Nashville Sounds Baseball
Nashville Survives Late Scare To Defeat Cross-State Rivals For Second Night In A Row
Memphis, TN – Right fielder Jeremy Hermida homered and drove in three runs to lead the Nashville Sounds to a 4-3 victory over the cross-state rival Memphis Redbirds on Saturday evening at AutoZone Park.
The Sounds (34-29) held a 4-1 lead heading to the bottom of the ninth and survived a scare from the Redbirds, who plated a pair and had the bases loaded with two outs before Dustin Molleken fanned Greg Garcia to slam the door and secure the one-run victory.
Catcher Matt Pagnozzi (2-for-4) also homered for Nashville as the Sounds won their second straight game against the division-rival Redbirds.Kyle Heckathorn turned in a solid spot start for the Sounds after scheduled pitcher Mike Fiers was held out of duty and later called up by the Milwaukee Brewers. Heckathorn worked four scoreless frames, allowing only one hit.
Pagnozzi (2-for-4) put the visitors on the board when he belted a one-out solo homer to left off Memphis starter John Gast. The roundtripper was the backstop’s fourth of the year.
Memphis knotted the contest at 1-1 in the sixth against Sounds reliever Jeremy Jeffress. Mike O’Neill singled with one out, moved to second on a groundout, and scored the tying run on Greg Garcia’s two-out RBI single to center.
Nashville pulled right back ahead in the next half-inning when Hermida connected for a two-run big fly to straightaway center off Redbirds reliever Nick Greenwood. Pagnozzi, who preceded the outfielder with a single, scored his second run of the night on the tater, which gave the Sounds a 3-1 lead.
Hermida added an insurance run for the Sounds in the ninth when he plated Caleb Gindl, who had doubled, with an RBI single to stretch the advantage to 4-1.
Closer Donovan Hand, who inherited and stranded a pair of baserunners in the bottom of the eighth inning, couldn’t close out the game for Nashville in the ninth as Memphis mounted a rally.
After the right-hander retired the first two batters of the frame, the next five Redbirds hitters reached base against Hand, resulting in a pair of runs to reduce the Nashville lead to 4-3.
Luis Mateo singled and Pete Kozma drew a walk before O’Neill laced an RBI single to right. Audry Perez followed with a grounder to short, where Jeff Bianchi’s flip to second was wide of the bag to allow Kozma on the play, which was curiously ruled an infield single.
Jeffress (2-1) was awarded the victory for Nashville despite suffering a blown save in the contest. He allowed one run in his two innings of work.
The teams wrap up their four-game series with a 1:35pm finale on Sunday afternoon. Right-hander Taylor Jungmann (2-1, 2.93) will man the bump for the Sounds to face Memphis right-hander Angel Castro (5-3, 3.16).
Box Score
June 7, 2014
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nashville Sounds | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 10 | 0 |
Memphis Redbirds | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 10 | 0 |
Nashville | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | LOB | AVG |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bianchi, SS | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | .313 |
Gomez, H, 3B | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .258 |
Herrera, 2B | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .353 |
Morris, H, 1B | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .280 |
Velez, LF | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | .306 |
Jeffress, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
b-Orr, PH | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .269 |
Leach, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
Hand, D, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
Molleken, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
Gindl, CF-LF | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .257 |
Pagnozzi, C | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .230 |
Hermida, RF | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .260 |
Heckathorn, P | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .250 |
a-Green, T, PH | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .252 |
Blazek, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
Mattison, CF | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .196 |
Totals | 36 | 4 | 10 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 12 | .258 |
a-Singled for Heckathorn in the 5th. b-Struck out for Jeffress in the 8th. | ||||||||
BATTING 2B: Gindl (11, Wyatt). HR: Pagnozzi (4, 2nd inning off Gast, 0 on, 1 out), Hermida (6, 7th inning off Greenwood, 1 on, 0 out). TB: Pagnozzi 5; Hermida 5; Herrera 2; Heckathorn; Green, T; Gindl 2; Morris, H. RBI: Pagnozzi (9), Hermida 3 (28). Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Velez; Gomez, H. GIDP: Gindl. Team RISP: 1-for-6. Team LOB: 6.FIELDING DP: 2 (Gomez, H-Herrera-Morris, H 2). |
Memphis | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | LOB | AVG |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Garcia, G, 2B | 5 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | .233 |
Robinson, S, CF | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | .344 |
Moore, S, 3B-1B | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | .249 |
Piscotty, RF | 4 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .291 |
Scruggs, 1B | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .229 |
Greenwood, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
a-Pham, PH | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .278 |
Wyatt, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .500 |
b-Mateo, L, PH | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .212 |
Kozma, SS | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | .224 |
O’Neill, LF | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .400 |
Perez, A, C | 4 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .313 |
Gast, P | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
Curtis, 3B | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | .271 |
Totals | 35 | 3 | 10 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 13 | .272 |
a-Struck out for Greenwood in the 7th. b-Singled for Wyatt in the 9th. | ||||||||
BATTING TB: Mateo, L; Perez, A 2; Garcia, G 2; Piscotty 3; O’Neill 2. RBI: Garcia, G (20), O’Neill (2), Perez, A (17). 2-out RBI: Garcia, G; O’Neill; Perez, A. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Robinson, S 2; Garcia, G 2. GIDP: Scruggs 2. Team RISP: 3-for-6. Team LOB: 7.FIELDING DP: (Garcia, G-Kozma-Moore, S). |
Nashville | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Heckathorn | 4.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 6.67 |
Blazek | 1.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.91 |
Jeffress (BS, 1)(W, 2-1) | 2.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1.96 |
Leach (H, 7) | 0.1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.45 |
Hand, D (H, 4) | 1.1 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4.50 |
Molleken (S, 2) | 0.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3.47 |
Totals | 9.0 | 10 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 3.35 |
Memphis | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Gast | 5.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1.80 |
Greenwood (L, 3-3) | 2.0 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2.61 |
Wyatt | 2.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3.94 |
Totals | 9.0 | 10 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 3.96 |
WP: Gast.
Pitches-strikes: Heckathorn 39-25, Blazek 11-7, Jeffress 24-21, Leach 3-2, Hand, D 40-21, Molleken 6-4, Gast 83-58, Greenwood 23-17, Wyatt 28-19.
Groundouts-flyouts: Heckathorn 5-3, Blazek 1-1, Jeffress 1-1, Leach 0-1, Hand, D 0-3, Molleken 0-0, Gast 5-4, Greenwood 3-0, Wyatt 1-4.
Batters faced: Heckathorn 12, Blazek 3, Jeffress 9, Leach 2, Hand, D 10, Molleken 1, Gast 20, Greenwood 9, Wyatt 8.
Inherited runners-scored: Hand, D 1-0, Molleken 3-0.
Umpires: HP: Chad Fairchild. 1B: Jordan Ferrell. 2B: Brian Reilly. 3B: Alex Ortiz.
Weather: 92 degrees, partly cloudy.
Wind: 7 mph, Out to CF.
T: 2:40.
Att: 8,579.
Venue: AutoZone Park.
June 7, 2014