Nashville, TN – BJ Boyd’s single in the bottom of the 11th inning scored Joey Wendle from second base to give the Nashville Sounds a walk-off 3-2 win over the Iowa Cubs in front of 7,450 fans Monday night at First Tennessee Park.
With one out, Wendle hit a bouncing ball up the middle for a single to give the Sounds a runner. His 14th stolen base of the season put him in scoring position.
After Rangel Ravelo worked a walk, Boyd lined a 1-2 pitch from Jose Rosario into left-center field for the game-winner.
Iowa got on the board first with a single tally in the fourth. Chris Coghlan and Jeimer Candelario collected back-to-back doubles to make it a 1-0 game.
In the fifth, John Andreoli doubled off the right-center wall to drive in Munenori Kawasaki from second to give the Cubs a 2-0 lead.
The Sounds used a pair of doubles of their own to even the game in the home half of the fifth. With one out, Wendle doubled to right-center to start the rally. Ravelo immediately followed with a double to left-center to trim the deficit to 2-1.
After Boyd bounced out for the second out of the inning, Josh Rodriguez dunked a soft single into right field to score Ravelo with the tying run. Rodriguez has 15 RBI over his last 10 games.
Sounds starter Raul Alcantara allowed two runs on six hits and got a no decision. As did Josh Collmenter who went five innings and allowed two runs for the Cubs.
It stayed 2-2 until the 11th inning thanks to both bullpens. Angel Castro, Bobby Wahl and Eduard Santos combined to throw six scoreless innings in relief for Nashville. Castro went three, Wahl put up a zero in the ninth and Santos earned the win after two frames.
Wendle went 3-for-5 with two runs scored and has seven multi-hit games over his last nine contests.
The Sounds have three regular season home games left at First Tennessee Park.
Game two of the four-game series is scheduled for Tuesday night at First Tennessee Park. Right-hander Daniel Gossett makes his Triple-A debut for the Sounds against right-hander Drew Rucinski (6-14, 6.03) for the Cubs. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05pm.
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.
