Freese's slam leads Redbirds past Rainiers

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - David Freese has come through in the clutch for the Memphis Redbirds time after time this season.

This time, he made an impact early rather than late.

Freese hit a first-inning grand slam to lead Memphis past Tacoma 8-3 Sunday afternoon at AutoZone Park.

An announced crowd of 7,091 saw Freese launch the first pitch he saw from Tacoma starter Scott Shoemaker up and over the wall in right field.

Freese said he was happy to give starter Clayton Mortensen an early lead.

"The first thing I thought was that I don't have a grand slam this year," Freese said with a laugh. "I was just trying to put the barrel on the ball. Lately I've been doing much better with guys in scoring position. I started off real slow with that. But it definitely felt good to do that for [Mortensen]."

Freese has been on a tear as of late, recording hits in 19 of his last 22 games and raising his batting average to .291. In just his first season at the Triple-A level, Freese is second among Memphis batters with 17 home runs and his 62 RBIs rank him third on the team.

Freese said patience has been the key to his success with the Redbirds.

"I knew it was going to take a while [to get adjusted]," Freese said. "Things can turn around real quick either good or bad. I just have to take it game by game and try to finish the year strong."

After Freese's slam gave Memphis an early 4-0 lead, Rico Washington made it a six-run game when he smacked a two-out, two-run home run to right.

In the top of the fourth inning, Tacoma put its first run on the board, a solo homer by Victor Diaz to cut the Memphis lead to 6-1.

The Redbirds tacked on two more runs in the bottom of the sixth. Bryan Anderson grounded out to the pitcher, allowing Freese to score from third. Cody Haerther then homered to right, giving Memphis an 8-1 edge.

The Rainiers scored once in the seventh and again in the eighth to trim the lead to five runs, but Tacoma would get no closer.

Mortensen picked up his fifth win of the season after pitching seven innings and allowing just five hits and two runs while striking out eight.

Shoemaker was handed his third loss for Tacoma.

Memphis and Tacoma will play the third game of a four-game series Monday night at 7:05 p.m. at AutoZone Park. Mike Parisi is scheduled to climb the hill for the Redbirds.

Notes: The start of the game was delayed by rain for two hours and 19 minutes...Freese's grand slam was the second of the season for Memphis...Tacoma manager Daren Brown was ejected by home plate umpire Mark Ripperger in the middle of the seventh inning...Memphis improved to 23-2 in day games this season...Washington has hits in 13 of his last 14 games.