MEMPHIS, Tennessee – The Memphis Redbirds (44-30) trailed 4-0 until the bottom of the sixth before rallying for a 5-4 win over the New Orleans Baby Cakes (Marlins) Friday night at AutoZone Park.
Memphis scored two runs in the sixth and three in the eighth to complete the comeback. Max Schrock, Rangel Ravelo, and Oscar Mercado all had two hits for Memphis, with Mercado driving in two in the eighth to tie the game at 5. He then stole third, his second steal of the night and 18th of the season, and scored the eventual game-winning run on a wild pitch.
The Redbirds had four doubles on the night. Memphis’ first run of the game in the sixth also scored via wild pitch.
Chris Ellis started for Memphis and worked 6.0 innings, allowing one earned run, four total, on seven hits. Hector Mendoza and Tommy Layne combined for 3.0 shutout innings of relief with five strikeouts.
Layne, who was signed by the Cardinals one week ago and arrived in Memphis today, gave up a leadoff hit in the top of the ninth but struck out the side to finish the game.
With his 18 steals this season, Mercado is already two away from entering the single-season Redbirds leaderboard.
The Redbirds’ four-game series with New Orleans continues with postgame fireworks tomorrow night at 6:35 p.m. and finishes Sunday at 2:05 p.m. For more information on single-game tickets and ticket mini-memberships, visit www.memphisredbirds.com.
