Nashville Returns To Music City For Home Opener Friday Night
Oklahoma City, OK – The Nashville Sounds were held to five hits by a trio of Oklahoma City pitchers during a 2-0 shutout loss to the RedHawks on Thursday evening at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark.
With the defeat, Nashville finished its season-opening road trip with a 2-6 record, going 1-3 against both the New Orleans Zephyrs and the Oklahoma City RedHawks.
The Sounds’ lone hits in the contest were singles off the bats of Erick Almonte, Eric Farris, Caleb Gindl, Paul Phillips, and Logan Schafer. Nashville put a runner into scoring position only three times in the contest.
Sounds starter Josh Butler held the RedHawks to just two hits through the first six innings. In the seventh, Fernando Martinez led off with a single to left and Mike Hessman followed with a grounder to third that was mishandled by Erick Almonte but the error was officially ruled as an infield hit.
With two on, left-hander Victor Garate took over on the hill. After a sacrifice moved the runners to second and third, pinch-hitter Justin Ruggiano delivered a two-run single to right to break the scoreless deadlock and give Oklahoma City a 2-0 advantage.
Butler (0-2) took a hard-luck loss despite a quality start for the Sounds in his second outing of the year. He allowed two runs on four hits in his six-plus frames of action.
RedHawks left-hander Dallas Keuchel (2-0) was even sharper than Butler, twirling seven scoreless frames while holding the Sounds to four singles and striking out five to pick up the victory.
Mickey Storey tossed a perfect eighth before Jose Valdez worked around a one-out Schafer single in the ninth to close out the shutout and earn his first save of the year.
The Sounds return to Greer Stadium tomorrow night to host their 2012 home opener, a 7:05pm contest against the New Orleans Zephyrs (AAA-Marlins). Right-hander Brian Baker (1-0, 0.00) will toe the rubber for Nashville to face Z’s right-hander Tom Koehler (0-1, 0.00). Mayor Karl Dean will throw out the season’s ceremonial first pitch and a fireworks show will follow the on-field action.
Box Score
Oklahoma City RedHawks (6-2) 2, Nashville Sounds (2-6) 0
April 12th, 2012
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nashville Sounds | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | |
| Oklahoma City Redhawks | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | x | 2 | 7 | 0 | |
| Nashville | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | LOB | AVG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Schafer, CF | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .182 |
| Maysonet, LF-SS | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .136 |
| Gindl, RF | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .290 |
| Halton, 1B | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .379 |
| Statia, 2B | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .333 |
| Garate, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Almonte, 3B | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .167 |
| Farris, SS-2B | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .148 |
| Phillips, C | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .143 |
| Butler, Js, P | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | .000 |
| Patterson, C, LF | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .167 |
| Totals | 30 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 7 | .211 |
| BATTING TB: Farris; Schafer; Almonte; Phillips; Gindl. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Schafer; Phillips; Gindl. GIDP: Halton. Team RISP: 0-for-4. Team LOB: 3.BASERUNNING SB: Farris (1, 2nd base off Keuchel/Corporan), Schafer (2, 2nd base off Valdez, J/Corporan). FIELDING |
||||||||
| Okla. City | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | LOB | AVG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shuck, CF | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | .227 |
| Sanchez, Ag, SS | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .263 |
| Martinez, F, LF | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .355 |
| Hessman, 1B | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .318 |
| Moore, S, 3B | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .500 |
| DeLome, RF | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .077 |
| a-Ruggiano, PH-RF | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .412 |
| Hernandez, Di, 2B | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .111 |
| Storey, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Valdez, J, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Corporan, C | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .133 |
| Keuchel, P | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .250 |
| Paredes, 2B | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .208 |
| Totals | 28 | 2 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 5 | .273 |
| a-Singled for DeLome in the 7th. | ||||||||
| BATTING 2B: Sanchez, Ag (2, Butler, Js). TB: Shuck; Ruggiano; Sanchez, Ag 2; Martinez, F; Keuchel; Corporan; Hessman. RBI: Ruggiano 2 (6). SAC: Moore, S. Team RISP: 1-for-1. Team LOB: 3.BASERUNNING CS: Ruggiano (1, 2nd base by Garate/Phillips). PO: Sanchez, Ag (2nd base by Butler, Js), Ruggiano (1st base by Garate). FIELDING |
||||||||
| Nashville | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Butler, Js (L, 0-2) | 6.0 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4.82 |
| Garate | 2.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6.35 |
| Totals | 8.0 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3.44 |
| Okla. City | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Keuchel (W, 2-0) | 7.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Storey (H, 3) | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Valdez, J (S, 1) | 1.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Totals | 9.0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 2.47 |
Butler, Js pitched to 2 batters in the 7th.
Pitches-strikes: Butler, Js 76-46, Garate 27-18, Keuchel 80-54, Storey 9-6, Valdez, J 16-9.
Groundouts-flyouts: Butler, Js 5-5, Garate 2-0, Keuchel 12-1, Storey 2-1, Valdez, J 1-0.
Batters faced: Butler, Js 22, Garate 7, Keuchel 23, Storey 3, Valdez, J 4.
Inherited runners-scored: Garate 2-2.
Umpires: HP: Tyler Funneman. 1B: Brett Robson. 3B: Chris Segal.
Weather: 71 degrees, partly cloudy.
Wind: 21 mph, R to L.
T: 2:11.
Att: 3,268.
