Nashville Sounds drop Albuquerque Isotopes, 4-3, Sunday Afternoon

Bianchi Plates Winning Run in Nashville Debut

Albuquerque, NM – The Nashville Sounds edged Albuquerque, 4-3, on Sunday afternoon at Isotopes Park to snap a three-game losing streak.

First baseman Sean Halton enjoyed a solid day at the dish for the Sounds, going 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles. Eric Farris and Hainley Statia added two-hit efforts for Nashville in the win.

The Sounds (9-20) got onto the board first, taking a 1-0 lead in the top of the fourth inning when Halton ripped an RBI double to the left-center wall off Albuquerque starter Michael Antonini to plate Statia, who preceded him by drawing a walk.

Albuquerque answered in the bottom of the frame, knotting the contest at 1-1. Antonini reached on a one-out infield single then raced around the basepaths with the tying score on Elian Herrera’s triple to right off Nashville right-hander Wily Peralta. In the next at-bat, Sounds third baseman Erick Almonte kept it a tie game as he deftly snared a grounder off the bat of Ivan De Jesus, Jr. and fired to the plate to retire Herrera as he attempted to score the go-ahead run.

Nashville jumped back in front in the fifth as Farris’ speed on the basepaths paid off for the visitors. After the Sounds’ second baseman drew a one-out walk, he advanced to second on an Antonini balk during a stolen base attempt, moved to third on a Jordan Brown flyout to center, and hustled home on a wild pitch to stake the visitors to a 2-1 advantage.

Once again, the Isotopes had an immediate answer for a Sounds rally and another solid Nashville defensive play prohibited Albuquerque from taking a lead.

In the bottom of the fifth, Baisley greeted Sounds reliever Donovan Hand with a single to center and moved to second on a one-out Jerry Sands single. After Hand struck out Tim Federowicz for the second out, Nashville manager Mike Guerrero summoned Daniel Meadows from the bullpen to face Matt Angle, who ripped a double to left to bring home Baisley with the tying run. Sands also attempted to score on the play but was gunned down at the plate on a bang-bang play following an outstanding relay from Brown to Statia to Maldonado.

Herrera (2-for-3) staked Albuquerque to its first lead of the afternoon in the sixth by belting a one-out solo homer to left off Meadows. The infielder’s second longball of the year gave the Isotopes a 3-2 advantage.

The back-and-forth scoring continued as the Sounds took their third lead of the afternoon with a pair of runs in the top of the seventh against the Albuquerque bullpen. With runners on first and second, Brown lifted an RBI double to center off Derrick Loop to bring home Schafer with the tying run. Pinch-hitter Jeff Bianchi, making his Sounds debut, followed with a sacrifice fly to center to greet new reliever Ryan Tucker and plate Farris with the go-ahead run.

The Nashville bullpen did a solid job of working out of jams and protecting the lead in the late innings.

After former Sound Luis Cruz reached third with only one out in the seventh, left-hander Juan Perez struck out Federowicz and Angle in succession to escape the jam unscathed. In the eighth, Jim Henderson inherited a runner on second and one out and kept Albuquerque off the board.

Henderson closed out the victory with a perfect ninth and recorded the final five outs overall to nail down his first save of the season. The right-hander has not allowed a run in his 15 2/3 innings of work this season.

Johnnie Lowe (2-0) picked up his second victory for Nashville after retiring the lone batter he faced in the contest. Loop (2-1) was charged with the loss for Albuquerque after suffering a blown save, allowing two runs in just one-third of an inning of action.

Peralta took a no-decision for the Sounds after throwing a season-high 92 pitches in just four innings of action, allowing one run on four hits. The right-hander walked a season-high five batters and struck out five in his outing, lowering his season ERA to 3.55 with the effort.

Antonini, who left the game in line for a victory, also did not factor in the decision despite a quality start for the ‘Topes. The southpaw allowed two runs on six hits while striking out six in his six frames.

The teams wrap up the series with a 1:05pm CT finale on Monday afternoon. Right-hander Brian Baker (1-1, 6.27) will make the start for Nashville to face Albuquerque right-hander Mike Parisi (1-1, 2.25).

