Redbirds blank Indians in opener before Indianapolis evens doubleheader with shutout
Bruce Zimmermann and Bligh Madris gave Memphis a 3-0 opener, but Indianapolis answered with two three-run homers and a 9-0 nightcap.
The split felt like two different games stitched together by the same afternoon. Memphis opened the doubleheader with a 3-0 shutout, then watched Indianapolis turn the rematch into a 9-0 blanking after the Indians finally broke through in a five-run fifth inning at AutoZone Park.
Bruce Zimmermann set the tone for the Redbirds in Game 1, working 5.1 scoreless innings with five hits allowed, seven strikeouts and no walks. The left-hander, a 31-year-old Baltimore native drafted by Atlanta in the fifth round in 2017, improved to 3-0 as Memphis leaned on his command and tempo to control the opener. Bligh Madris supplied the decisive swing in the bottom of the third, launching a two-run homer 430 feet to put Memphis in front, and Max Rajcic protected the shutout by escaping a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the sixth with a double play before finishing the seventh for his second save.
Game 2 flipped almost every script. Hancel Rincón, the 24-year-old right-hander from Los Llanos, Dominican Republic, was sharp in his spot start and kept Indianapolis quiet through four innings, allowing three hits, walking none and striking out five. Memphis still had not allowed a run through the first 11 innings of the twin bill, but the Indians cracked the day open in the fifth, starting with a leadoff double by Endy Rodríguez. Three straight bunts followed, Tyler Callihan later added a sacrifice-bunt RBI, and then Ronny Simon and Rafael Flores Jr. each unloaded three-run homers to blow the game wide open.
The second game settled into a 7.0-inning doubleheader format in front of 4,010 at AutoZone Park, with a 2:33 p.m. first pitch under 75-degree overcast skies and an 8 mph wind in from right field. Indianapolis’ surge turned a day that began with Memphis precision into a split, but the Redbirds still left with a one-game lead over Gwinnett in the International League and remained a team that had not spent a day outside at least a tie for first place. In a season that began March 27 and features 75 home dates in a 150-game schedule, the Redbirds again showed both sides of their identity in the span of a few hours.
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