Nashville Sounds Baseball
Mike Fiers Dominant Again In No-Decision For Nashville
Metairie, LA – The Nashville Sounds suffered a 4-3, 12-inning loss against the New Orleans Zephyrs on Sunday afternoon at Zephyr Field.
With the loss, the first-place Sounds (62-54) fell to 1-4 in extra-inning games and saw their division lead reduced to 1 1/2 games.
Nashville, which failed to protect 1-0 and 3-1 advantages on the day, has held a lead in 20 of its 33 road losses this season.
In the decisive bottom of the twelfth, Sounds reliever Jose De La Torre, in his third inning of work for Nashville, faced a one-out, bases-loaded jam.After Rob Brantly ripped a double into the right field corner, skipper Rick Sweet ordered the next two batters to be walked intentionally to fill the bags and create a force out at any base.
Mark Canha lifted a fly ball down the left field line, which was caught in foul territory by Logan Schafer. However, Schafer stumbled in the bullpen and his rushed throw was offline as Brantly raced home to score the game-winning run.
The Sounds grabbed a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning. Shortstop Hector Gomez legged out a one-out triple to right off Z’s starter Alex Sanabia and scored on Matt Pagnozzi’s dribbler up the first base line.
New Orleans shortstop Juan Diaz knotted the contest at 1-1 in the home half of the fifth when he belted a solo homer to right off Mike Fiers that narrowly cleared the wall. The blast was the infielder’s 11th of the year and only the third longball surrendered by Nashville pitching in the past 124 innings.
Fiers, who took a no-decision, worked his 11th quality start in 17 trips to the hill for Nashville this season. The right-hander held the Z’s to one run on five hits while striking out seven batters and walking none in his six frames of action, lowering his ERA to 2.55 with the effort.
Nashville reclaimed the lead in the top of the eighth when Schafer, playing his first game with Nashville since being optioned from the Milwaukee Brewers, greeted Zephyrs reliever Chaz Roe with a leadoff triple to right that nearly left the ballpark. Later in the frame, Jason Rogers plated Schafer with a ground-rule double to right-center then scored himself when Matt Clark followed with an RBI single to right that gave the Sounds a 3-1 advantage.
Rogers (2-for-5), who plated the go-ahead run for Nashville, has been swinging a hot stick of late, batting .329 (27-for-82) over his last 21 games and driving in a run in 12 of his last 19 contests.
New Orleans threatened in the bottom of the eighth. After Brent Leach retired the first batter of the frame, Arcenio Leon was summoned from the bullpen and promptly walked the bases loaded to leave a jam for Alfredo Figaro.
The Sounds missed a great chance to reclaim the lead in the top of the eleventh after loading the bases with only one out against Arquimedes Caminero. However, the Zephyrs right-hander recovered to pop up Kevin Mattison then struck out Schafer to escape the jam.
The teams continue the series with a 7:00pm meeting on Monday evening. Right-hander Ariel Pena (8-6, 4.36), who has won four of his last five starts, will man the bump for the Sounds to face former major leaguer Brad Penny (1-2, 4.91).
Box Score
August 3, 2014
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | R | H | E | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nashville Sounds | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 10 | 0 |
New Orleans Zephyrs | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 8 | 0 |
Two out when winning run scored.
Nashville | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | LOB | AVG |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Schafer, L, CF-LF | 6 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | .230 |
Velez, 2B | 6 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .316 |
Rogers, J, 3B | 5 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .288 |
De La Torre, J, P | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
Clark, M, 1B | 5 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | .258 |
Halton, LF | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | .287 |
Leon, Ar, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
Figaro, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
Orr, 3B | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .292 |
Gindl, RF | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | .237 |
Gomez, H, SS | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | .263 |
Pagnozzi, C | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | .222 |
Fiers, P | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .059 |
a-Hermida, PH | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .266 |
Leach, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
Mattison, CF | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | .219 |
Totals | 45 | 3 | 10 | 3 | 3 | 13 | 19 | .259 |
a-Struck out for Fiers in the 7th. | ||||||||
BATTING 2B: Clark, M (4, Sanabia), Rogers, J (6, Roe), Gindl (18, Caminero). 3B: Gomez, H (4, Sanabia), Schafer, L (3, Roe). TB: Velez 2; Clark, M 3; Pagnozzi; Gomez, H 3; Schafer, L 3; Rogers, J 3; Gindl 2. RBI: Pagnozzi (24), Rogers, J (19), Clark, M (14). Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Halton 2; Velez; Schafer, L 2. SAC: Fiers. Team RISP: 2-for-9. Team LOB: 10.FIELDING PB: Pagnozzi (7). |
New Orleans | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | LOB | AVG |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Wates, CF | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | .300 |
Lucas, 2B | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | .237 |
Canha, LF | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | .317 |
Bour, 1B | 5 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 | .309 |
Jensen, RF | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | .266 |
Rodriguez, J, 3B | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | .266 |
Diaz, SS | 5 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .273 |
Varner, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
Skipworth, C | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .207 |
Roe, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
a-Cox, PH | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .286 |
Caminero, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
Black, Da, SS | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .223 |
Sanabia, P | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .136 |
Brantly, C | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .267 |
Totals | 42 | 4 | 8 | 4 | 5 | 13 | 13 | .262 |
a-Struck out for Roe in the 9th. | ||||||||
BATTING 2B: Diaz (18, Fiers), Brantly (14, De La Torre, J). HR: Diaz (11, 5th inning off Fiers, 0 on, 1 out). TB: Canha; Lucas; Bour; Brantly 3; Diaz 6; Wates. RBI: Diaz (56), Bour 2 (55), Canha (66). Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Bour; Skipworth; Jensen; Rodriguez, J. SF: Canha. Team RISP: 1-for-8. Team LOB: 9.FIELDING Outfield assists: Jensen (Velez at 2nd base). |
Nashville | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Fiers | 6.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 2.55 |
Leach | 1.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3.44 |
Leon, Ar | 0.0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 4.97 |
Figaro (BS, 1) | 1.2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 3.95 |
De La Torre, J (L, 2-2) | 2.2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2.60 |
Totals | 11.2 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 13 | 1 | 3.56 |
New Orleans | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sanabia | 7.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 4.57 |
Roe | 2.0 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 3.51 |
Caminero | 2.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 5.63 |
Varner (W, 4-0) | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5.64 |
Totals | 12.0 | 10 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 13 | 0 | 4.35 |
Leon, Ar pitched to 3 batters in the 8th.
WP: Fiers, Leon, Ar, De La Torre, J.
IBB: Gomez, H (by Caminero), Wates (by De La Torre, J), Lucas (by De La Torre, J).
Pitches-strikes: Fiers 101-63, Leach 11-7, Leon, Ar 15-3, Figaro 42-26, De La Torre, J 36-20, Sanabia 97-65, Roe 33-23, Caminero 41-28, Varner 11-7.
Groundouts-flyouts: Fiers 5-6, Leach 2-0, Leon, Ar 0-0, Figaro 1-0, De La Torre, J 4-1, Sanabia 7-4, Roe 1-1, Caminero 1-2, Varner 1-0.
Batters faced: Fiers 23, Leach 4, Leon, Ar 3, Figaro 7, De La Torre, J 11, Sanabia 27, Roe 9, Caminero 10, Varner 3.
Inherited runners-scored: Figaro 3-2.
Umpires: HP: Alberto Ruiz. 1B: Greg Stanzak. 3B: Ryan Blakney.
Weather: 89 degrees, cloudy.
Wind: 10 mph, L to R.
T: 4:03.
Att: 3,003.
Venue: Zephyr Field.
August 3, 2014