MEMPHIS, TENN. – The Omaha Storm Chasers were swept in a doubleheader for the second time this season, dropping a pair of 7-inning contests to the Memphis Redbirds Thursday at AutoZone Park, 3-1 and 5-1.
GAME 1: Memphis 3, Omaha 1 (Final/7)
Chandler Champlain started the first game of the day and opened the day with two perfect innings, retiring his first six hitters of the game, as the game was tied at 0-0 going into the bottom of the third. A walk and single plated a run in the third for Memphis, then three doubles added two more runs in the fourth for a 3-0 Redbirds lead.
Omaha responded in the fifth, as Nelson Velázquez opened the inning was a walk, then singles from Austin Nola and Cam Devanney played Velázquez to cut the score to 3-1, while putting the tying run on base.
The Storm Chasers couldn’t add another run in the fifth and wound up stranding six runners on base over the final three innings. Brian O’Keefe collected his second hit of the day in the sixth inning but was left on, then singles from Nola and Nate Eaton, followed by a walk to Drew Waters loaded the bases in the seventh, but the Chasers stranded the tying run in scoring position and the go-ahead run on base to end the game.
Champlain took his seventh loss of the year, allowing just the three runs over 5.0 innings, while striking out two. Noah Murdock followed with a scoreless sixth, but Omaha dropped the first game of the doubleheader by two.
GAME 2: Memphis 5, Omaha 1 (Final/7)
The Storm Chasers leapt out to an early lead in the second game of the day, as John Rave opened the game with a double, then moved to third on a groundout and scored on a Drew Waters single for a 1-0 lead.
While Nick Loftin reached on an error with one out in the first inning, he was the final baserunner of the game for Omaha, as Memphis starter Michael McGreevy retired his final 20 hitters of the game, 10 on strikeouts, to throw his third complete game of the season and the second 7-inning, 2-hit, complete game against Omaha this year.
Starter Tyson Guerrero opened the game with a scoreless first inning for Omaha but struggled over his next three, en route to his first Triple-A loss. A pair of walks led to a run on a sacrifice fly in the second that tied the game at 1-1. While the lefty worked around a pair of singles for a scoreless third, three walks in the fourth inning came around to score on a bases-clearing triple, for a 4-1 Memphis lead.
Eric Cerantola surrendered a home run to open the bottom of the fifth and while Austin Cox struck out two in a scoreless sixth, Omaha’s bats were silenced and offered no offense in the final six innings, retired in order to end the game.
The Storm Chasers return to action Friday, September 6 at 7:05 p.m. CT as left-hander Noah Cameron, the International League’s reigning pitcher of the month, starts against Memphis.
