Two wins get Zephyrs back to .500

The New Orleans Zephyrs need just seven minutes to polish off a 12-inning victory in the resumption of a suspended game. They needed to work much harder to get their second win of the day, but emerged back at the .500 mark for the first time in nearly one month.

Kevin Kouzmanoff homered and drove in two runs, and the Zephyrs over came three Memphis home runs to down the Redbirds, 5-4 on Monday night.

New Orleans evened its record at 32-32. It is the first time they have reached .500 since owning an 18-18 record on May 13.

Run-scoring singles from Bryan Petersen and Kouzmanoff gave the Z's a quick 2-0 lead in the first inning, but the Redbirds evened the score in the bottom of the frame behind a two-run homer from Brock Peterson, his 12th of the season, ranking him fourth in the Pacific Coast League.

The Zephyrs regained the lead in the fourth when Matt Downs tripled and scored on a wild pitch by Redbirds starter Maikel Cleto. Kouzmanoff's home run an inning later doubled the Zephyrs' lead to 4-2.

Kolten Wong led off the bottom of the fifth with a home run, getting Memphis back within a run. The Redbirds threatened in the sixth on back-to-back singles by Justin Christian and Rob Johnson leading off the inning, but Zach Phillips induced an inning-ending double play from Adron Chambers to preserve the lead.

Kevin Mattison tripled to lead off the top of the seventh and scored on a single by Nick Green, providing an insurance run that proved important.

Minor League saves leader Chris Hatcher entered the ninth with a two-run lead and served up a one-out solo homer to Chambers before recording the final two outs to pick up his 20th save.

Jared Rogers (1-1) was credited with his first Triple-A win, scattering three runs and six hits across five innings. He struck out four and walked three.

Rett Varner, Phillips and Jonathan Albaladejo combined to pitch three scoreless innings before turning the game over to Hatcher in the ninth.

Cleto (2-3) took the loss after he allowed four runs and eight hits in six innings. He fanned seven and walked one.

Kouzmanoff, Petersen, Green and Kyle Skipworth all had two-hit efforts for the Zephyrs, who went 4-for-8 with runners in scoring position. The Redbirds were hitless in six at-bats with runners in scoring position.

Earlier in the evening, the Zephyrs and Redbirds resumed a game that was suspended on April 10 due to rain with the Z's leading 6-2 with one out in the top of the 12th inning. New Orleans added a run on a sacrifice fly by Jordan Brown, then Jordan Smith retired the side in order in the bottom half to complete the victory.

The Z's and Redbirds play a doubleheader on Tuesday beginning at 5 p.m.