The regular season came to a close Labor Day Monday in the form of a 5-4 Memphis win in 10 innings. Perhaps a fitting end to not only the regular season, but the season series between the Sox and Redbirds. More on that in a bit.

The scoring took off in the bottom of the first for the Sox when Quintin Berry singled, moved to second on a balk, third on a ground out and scored on a 6-3 out hit into by Ivan De Jesus, 1-0 good guys.

Patrick Wisdom stepped to the plate with a runner on and nobody out in the third and smacked a homer off the video board in left-center to give the Redbirds the 2-1 lead. The blast came against Wuilder Rodriguez in the right-hander’s Triple-A debut.

The game remained 2-1 until the fifth when the Sox plated a pair and regained the advantage. Lucas Erceg smacked a double, Tyler Heineman walked and Yadiel Rivera singled to bring in one run to tie it up. Tim Dillard pinch hit for David Goforth and hit a ground ball with the infield in, right through the wickets of second baseman Aledmys Diaz which scored another run and gave the home team the 3-2 lead.

The score remained 3-2 until the top of the ninth when a Wisdom single tied it and forced extras. Memphis plated two, two-out runs on two doubles and a single in the top half and Berry’s solo shot in the bottom half made it the final score of 5-4. The game ended on a pop out to short, turned into a 6-4-3 double play when De Jesus took off on contact and was at third despite there being only one out.

Game Story Here

Quick Hits…The Sox picked up four runs on nine hits in the regular season finale…Quintin Berry, Ivan De Jesus, Yadiel Rivera each had two hits and an RBI…Berry smacked a homer and scored twice…Chris Colabello, Lucas Erceg, and Tyler Heineman each tallied one hit…Wuilder Rodriguez allowed two runs on three hits in three innings of his Triple-A debut…David Goforth and Tim Dillard combined for five scoreless in relief…Wily Peralta was charged with a blown save and Andrew Barbosa the loss.

Play of the Game – 

Quintin Berry’s 10th inning blast…

Pregame Interview with Dan Acheson and Sox Pres./GM Tony Ensor – 

IT’S TIME FOR PLAYOFF BASEBALL!!!! LET’S GOOOOOOO!!!!

TALE OF THE TAPE: The Sox and ‘Birds met 16 times in 2017 and guess what they split, with each side taking eight games. The Sox went 3-5 in Memphis and 5-3 at Security Service Field. The Sox outscored the Redbirds 89-78 in the 16 games and had a team average of  .285 and ERA of 4.50. Memphis hit .260 and had a team ERA of 5.36 against Colorado Springs.

Colorado Springs Sky Sox (80-57) at Memphis Redbirds (91-50) – 6:05 p.m. 

Game Notes / Listen Live at 5:30 p.m.

Pitching Probables:  RHP Taylor Jungmann (9-2, 2.59 w/COS) at RHP Dakota Hudson (1-1, 4.42 w/MEM)

Sky Sox Starter: Right-hander Taylor Jungmann gets the call to begin the PCL American Conference Championship series tonight at AutoZone Park in Memphis. In 15 starts and two relief appearances with the Sox he’s accrued an 9-2 record and a 2.59 ERA, allowing 28 runs (26 earned) on 69 hits. He walked 39 and fanned 82 while holding PCL opponents to a .216 batting average against. He opened the season with the Brewers and went two-thirds of an inning before being optioned to Double-A Biloxi. There he went 1-2 with a 4.36 ERA with the Shuckers in the Southern League. He is 5-2 with a 2.09 ERA in nine road appearances and has yet to face the Memphis this season. Jungmann is 5-1 over his last 10 outings.

Drafted by the Brewers in the 1st round of the 2011 draft out of the University of Texas, Jungmann has made 138 MiLB appearances, 130 starts, and is 49-40 with a 4.00 ERA. He’s 9-13 with a 4.54 ERA in 30 MLB outings.

Last Time Out – August 31 – Win at Round Rock –

Jungmann was again outstanding and fired off six scoreless innings against the Express in his home state, not too far from his hometown. He scattered five hits, hit a batter, walked another and struck out five on 90 pitches, 55 went for strikes.

Redbirds Starting Arm: Fellow right-hander Dakota Hudson readies for the Game 1 start tonight against the Sky Sox at AutoZone Park. He finished the season with seven starts as part of the Memphis roster and went 1-1 with a 4.42 ERA. In 38 2/3 PCL frames he allowed 20 runs (19 earned) on 36 hits, allowed two homers, walked 15 and struck out 19. Opponents are hitting .252 against the Chattanooga, Tennessee native. He has a remarkable ground out to air out ratio of 1.68 this season with Memphis. He has never faced the Sky Sox and is 1-0 with a 3.18 ERA in four starts at AutoZone Park. Before joining the Redbirds, Hudson went 9-4 with a 2.53 ERA in 18 starts with Double-A Springfield.

Hudson was selected by the Cardinals in the first round of the 2016 draft out of Mississippi State. In his first two professional seasons, the righty is 12-6 with three saves and a 2.82 ERA in 37 appearances, 26 starts. He is a groundball pitcher and has a career GO/AO ratio of 2.14.

Last Time Out – August 30 – Win vs. Iowa – 

Hudson went the first 5 2/3 innings and allowed three runs on four hits. He walked three and struck out one on 100 pitches, 57 of which went for strikes. He earned the win.

Lineups

Dan Karcher (@SkySoxKarch) continues his 28^th season behind the mic for Sky Sox games, he will have the call of tonight’s game from AutoZone Park at 6:05 p.m. I will get Sky Sox Warmup fired up at 5:30 p.m. MDT on XTRA Sports 1300.

Thanks for reading – See you on the radio,

@Dan_Acheson