyvic Valera extended his hitting streak to seven games with a 1-for-4 showing, and he also scored and drove in a run.

Valera helped start the scoring in the top of the third, when he singled home Mike Ohlman, who singled to lead off the frame. Hefner retired 10straight Zephyrs from the fourth inning until the first batter of the seventh, when Matt Juengel tied the game with a home run.

Memphis left a runner on base in the eighth and two more in the ninth, and the game headed to extra innings, where the Redbirds struck fast.

Matt Williams and Valera walked, and Navarro ripped a ball at the second baseman that scored Williams. Grichuk grounded out but scored Valera, and Bader stepped to the plate to pinch hit for David Washington with two away.

Bader hit a 1-2 pitch out of the park for his second home run since joining the Redbirds, and the Redbirds took a 5-1 lead.

The Zephyrs (52-61) got a run off Ryan Sherriff in his second inning of work in the bottom of the 10th, but thanks in part to the Grichuk outfield assist he sealed the win and moved to 6-0 on the season.

The 8.0 innings for Hefner are his season high and his most since working 8.0 as a member of the New York Mets against the Miami Marlins on April 30, 2013.

The Redbirds and the Zephyrs play a doubleheader tomorrow, with game one starting at 5:00 p.m. Memphis returns to AutoZone Park later this week for eight games running Friday the 12th through Friday the 19th. The upcoming homestand features a “Yadi-Air Freshener” giveaway on the 12th, a Trevor Rosenthal Talking Bobblehead Theme Ticket and postgame fireworks on the 13th, and weekly promotions Prairie Farms Ice Cream Sunday, King Cotton $1 Hot Dog Night (Tuesday) and College Night (Thursday).

By Michael Schroeder