Mike Mayers pitched into the seventh inning and the Memphis Redbirds continued their recent power surge as they dispatched the Round Rock Express (Rangers), 4-1, on Monday afternoon at AutoZone Park.
Mayers authored his best start of the season for Memphis (14-11), pitching past the fifth inning for the first time in five starts. The righthander improved to 2-3 by tossing six innings of shutout, two-hit ball. He walked the first two hitters of the seventh, and four in total, but struck out three to keep the Express (11-14) at bay all afternoon.
The Memphis offense provided enough support to secure the victory for Mayers. The Redbirds got on the board in the bottom of the second inning with a trio of singles, culminating in a two-out RBI knock for Breyvic Valera, who finished with three hits on the day. Paul DeJong added an RBI groundout in the fourth inning to run the score to 2-0.
Round Rock had opportunites to get back in the game, bringing the tying or go-ahead run to the plate in four of the last five innings. However, Mayers and the bullpen combination ofRowan Wick, Ryan Sherriff, and Sam Tuivailala held the Express to 1-for-14 with runners in scoring position and stranded 11 baserunners. The lone run for Round Rock came on an RBI groundout in the top of the ninth.
Memphis added insurance tallies in its must customary way, getting solo home runs from Patrick Wisdom in the sixth and DeJong in the eighth. The Redbirds belted 12 home runs in the five-game set and ended up with 11 hits on the day and 57 in the series. DeJong was responsible for four dingers in the set while Wisdom added three of his own.
Winners of four in a row, the Redbirds hit the road for eight games in nine days before returning to AutoZone Park for an eight-game homestand May 11-18. The road trip begins with the opener of a four-game set against the Omaha Storm Chasers (Royals) on Tuesday at 6:35 p.m. CT.
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