Nashville Extends Longest Winning Streak Of The Season In Front Of Packed House
Nashville, TN – Right-hander Frankie De La Cruz turned in an outstanding start and Caleb Gindl belted a two-run homer to lead the Nashville Sounds to a 4-1 victory over the Iowa Cubs in front of 8,744 fans on Saturday night at Greer Stadium.
De La Cruz (4-6), who finished one out short of Nashville’s first nine-inning complete game of the year, struck out a Sounds season-high 10 batters in the contest. He allowed just one unearned run on five hits while walking only one batter during his 109-pitch effort.
With the victory, Nashville (49-52) extended its longest winning streak of the year to six games; all of those triumphs have come against the division-rival Cubs as the teams are in the midst of eight consecutive games against one another.
Sounds second baseman Taylor Green gave the home team a 1-0 lead in the first inning when he laced an RBI double down the right field line off Iowa starter Alberto Cabrera. The two-bagger plated Logan Schafer, who had drawn an inning-opening walk.
Gindl (2-for-2) upped the Nashville advantage to 3-0 in the fourth when he belted a two-run homer off Cabrera that careened off the clubhouse building beyond the right-center wall. The blast, Gindl’s 13th roundtripper of the year, also plated Mat Gamel, who reached on a one-out single.
The red-hot Gindl extended the Sounds’ longest active hitting streak to nine games (13-for-36, .361) with the blast.
Schafer, the new Nashville center fielder, kept Iowa off the board in the fifth when he caught a bases-loaded fly ball off the bat of Brett Jackson and fired a strike to catcher Mike Rivera to nail Marwin Gonzalez for an inning-ending double play. It marked the 17th runner thrown out at the plate by a Sounds outfielder this season.
The Sounds added a run to make it 4-0 in the sixth when Gamel drew his second walk of the night and scored when Rivera doubled off the base of the wall in left-center.
Iowa broke up De La Cruz’s shutout bid with an unearned run in the bottom of the ninth. With two outs, first baseman Erick Almonte failed to field a grounder off the bat of Brad Snyder. The next hitter, former Vanderbilt standout Ryan Flaherty, lifted a fly ball double off the left field wall to plate the lone Cubs run of the evening.
Mike McClendon took over on the hill for Nashville and struck out pinch-hitter Tyler Colvin to end the game and notch his fourth save of the year.
Cabrera (1-3) took the loss for Iowa after allowing four runs on seven hits over six innings of work.
The teams continue the series with another 6:35pm meeting on Sunday evening. The Sounds have not announced their starting pitcher for the contest. Iowa will send right-hander Nick Struck (0-3, 5.63) to the hill.
Box Score
Nashville Sounds (49-52) 4, Iowa Cubs (44-57) 1
July 23rd, 2011
 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Iowa      | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 0 | |
Nashville      | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | x | 4 | 7 | 1 | |
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Iowa | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | LOB | AVG |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Jackson, B, CF | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | .162 |
Montanez, LF | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .325 |
Moore, S, 3B | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .275 |
LaHair, 1B | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 2 | .338 |
Snyder, RF | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | .311 |
Flaherty, 2B | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | .216 |
Gonzalez, M, SS | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .358 |
  Maine, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
  a-Colvin, PH | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .267 |
Robinson, Ch, C | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .259 |
Cabrera, A, P | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
  Mota, SS | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .314 |
Totals | 31 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 10 | .286 |
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a-Struck out for Maine in the 9th. | ||||||||
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BATTING2B: Snyder (20, De La Cruz), Flaherty (4, De La Cruz).
TB: Montanez; Moore, S; Snyder 2; Flaherty 2; Gonzalez, M; Robinson, Ch. RBI: Flaherty (4). 2-out RBI: Flaherty. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Colvin. SAC: Cabrera, A. GIDP: Moore, S. Team RISP: 1-for-3. Team LOB: 6.FIELDING Outfield assists: Jackson, B (Rivera, Mi at 3rd base). DP: 4 (Cabrera, A-Gonzalez, M-Flaherty, Flaherty-Gonzalez, M-LaHair, LaHair-Gonzalez, M-Cabrera, A, Mota-LaHair). |
Nashville | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | LOB | AVG |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Schafer, CF | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | .600 |
Brown, J, LF | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .282 |
Green, T, 2B | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .316 |
Almonte, 1B | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | .293 |
Gamel, 3B | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | .327 |
Rivera, Mi, C | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | .254 |
Gindl, RF | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .294 |
Farris, SS | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .260 |
De La Cruz, P | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .095 |
  McClendon, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
Totals | 26 | 4 | 7 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 12 | .270 |
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BATTING2B: Green, T (26, Cabrera, A), Rivera, Mi (9, Cabrera, A).
HR: Gindl (13, 4th inning off Cabrera, A, 1 on, 2 out). TB: Schafer; Brown, J; Green, T 2; Gamel; Rivera, Mi 2; Gindl 5. RBI: Green, T (58), Gindl 2 (37), Rivera, Mi (26). 2-out RBI: Gindl 2. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Rivera, Mi. GIDP: De La Cruz; Brown, J; Green, T; Gamel. Team RISP: 0-for-3. Team LOB: 4.FIELDING E: Almonte (5, fielding). Outfield assists: Schafer (Gonzalez, M at home). DP: 2 (Green, T-Farris-Almonte, Schafer-Rivera, Mi). |
Iowa | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Cabrera, AÂ (L, 1-3) | 6.0 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 6.47 |
Maine | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3.67 |
Totals | 8.0 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 6.04 |
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Nashville | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
De La Cruz (W, 4-6) | 8.2 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 0 | 4.17 |
McClendon (S, 4) | 0.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2.29 |
Totals | 9.0 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 0 | 4.39 |
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HBP: Montanez (by De La Cruz).
Pitches-strikes: Cabrera, A 95-51, Maine 20-12, De La Cruz 109-72, McClendon 4-3.
Groundouts-flyouts: Cabrera, A 8-1, Maine 2-0, De La Cruz 10-2, McClendon 0-0.
Batters faced: Cabrera, A 26, Maine 6, De La Cruz 33, McClendon 1.
Inherited runners-scored: McClendon 1-0.
Umpires: HP: Quinn Wolcott. 1B: John Tumpane. 2B: . 3B: Jeff Wright.
Weather: 93 degrees, partly cloudy.
Wind: 2 mph, In from CF.
T: 2:23.
Att: 8,744.
Compiled by MLB Advanced Media