Redbirds crushed by Nashville, first-half title hopes nearly gone

The Redbirds had the first-half race in their grasp, then watched it slip away in one crushing night. Colton Ledbetter went 3-for-3 and accounted for all three Memphis runs, but Nashville’s 17-3 blowout Saturday at AutoZone Park left the Redbirds on the brink of elimination and turned Sunday into a must-win with help needed elsewhere.

Ledbetter supplied the only real spark for Memphis, homering, scoring twice and driving in two runs, while Jeremy Rivas drove in the other. That was not nearly enough against a Nashville offense that kept stacking traffic and cashing in on it, with Akil Baddoo delivering the biggest hammer of the night in a seven-RBI performance that included his second grand slam of the week. Tyson Hardin added another quality start for Nashville, underscoring the gap between the two clubs as the Sounds finished the game in full control.

Pete Hansen took the loss for Memphis after allowing seven runs on nine hits over 3.2 innings. He walked three, struck out two and surrendered three home runs, a line that made the Redbirds chase the game early and never recover. Hancel Rincó, Cade Winquest and Noah Mendlinger each threw scoreless relief, a small bright spot in a game that could have turned even uglier.

The loss left Memphis needing to beat Nashville on Sunday, June 21, at 1:05 p.m. CDT and also needing Rochester to lose to Toledo to claim the International League first-half championship. Rochester’s win over Toledo on Saturday kept that race alive until the final day, and that was the kind of pressure Memphis had built toward since moving into a first-place tie with Nashville and a half-game edge over Rochester after a win at Omaha on May 31.

The stakes are especially sharp for a franchise that has won four league championships and one Triple-A National Championship since affiliating with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1998, but has not qualified for the International League championship playoffs since joining the league. Nashville had already been eliminated from first-half contention by Memphis’ 4-1 win Friday, which made Saturday less about standings for the Sounds than about pride and spoiling a rival’s run. Instead, the Redbirds were the ones left staring at the math, with a six-game homestand ending in a loss that exposed how fast control can vanish in a pennant race.