Box Score

Nashville Sounds (9-20) 4, Albuquerque Isotopes (18-13) 3
May 6th, 2012

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Nashville Sounds	0	0	0	1	1	0	2	0	0	4	9	0
Albuquerque Isotopes	0	0	0	1	1	1	0	0	0	3	9	1

Nashville	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Schafer, CF	3	1	0	0	2	0	0	.256
Farris, 2B	4	2	2	0	1	1	0	.245
Brown, J, LF	5	0	1	1	0	1	3	.231
Almonte, 3B	3	0	1	0	0	1	1	.191
Meadows, P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Lowe, P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
a-Bianchi, PH	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	.000
Perez, J, P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Henderson, P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1.000
Gindl, RF	4	0	0	0	0	1	2	.176
Statia, SS	3	1	2	0	1	0	0	.291
Halton, 1B	4	0	3	1	0	0	1	.264
Maldonado, C	4	0	0	0	0	2	6	.218
Peralta, P	2	0	0	0	0	1	4	.300
Hand, P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.500
Gonzalez, A, 3B	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000
Totals	34	4	9	3	4	7	18	.239
a-Hit a sacrifice fly for Lowe in the 7th.
BATTING 2B: Halton 2 (7, Antonini, Antonini), Brown, J (1, Loop), Statia (3, Tucker). TB: Farris 2; Brown, J 2; Halton 5; Almonte; Statia 3. RBI: Halton (14), Brown, J (1), Bianchi (1). Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Peralta 3; Maldonado; Gindl; Gonzalez, A. SF: Bianchi. GIDP: Brown, J. Team RISP: 2-for-12. Team LOB: 8.BASERUNNING CS: Schafer (4, 2nd base by Antonini/Federowicz). PO: Schafer (1st base by Antonini). FIELDING PB: Maldonado (2). Outfield assists: Brown, J (Sands at home).

 

Albuquerque	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Herrera, 2B	3	1	2	2	1	0	0	.361
De Jesus, 3B	5	0	0	0	0	1	4	.154
Troncoso, P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Van Slyke, RF	3	0	0	0	2	0	2	.330
Baisley, 1B	4	1	2	0	1	0	1	.330
Cruz, SS	3	0	1	0	2	1	1	.314
Sands, LF	5	0	1	0	0	2	6	.232
Federowicz, C	4	0	1	0	0	2	5	.298
Angle, CF	4	0	1	1	0	3	2	.265
Antonini, P	2	1	1	0	0	0	1	.125
a-Becker, Jo, PH	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.290
Loop, P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Tucker, P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
b-Fields, PH-3B	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	.311
Totals	34	3	9	3	7	9	22	.292
a-Grounded out for Antonini in the 6th. b-Walked for Tucker in the 8th.
BATTING 2B: Federowicz (9, Peralta), Angle (5, Meadows). 3B: Herrera (4, Peralta). HR: Herrera (2, 6th inning off Meadows, 0 on, 1 out). TB: Federowicz 2; Angle 2; Sands; Herrera 7; Antonini; Baisley 2; Cruz. RBI: Herrera 2 (14), Angle (7). 2-out RBI: Angle. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Sands 2; De Jesus; Federowicz; Angle; Van Slyke. SAC: Herrera. Team RISP: 1-for-14. Team LOB: 12.FIELDING E: Fields (2, fielding). DP: (Cruz-Herrera-Baisley). Pickoffs: Antonini (Schafer at 1st base).

 

Nashville	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Peralta	4.0	4	1	1	5	5	0	3.55
Hand	0.2	2	1	1	0	1	0	5.19
Meadows	1.0	2	1	1	1	0	1	3.63
Lowe (W, 2-0)	0.1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
Perez, J (H, 1)	1.1	1	0	0	1	2	0	0.96
Henderson (S, 1)	1.2	0	0	0	0	1	0	0.00
Totals	9.0	9	3	3	7	9	1	4.04

 

Albuquerque	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Antonini	6.0	6	2	2	3	6	0	4.50
Loop (BS, 2)(L, 2-1)	0.1	2	2	2	1	0	0	3.18
Tucker	1.2	1	0	0	0	1	0	4.50
Troncoso	1.0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3.09
Totals	9.0	9	4	4	4	7	0	4.88

WP: Antonini.
Balk: Antonini.
Pitches-strikes: Peralta 92-49, Hand 19-12, Meadows 27-14, Lowe 3-1, Perez, J 22-12, Henderson 26-18, Antonini 97-53, Loop 13-6, Tucker 21-15, Troncoso 10-6.
Groundouts-flyouts: Peralta 7-0, Hand 0-0, Meadows 2-0, Lowe 1-0, Perez, J 2-0, Henderson 1-3, Antonini 2-5, Loop 0-0, Tucker 1-3, Troncoso 2-1.
Batters faced: Peralta 21, Hand 4, Meadows 5, Lowe 1, Perez, J 6, Henderson 5, Antonini 26, Loop 4, Tucker 6, Troncoso 3.
Inherited runners-scored: Meadows 2-1, Lowe 1-0, Henderson 1-0, Tucker 2-1.
Umpires: HP: Mark Ripperger. 1B: Tripp Gibson III. 3B: Stu Scheurwater.
Weather: 82 degrees, partly cloudy.
Wind: 6 mph, Varies.
T: 3:30.
Att: 5,333.