Redbirds roll to 11-6 win over Zephyrs

Luis Mateo drove in five runs to lead the Memphis Redbirds to a 11-6 win over the New Orleans Zephyrs on Friday night.

With the victory, the Redbirds lowered their magic number to clinch the division title to two. New Orleans, meanwhile, clinched its first losing season since 2011. Memphis racked up 15 hits, and won despite going just 4-for-22 with runners in scoring position.

For the 12th time in the last 13 games, the Zephyrs were first to get on the scoreboard. With one out in the first, Derek Dietrich was hit by a pitch, advanced to third on a single by Mark Canha and scored on a Justin Bour ground out.

The Zephyrs doubled their lead an inning later, loading the bases with one out for Brian Bogusevic, who lifted a sacrifice fly to left field.

Memphis capitalized on two Juan Diaz errors on the same play in the third inning to claim its first lead. With runners at first and second and two outs, Diaz misplayed a Jermaine Curtis grounder, then overthrew first base in his attempt to record the out, enabling Stephen Piscotty to score from third.

Mateo then roped a double over the head of center fielder Brian Bogusevic to put the Redbirds on top.

In the fourth, Piscotty delivered a two-out RBI single for his third hit of the night, and scored on a double by Xavier Scruggs.

That ended the night for Brian Flynn (8-10), who was charged with five runs - two earned - on eight hits in four innings. He struck out five, walked two and hit two batters.

Joey O'Gara came out of the bullpen in the fifth but walked Curtis before giving up a long home run to Mateo. It was just the third time Mateo had homered in 91 combined games this season with the Redbirds and Double-A Springfield.

The Zephyrs got the two runs back in the bottom of the frame when Mark Canha led off with a single and scored on the 25th double of the year by Juan Diaz, giving the Z's four players with at least 25 two-baggers in a season for the third time in team history. Rob Brantly then followed with an RBI single up the middle to draw New Orleans within 7-5.

But the Redbirds again extended the lead to four runs in the seventh inning with a two-out rally. Scott Moore drilled a double into the right field corner and Tommy Pham followed with a stand-up triple off the base of the wall in right-center field. Zack Cox then made a wild throw to first on a Pete Kozma grounder to allow Pham to score.

Diaz collected his second double of the night with a shot off the left field wall in the bottom of the seventh and came around to score when Cox singled past a diving Mateo at second base, but the Redbirds responded one more time on an Audry Perez RBI double in the eighth, and Mateo knocked Perez in with a single to left.

David Aardsma (4-0) was credited with the victory by retiring all four batters he faced, including three by strikeout. Spot starter Heath Wyatt gave up three runs and four hits in 3 1/3 innings in the first start of his four-year career.

The Zephyrs and Redbirds play the third game of the season-ending five-game set on Saturday. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m.