Fiers Earns Fifth Win In Five Starts For Nashville
Reno, NV – The Nashville Sounds continued to flourish in road action on Tuesday evening at Aces Ballpark, posting a 5-3 victory over Reno.
With the win, the Sounds (59-59) drew back to the .500 mark for the first time since April 22nd, when they were 8-8.
Nashville, which has won 13 of its last 17 contests away from Greer Stadium, has taken the first three games of the series against the Pacific Northern Division-leading Aces and will attempt to complete their third sweep of the year on Wednesday.
First baseman Mat Gamel drove in three of the Sounds’ five runs with a first-inning homer, while center fielder Logan Schafer (2-for-4) was one of three Nashville hitters to post a multiple-hit effort in the victory. Schafer continued his solid start to his Triple-A career; he has hit safely in 18 of his 19 PCL games, including 12 multi-hit efforts.
The Sounds got started quickly against Reno starter Kevin Mulvey, sending 11 batters to the plate and posting five runs in the top of the first inning.
The first four Nashville batters all recorded singles against the right-hander, with the last two of those knocks by Eric Farris and Taylor Green driving in runs, before Gamel capped off the rally by belting his team-leading 25th home run of the year, a three-run shot to right that came on the first pitch he saw from Mulvey.
The longball extended Gamel’s hitting streak to nine games (15-for-39, .385), the longest active stretch among Nashville batters.
Reno responded with a pair of runs in the home half of the frame to cut the Sounds’ lead to 5-2. Ryan Langerhans and Juan Miranda contributed RBI singles against Fiers in the frame.
Despite multiple scoring opportunities by both clubs (19 total runners were left on base in the contest), the score remained unchanged until the bottom of the seventh, when the Aces tacked on a run against Sounds reliever Daniel Meadows to pull within 5-3.
In the Reno seventh, Langerhans singled with one out, stole second, and came plateward on Andy Tracy’s RBI double off the left field wall. During the next at-bat, pinch-runner Angel Berroa broke for third on Meadows’ 3-2 pitch to former Sound Cole Gillespie, who swung at the offering for strike three then was called for batter’s interference as he contacted catcher Martin Maldonado as the backstop attempted to throw to third.
The bizarre inning-ending double play got Meadows out of the jam with a two-run lead intact and led to the ejection of Reno manager Brett Butler.
Mike McClendon worked into and out of a one-out, runners on the corners jam unscathed in the eighth before retiring the side in order in the ninth to secure the victory and nail down his team-leading seventh save of the year for Nashville.
Mulvey (3-6) took the loss for the Aces after giving up five runs on seven hits in 4 1/3 frames.
Nashville will look to wrap up a four-game series sweep in the teams’ 3:05pm CT matinee finale tomorrow afternoon. Right-hander Josh Butler (7-6, 4.78) will make the start for the Sounds to face Reno southpaw Zach Kroenke (8-2, 6.75).
Box Score
Nashville Sounds (59-59) 5, Reno Aces (66-51) 3
August 9th, 2011
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nashville | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 10 | 2 | |
| Reno | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 9 | 2 | |
| Nashville | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | LOB | AVG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Schafer, CF | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | .415 |
| Brown, J, LF | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | .310 |
| McClendon, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Farris, 2B | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .265 |
| Green, T, 3B | 5 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | .332 |
| Gamel, 1B | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | .323 |
| Maysonet, SS | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .298 |
| Gindl, RF | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | .296 |
| Maldonado, C | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | .299 |
| Fiers, P | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | .308 |
| Meadows, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .500 |
| a-Boggs, PH-LF | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .235 |
| Totals | 35 | 5 | 10 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 18 | .281 |
| a-Struck out for Meadows in the 8th. | ||||||||
| BATTING
HR: Gamel (25, 1st inning off Mulvey, 2 on, 0 out). TB: Schafer 2; Brown, J 2; Farris; Green, T 2; Gamel 4; Maysonet; Fiers. RBI: Green, T (78), Gamel 3 (84). Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Brown, J 2; Schafer 2. GIDP: Farris; Maldonado; Brown, J. Team RISP: 3-for-7. Team LOB: 9.FIELDING E: Gamel (11, fielding), Maysonet (17, throw). DP: (Maldonado). |
||||||||
| Reno | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | LOB | AVG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Frey, LF | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | .294 |
| Abreu, T, SS-2B | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | .291 |
| Langerhans, CF | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | .322 |
| Tracy, A, 3B | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | .292 |
| 1-Berroa, PR-SS | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .370 |
| Gillespie, RF | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 | .313 |
| Miranda, 1B | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | .264 |
| May, C | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | .246 |
| Hallberg, 2B-3B | 4 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .275 |
| Mulvey, P | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .077 |
| Layne, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .077 |
| a-Schmidt, PH | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | .299 |
| Stokes, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Totals | 35 | 3 | 9 | 3 | 3 | 13 | 23 | .311 |
| a-Struck out for Layne in the 8th.
1-Ran for Tracy, A in the 7th. |
||||||||
| BATTING
2B: Tracy, A (15, Meadows), May (13, McClendon). TB: Frey; Langerhans 2; Tracy, A 2; Miranda; May 2; Hallberg 3. RBI: Langerhans (48), Miranda (18), Tracy, A (42). 2-out RBI: Miranda. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: May 2; Abreu, T; Langerhans; Frey 2. SAC: Mulvey; Layne. Team RISP: 4-for-18. Team LOB: 10.BASERUNNING SB: Frey (18, 2nd base off Fiers/Maldonado), Langerhans (6, 2nd base off Meadows/Maldonado). FIELDING E: Tracy, A 2 (6, throw, fielding). DP: 3 (Tracy, A-Hallberg-Miranda 2, Abreu, T-Berroa-Miranda). |
||||||||
| Nashville | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fiers (W, 5-0) | 5.2 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 0 | 1.42 |
| Meadows (H, 5) | 1.1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3.33 |
| McClendon (S, 7) | 2.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2.84 |
| Totals | 9.0 | 9 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 13 | 0 | 4.35 |
| Reno | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mulvey (L, 3-6) | 4.1 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 7.18 |
| Layne | 3.2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 6.73 |
| Stokes | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 7.71 |
| Totals | 9.0 | 10 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 1 | 5.93 |
Pitches-strikes: Fiers 109-66, Meadows 24-16, McClendon 32-22, Mulvey 82-49, Layne 47-27, Stokes 13-8.
Groundouts-flyouts: Fiers 8-3, Meadows 0-0, McClendon 1-1, Mulvey 5-2, Layne 4-0, Stokes 1-0.
Batters faced: Fiers 27, Meadows 5, McClendon 8, Mulvey 25, Layne 13, Stokes 3.
Inherited runners-scored: Meadows 1-0, Layne 2-0.
Ejections: Reno Aces Manager Brett Butler ejected by HP umpire Kellen Levy (8th).
Umpires: HP: Kellen Levy. 1B: Barry Larson. 2B: . 3B: Cory Blaser.
Weather: 86 degrees, clear.
Wind: 13 mph, Out to RF.
T: 3:05.
Att: 4,999.
Compiled by MLB Advanced Media
