Nashville, TN – The Nashville Sounds lowered their magic number to 11 with a 2-1 win over the Tacoma Rainiers in front of 5,005 fans Tuesday night at First Tennessee Park.
All the scoring between the two teams who lead their respective divisions came early as two first-inning runs held up for the Sounds.
Jesse Hahn started for Nashville and got the game off to a nice start with a pair of strikeouts in a 1-2-3 top of the first inning.
Matt Olson drew a walk to load the bases for Matt McBride who lined a base hit to left field. The knock scored Alcantara to give the Sounds an early 1-0 lead. Two batters later, Rangel Ravelo was hit by a pitch, forcing in Brugman with the second run of the inning.
Tacoma bounced back with a run in the top of the second to cut the deficit to 2-1. James Ramsey collected a one-out double and scored when Tyler Smith rifled a ball down the first base line for another two-bagger.
Hahn avoided more damage by getting Mike Freeman to bounce out to second with the bases loaded.
That was all the scoring there would be on the night. Snow pitched 5 2/3 innings for the Rainiers and was saddled with the loss. Hahn allowed one run on two hits in four innings of work and got a no decision.
The trio of Angel Castro, Ryan Brasier and Tucker Healy kept Tacoma off the scoreboard the rest of the way. Castro went 2 2/3 innings and earned his first win of the season.
Brasier worked around a one-out walk in the eighth and put up a zero before Healy retired the side in order in the ninth to pick up his eighth save of the season.
The Sounds improved to 71-53 and will hold at least a nine-game lead entering play on Wednesday with 20 games to play in the regular season.
Game two of the four-game series is set for tomorrow afternoon at First Tennessee Park. Left-hander Dillon Overton (10-5, 3.51) starts for the Sounds against right-hander Jarrett Grube (1-2, 3.97) for the Rainiers. First pitch is scheduled for 12:05pm.
Tickets for the 2016 Pacific Coast League playoff dates at First Tennessee Park are now available for purchase at the Nashville Sounds box office and online at www.nashvillesounds.com
The 2016 season is the Sounds’ 19th year in the Pacific Coast League and their second as the Oakland Athletics’ top affiliate.
