Nashville Sounds Baseball
Velez Homer One Of Only Two Nashville Hits In Contest
Nashville, TN – The Nashville Sounds were limited to a season-low two hits by three Oklahoma City hurlers in a 4-2 loss to the RedHawks on Thursday evening at Greer Stadium in the opener of a four-game series.
Oklahoma City starter Nick Tropeano (2-3) allowed only one hit over his six innings of work, a two-run Eugenio Velez homer, to pick up the win for the visitors.
Rhiner Cruz followed with two hitless frames before Kevin Chapman gave up a Caleb Gindl single in the ninth but successfully worked out of a first-and-third, two-out jam to pick up his second save of the year.
A pair of walks came back to haunt Pena in the sixth as Oklahoma City stretched its lead to 3-0. Domingo Santana and Jon Singleton drew consecutive free passes before both later scored on catcher Max Stassi’s two-run double to the left-center wall. Sounds center fielder Kevin Mattison nearly corralled the ball for a spectacular inning-ending catch, but the ball was jarred loose from his glove as he jumped into the wall.
The RedHawks attempted to add a third run in the frame but Gindl cut down Stassi at the plate from left field as he attempted to score on Kike Hernandez’s single.
Pena (2-3) took the loss for the Sounds after allowing three runs on five hits in his 5 2/3 frames. He walked four batters and struck out seven during his 105-pitch effort.
Tropeano kept the Sounds out of the hit column for the first five-plus innings before Velez spoiled his no-hit and shutout bids with one swing of the bat in the home half of the sixth.
After Mattison reached on a wild pitch following a strikeout, Velez swatted a two-run homer to right to make it a 3-2 contest. It was the veteran’s fifth big fly of the year.
Santana added an insurance run for Oklahoma City in the top of the eighth when he belted a one-out solo homer to left off Brent Leach, which snapped the southpaw’s stretch of 12 1/3 scoreless innings over 10 appearances.
The teams continue the series with another 7:05pm meeting on Friday night. Right-hander Mike Fiers (6-1, 1.59) will man the bump for Nashville and face Oklahoma City right-hander David Martinez (4-2, 3.94).
Box Score
May 15th, 2014
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oklahoma City RedHawks | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 7 | 1 |
| Nashville Sounds | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Okla. City | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | LOB | AVG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grossman, CF | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .270 |
| Chambers, LF | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | .313 |
| Santana, D, RF | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .296 |
| Singleton, 1B | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | .294 |
| Petit, G, SS | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | .272 |
| Stassi, C | 4 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | .258 |
| Hernandez, E, 2B | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .301 |
| Meyer, J, 3B | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | .192 |
| Castro, E, DH | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .121 |
| Tropeano, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Cruz, R, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Chapman, K, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Totals | 30 | 4 | 7 | 4 | 5 | 9 | 7 | .265 |
| BATTING 2B: Stassi (8, Pena, A). HR: Castro, E (1, 5th inning off Pena, A, 0 on, 2 out), Santana, D (6, 8th inning off Leach, 0 on, 1 out). TB: Hernandez, E 2; Castro, E 4; Singleton; Stassi 2; Santana, D 5. RBI: Castro, E (5), Stassi 2 (22), Santana, D (25). 2-out RBI: Castro, E; Stassi 2. Team RISP: 2-for-4. Team LOB: 4.BASERUNNING SB: Santana, D (1, 2nd base off Pena, A/Pagnozzi). CS: Grossman (5, 2nd base by Pena, A/Pagnozzi), Chambers 2 (3, 3rd base by Pena, A/Pagnozzi, 2nd base by Leach/Pagnozzi). PO: Chambers (1st base by Leach).FIELDING E: Tropeano (1, fielding). DP: 2 (Meyer, J-Hernandez, E-Singleton, Hernandez, E-Petit, G-Singleton). |
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| Nashville | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | LOB | AVG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Orr, 2B | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .302 |
| Velez, DH | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .322 |
| Morris, H, 1B | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | .281 |
| Halton, RF | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | .280 |
| Gindl, LF | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | .286 |
| Gomez, H, SS | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | .241 |
| Green, T, 3B | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .267 |
| Pagnozzi, C | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .159 |
| Mattison, CF | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | .141 |
| Pena, A, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Jeffress, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Leach, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Molleken, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Totals | 30 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 9 | 8 | .260 |
| BATTING HR: Velez (5, 6th inning off Tropeano, 1 on, 1 out). TB: Velez 4; Gindl. RBI: Velez 2 (23). Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Halton; Gomez, H. GIDP: Gomez, H, Green, T. Team RISP: 1-for-4. Team LOB: 4.BASERUNNING SB: Velez (9, 2nd base off Tropeano/Stassi), Mattison (4, 2nd base off Tropeano/Stassi).FIELDING Outfield assists: Gindl (Stassi at home). DP: (Pagnozzi-Green, T). Pickoffs: Leach (Chambers at 1st base). |
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| Oklahoma City | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tropeano (W, 2-3) | 6.0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 1 | 2.95 |
| Cruz, R (H, 2) | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2.25 |
| Chapman, K (S, 2) | 1.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1.50 |
| Totals | 9.0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 9 | 1 | 3.68 |
| Nashville | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pena, A (L, 2-3) | 5.2 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 1 | 4.67 |
| Jeffress | 1.1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3.48 |
| Leach | 0.2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2.55 |
| Molleken | 1.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.88 |
| Totals | 9.0 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 9 | 2 | 3.72 |
WP: Tropeano 2.
Pitches-strikes: Tropeano 97-65, Cruz, R 22-15, Chapman, K 19-10, Pena, A 105-63, Jeffress 17-11, Leach 12-7, Molleken 21-15.
Groundouts-flyouts: Tropeano 5-3, Cruz, R 4-1, Chapman, K 1-1, Pena, A 2-5, Jeffress 1-0, Leach 1-0, Molleken 3-0.
Batters faced: Tropeano 22, Cruz, R 6, Chapman, K 5, Pena, A 24, Jeffress 4, Leach 3, Molleken 4.
Inherited runners-scored: Jeffress 1-0.
Umpires: HP: Tom Woodring. 1B: Nick Mahrley. 2B: Kolin Kline. 3B: Brandon Henson.
Weather: 64 degrees, partly cloudy.
Wind: 1 mph, Varies.
T: 3:00.
Att: 3,315.
Venue: Herschel Greer Stadium.
May 15, 2014
