The Memphis Redbirds leaned on their bullpen Saturday evening, and they were rewarded with a 5-1 victory over the Gwinnett Stripers.
The Redbirds have now won all five games in the series, and six in a row overall, improving their record to 9-5.
James Naile was the first pitcher for the Redbirds to take the mound and was solid in his three innings.
While he did give up the Stripers’ sole run on the night, he did strike out five batters and walked only one.
For the first time in the series, Gwinnett was on the board first after the second inning, but left fielder Justin Toerner had an answer for that.
Toerner smacked a solo homer to right-center field to tie the game 1-1, his first homer and first RBI of the season.
Designated hitter Luken Baker blooped a single over the second baseman’s head to score catcher Ivan Herrera to take the lead for his team-leading 10th RBI.
Andrew Suárez was the second pitcher to come in the game for the Redbirds, and he held serve during his outing.
In three innings, the 30-year-old lefty gave up no hits, walked only one, and struck out four.
Memphis broke the game wide open in the sixth inning with three players singling home runs to give the Redbirds a 5-1 lead.
First, it was shortstop Paul Dejong who brought home second baseman Masyn Winn for his fifth RBI with the Redbirds.
Then, center fielder Oscar Mercado then plated DeJong a few batters later for his second RBI.
Finally, Juniel Querecuto wanted in on the fun and drove in Luken Baker for his seventh run RBI on the year.
That left the final three innings in the hands of Kodi Whitley and Guillermo Zuñiga to finish it out.
Both did their jobs tremendously with Whitley giving up only two hits and striking out two and Zuñiga gave up no hits, one walk, and one strikeout.
Young right-hander Gordon Graceffo is on the mound for the last game of the series this afternoon to try and give the Redbirds the sweep of Gwinnett.
After the game, the Redbirds will be traveling back to Memphis to prepare for their series against the Indianapolis Indians.