Game 121: Jumbo Shrimp vs Redbirds

4 min readSep 21, 2021

Tuesday, September 21, 2021–7:05 p.m. ET

Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp (69–50) vs Memphis Redbirds (57–63)

121 Financial Ballpark — Jacksonville, Fla.

LAST TIME OUT:

Monte Harrison hit his 15th home run of the season as part of a five-run fifth inning on Sunday, as Jacksonville closed out its series against the Norfolk Tides with a 6–2 win. Jacksonville finished with 11 hits in the ballgame including doubles from Zack Zehner, Connor Justus, Lorenzo Quintana, and Justin Twine. Jake Fishman tossed two scoreless innings to earn the win in relief, as the Jumbo Shrimp bullpen delivered five scoreless innings and struck out five.

Monte Harrison hit a three-run home run for his 15th of the season in a 6–2 win over Norfolk on Sunday (Tim Davis/td Photography)

GAME INFO:

The Jumbo Shrimp take on the Memphis Redbirds in a five-game series to close out the home schedule in 2021. The Jumbo Shrimp and Redbirds split a six-game series that bridged the end of June with the start of July. It will mark the first time this season that pitchers will bat at 121 Financial Ballpark, as Memphis and Miami will play by National League rules in this series.

MEET THE REDBIRDS:

Memphis is the Triple-A affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals. The Redbirds enter with a 57–63 record and finished the regular year in fifth place in the Southeast Division.

The Redbirds are managed by Ben Johnson, who returns for his second season in Memphis. Johnson is actually a native of Memphis and was drafted by the Cardinals in 1999, and additionally is now managing for the first time in affiliated ball. He previously was an assistant coach for the Durham Bulls and was the manager of the Arizona/Goodyear Centennials of the Freedom Pro Baseball League.

Memphis is home to five of the top 10 prospects in St. Louis’s farm system, and 10 of their top 30. Infielder Nolan Gorman is the Cardinals' top-rated prospect, while left-handed pitcher Matthew Liberatore is second. Both are just 21 years old. Offensively the Redbirds have been led by Juan Yepez, who leads Triple-A East in OPS (.970) and slugging (.591). He also ranks among league leaders in home runs, batting average, and on-base percentage.

PITCHING MATCHUP:

RHP Nick Neidert (6–3, 3.32 ERA)

Nick Neidert will make his 12th start of the season tonight for Jacksonville. After a sensational month of August, when he pitched to a 1.93 ERA, Neidert has gotten off to a bumpy start in September, giving up nine runs over two outings. He was unable to make it out of the first inning in his last start against Norfolk. The 24-year-old was originally drafted by the Mariners in the second round of 2015 out of high school and was traded to the Marlins as part of the Dee Strange-Gordon deal at the end of 2017. Neidert made his debut last season for Miami and has also made seven appearances (six starts) this year for the Marlins. He is the ninth-ranked prospect in the Marlins system and features a fastball, slider, changeup, curve, and cutter.

LHP Zack Thompson (2–9, 6.87 ERA)

Zack Thompson will make his 19th start of the season for Memphis. Rated as the number eight prospect in the Cardinals organization, the lefty has had a rocky 2021 campaign, giving up four or more runs in 11 of his outings this year, with opponents hitting over .300 against him. In his last start against the Louisville Bats, Thompson yielded six runs on 10 hits over 4.1 innings. Thompson was selected by the Cardinals 19th overall in 2019 out of the University of Kentucky, where he posted a K/9 of 13 as a junior. He features a fastball, slider, curveball, and changeup.

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LINEUP

Brian Miller, RF
Peyton Burdick, LF
Monte Harrison, CF
Lorenzo Quintana, 1B
Isan Diaz, 3B
Joe Dunand, SS
Brian Navarreto, C
Justin Twine, 2B
Nick Neidert, P

NEWS FROM THE TROUPE:

Jesús Sánchez homered last night for the Marlins and now has hit six home runs in his last 10 games. Jazz Chisholm also enjoyed a two-homer game for the Marlins, who beat the Nationals 8–7 in 10 innings.

TRIPLE-A SOUTHEAST DIVISION STANDINGS