MEMPHIS – Jesús Bastidas bashed two home runs and the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp scored eight runs in the fifth inning on Tuesday to blow by the Memphis Redbirds 15-5 at AutoZone Park.
With Jacksonville (21-19) trailing 4-3, Bastidas led off the fifth with a double against Memphis (25-15) starter Bruce Zimmermann (4-1). After a strikeout, Deyvison De Los Santos tied the game with an RBI single to left. Jacob Berry followed with a base hit to put runners on the corners. Agustín Ramírez’s swinging bunt base hit brought in De Los Santos to give the Jumbo Shrimp the lead. A Berry steal of third coupled with an error brought in another run. After a fly out, Ramírez stole third and scored on a passed ball. Kemp Alderman then cracked a solo shot to make it 8-4 and chase Zimmermann from the game.
Redbirds reliever Hancel Rincon came in and promptly gave up base hits to Matthew Etzel and Andrew Pintar. Bastidas blasted a three-run shot to widen the gap to 11-4.
After Dax Fulton (2-2) worked 5.0 innings, Nelson Velázquez walked against Jumbo Shrimp reliever Stephen Jones to start the sixth. After a strikeout, Ramon Mendoza walked. Bryan Torres then singled in Velázquez to cut the Memphis deficit to 11-5.
With the same score in the eighth, De Los Santos walked and Berry, who had three hits, doubled with two outs. A Ramírez single resulted in a pair of runs to make it 13-5.
The Jumbo Shrimp added the finishing touches in the ninth. Etzel walked with one out to bring up Pintar, who cracked a long two-run homer to left to set the final margin at 15-5.
The Redbirds jumped out to a hot start in the first inning. Torres led off with a walk before Joshua Báez cracked a two-run shot. Blaze Jordan followed with a base hit before moving to second on a wild pitch. After a pair of outs, Velázquez hit the second two-run bomb of the inning to put Memphis in front 4-0.
Jacksonville answered in the second. Etzel went deep with one out for their first run. Pintar walked before Bastidas smashed a two-run long ball to cut the gap to 4-3.
Jacksonville and Memphis meet in Wednesday’s 1:05 p.m. ET matinee. LHP Braxton Garrett (0-2, 2.30 ERA) starts for the Jumbo Shrimp against Redbirds LHP Brycen Mautz (0-1, 2.97 ERA). Coverage begins at 12:50 p.m. ET on ESPN 690 AM and www.ESPN690.com.
ABOUT THE JUMBO SHRIMP: The Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp are the Triple-A affiliate of the Miami Marlins and compete in the International League. The 2025 International League and Triple-A National Champions, the Jumbo Shrimp call VyStar Ballpark home for baseball but also a wide variety of additional community focused events with a goal of providing Affordable, Family, FUN to Northeast Florida. Winners of many marketing and sales awards and recognition since the team was rebranded prior to the 2017 season, the Jumbo Shrimp continually lead the state of Florida in attendance across all minor league professional sports organizations.