Memphis routs Omaha 19-5 behind nine-run fourth inning

Memphis turned Werner Park into a runaway in the middle innings, scoring nine times in the fourth and blasting Omaha 19-5 on Tuesday night, but Brett Squires still carved out a performance worth isolating inside the wreckage. The 26-year-old Omaha outfielder homered twice, giving the home crowd something to track long after the game had slipped away.

The Redbirds seized control early and never loosened their grip. Memphis opened with a leadoff homer for a 1-0 lead, then answered Squires’ solo shot in the bottom of the second with a two-run homer and an RBI single in the third. By the time the fourth inning ended, the Storm Chasers were staring at a hole that was too deep for even a strong offensive night to matter.

That fourth frame was the separator. Memphis stacked nine runs on Omaha and kept adding pressure from there, finishing with 21 hits and no errors in a game that lasted 3:01 and started at 6:37 p.m. CT in clear 88-degree weather with a 10 mph wind blowing right to left. Omaha managed 13 hits and no errors, but Mitch Spence absorbed the collapse, allowing 13 earned runs on 15 hits in 3.0 innings as his record fell to 1-4. Hunter Dobbins earned the win for Memphis.

Squires’ damage gave the loss a narrower focus than the scoreboard suggested. He entered the night with 11 home runs and 43 RBI between Omaha and Double-A Northwest Arkansas, and the two-homer effort pushed his 2026 production even higher. The left-handed hitter from Fort Worth, Texas, who played at Oklahoma and is listed at 6-foot-3, 210 pounds, has been one of the few bright spots in a Storm Chasers lineup trying to stay afloat around .500.

Omaha did find other traffic on the bases. Josh Rojas and Abraham Toro both had four-hit nights, and Toro, a 29-year-old switch-hitter from Longueuil, Quebec with MLB experience, later took the mound in the ninth as a position player pitcher and surrendered a three-run homer before finishing the inning. John Rave added a sacrifice fly and Kameron Misner launched a two-run homer in the final frame, but Memphis had already made the outcome academic.

The Redbirds, who improved to 31-21, keep showing why their roster construction has played at a different level. Memphis opened the season with eight players ranked among the Cardinals’ top 30 prospects, and the club’s run of success since becoming St. Louis’ Triple-A affiliate in 1998 helps explain nights like this one. Omaha dropped to 25-26 and was right back on the schedule Wednesday with Ethan Bosacker lined up to start.