Nashville Sounds
Des Moines, IA – The Nashville Sounds faltered Saturday night as they suffered a 5-1 setback at the paws of the Iowa Cubs. Matt Chapman’s 12th home run of the season was the lone highlight offensively for the Sounds who mustered just five hits on the night.
The I-Cubs struck first in the bottom of the second inning when Stephen Bruno drove home Victor Caratini on a dribbler up the middle. Iowa maintained a one run advantage until the top of the fourth inning when with two outs Chapman stepped to the plate. The Sounds third baseman deposited a 2-2 pitch well beyond the left field fence to knot the game up at one run apiece.
The sixth inning was the closest the Sounds would come to scoring again. Renato Nunez singled and Joey Wendle reached on an error by third baseman, Jaimer Candelario but both were left stranded.
Walter came out to pitch the seventh inning but was unable to record an out in the frame as the I-Cubs loaded the bases against him and Simon Castro was left to clean up the pieces. Castro walked the first batter he faced to drive in the final run of the ball game but got the next two batters to fly out to right fielder Jaff Decker. Ali Solis attempted to score from third on a fly out by Mark Zagunis but he was gunned down at the plate by Decker.
The loss was the first at the Triple-A level for Walter who finished with 6.0 innings of work while allowing five runs on eight hits.
The Sounds wrap up the four-game series on Sunday in Des Moines, Iowa. Right-hander Paul Blackburn (3-5, 3.69) starts for Nashville against right-hander Williams Perez (0-5, 9.00) for Iowa. First pitch is scheduled for 1:08pm.
The 2017 season is the Sounds’ 40th in franchise history and their third as the Oakland Athletics’ top affiliate. Season ticket memberships are available now by calling 615.690.4487 or by visiting www.nashvillesounds.com
