Nashville Sounds Baseball
Colorado Springs Hurler Homers To Help His Own Cause In Win
Nashville, TN – Colorado Springs left-hander Tyler Matzek tossed 7 2/3 scoreless innings and belted a home run to lead the Sky Sox to a 2-0 victory over the Nashville Sounds on Tuesday evening at Greer Stadium in the opener of a four-game series.
Nashville (27-26) — which out-hit Colorado Springs, 7-4, in the contest — was blanked for the second straight night and has lost five of its last six contests. It is the first time the Sounds have suffered back-to-back shutout defeats since June 11th-12th, 2010.
Matzek (5-2) retired 13 of the first 14 Sounds batters en route to picking up the victory. He allowed four hits over his 7 2/3 frames.Matzek helped his own cause in the top of the sixth inning when he broke a scoreless deadlock by belting an opposite-field solo homer to left-center off Nashville reliever Johnnie Lowe (0-1), who took the loss. The blast was Matzek’s first career home run and the first hit against the Sounds by an opposing pitcher since New Orleans’ Brad Hand took Mike Fiers deep on April 16th, 2012.
The Sounds, who had runners on base in each of the final five frames, had their best scoring opportunity in the eighth, when they placed runners on second and third with two outs against Sky Sox reliever Chris Martin. The right-hander kept the one-run lead intact, however, by inducing an inning-ending groundout from Caleb Gindl.
Colorado Springs doubled its lead to 2-0 in the top of the ninth when catcher Jackson Williams coaxed a bases-loaded, two-out walk from Dustin Molleken to force home Kyle Parker, who had doubled earlier in the frame.
Martin permitted another pair of Sounds baserunners in the bottom of the ninth but caught Kevin Mattison looking at a called third strike to end the game and pick up his fourth save.
First baseman Hunter Morris went 2-for-4 in the losing effort, the slugger’s 10th multiple-hit effort in his last 20 starts. Shortstop Hector Gomez also went 2-for-4 for Nashville, upping his May batting average to .325 (26-for-80).
The teams continue the series with another 7:05pm meeting on Wednesday. Right-hander Taylor Jungmann (0-1, 12.00) — the Milwaukee Brewers’ #6 prospect — will make his first career Triple-A start when he mans the bump for the Sounds in the contest. Colorado Springs will counter with left-hander Yohan Flande (1-6, 4.43).
Box Score
May 27, 2014
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Colorado Springs Sky Sox | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 0 |
Nashville Sounds | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 |
Col. Springs | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | LOB | AVG |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Pridie, CF | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .297 |
Garcia, A, SS | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | .211 |
Parker, K, RF | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | .283 |
Wheeler, R, 3B | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | .259 |
Paulsen, 1B | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | .299 |
Wheeler, T, LF | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | .227 |
Williams, C | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | .303 |
Nina, 2B | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | .231 |
Matzek, P | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | .250 |
Martin, C, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
Totals | 29 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 9 | 11 | .260 |
BATTING 2B: Parker, K (16, Molleken). HR: Matzek (1, 6th inning off Lowe, 0 on, 0 out). TB: Matzek 4; Wheeler, R 2; Parker, K 2. RBI: Matzek (3), Williams (15). 2-out RBI: Williams. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Nina 2. Team RISP: 0-for-2. Team LOB: 6.BASERUNNING PO: Pridie (1st base by Blazek), Wheeler, R (1st base by Leach).FIELDING PB: Williams (4). Pickoffs: Matzek (Pagnozzi at 2nd base). |
Nashville | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | LOB | AVG |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Velez, 2B | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | .342 |
Gomez, H, SS | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .255 |
Gindl, CF-RF | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | .255 |
Halton, LF | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .262 |
Morris, H, 1B | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .295 |
Pagnozzi, C | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | .206 |
Hermida, RF | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | .254 |
Molleken, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
a-Statia, PH | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .308 |
Green, T, 3B | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .264 |
Leach, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
Mattison, CF | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | .183 |
Blazek, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
Lowe, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
Orr, 3B | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .279 |
Totals | 32 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 10 | .260 |
a-Singled for Molleken in the 9th. | ||||||||
BATTING 2B: Pagnozzi (3, Matzek). TB: Pagnozzi 2; Gomez, H 2; Green, T; Morris, H 2; Statia. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Velez; Green, T; Gindl 2; Mattison. SAC: Blazek. Team RISP: 0-for-4. Team LOB: 8.BASERUNNING PO: Pagnozzi (2nd base by Matzek).FIELDING Pickoffs: Blazek (Pridie at 1st base), Leach (Wheeler, R at 1st base). |
Colorado Springs | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Matzek (W, 5-2) | 7.2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 3.20 |
Martin, C (S, 4) | 1.1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 5.40 |
Totals | 9.0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 4.81 |
Nashville | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Blazek | 3.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 4.76 |
Lowe (L, 0-1) | 2.2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 3.45 |
Leach | 1.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2.63 |
Molleken | 2.0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 3.82 |
Totals | 9.0 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 9 | 1 | 3.59 |
Pitches-strikes: Matzek 94-59, Martin, C 27-18, Blazek 48-28, Lowe 42-27, Leach 22-10, Molleken 33-18.
Groundouts-flyouts: Matzek 11-8, Martin, C 1-0, Blazek 2-2, Lowe 4-0, Leach 0-1, Molleken 4-1.
Batters faced: Matzek 28, Martin, C 7, Blazek 10, Lowe 11, Leach 4, Molleken 10.
Inherited runners-scored: Martin, C 1-0, Leach 1-0.
Umpires: HP: Alberto Ruiz. 1B: Ryan Blakney. 3B: Greg Stanzak.
Weather: 86 degrees, partly cloudy.
Wind: 2 mph, R to L.
T: 2:48.
Att: 2,031.
Venue: Herschel Greer Stadium.
May 27, 2014