Nashville Sounds Baseball
Des Moines, IA – PCL home run leader Anthony Rizzo belted a pair of longballs and drove in four runs to power the Iowa Cubs to a 14-3 triumph over the Nashville Sounds on Sunday afternoon at Principal Park in the finale of a six-game series.
Eight of Iowa’s 15 hits on the day went for extra bases, including four home runs. The I-Cubs won four of the six contests in the series against the Sounds (24-40).
Cubs catcher Juan Apodaca joined Rizzo with four RBIs on the day and also homered.
Sounds center fielder Logan Schafer singled in the top of the third inning to extend his hitting streak to six games, matching his longest effort of the year, but was removed from the contest prior to the bottom of that inning as a precaution after suffering an apparent injury to his right knee on a swing during that at-bat.
Iowa rallied to jump in front in the bottom of the third inning against Sounds starter Mark Rogers, opening the frame with five consecutive singles en route to a five-run frame and a 5-1 lead.
Rusin, Matt Tolbert, and Brett Jackson opened the frame with three consecutive singles off the right-hander, the last of which knotted the contest. Rizzo (3-for-5) followed by driving an 0-2 offering to deep right that one-hopped the right field wall for a go-ahead RBI single that brought in Tolbert for a 2-1 I-Cubs advantage. Josh Vitters kept the rally going with a seeing-eye RBI single up the middle that was narrowly missed by shortstop Jeff Bianchi as he roamed behind the second base bag.
Ty Wright (3-for-5) then drilled a grounder to third and Andy Gonzalez threw home to retire Rizzo for the first out of the inning. After Rogers issued a four-pitch walk to Alfredo Amezaga to load the bases with one down, the right-hander recovered to strike out Dave Sappelt before Apodaca dumped a 2-2 breaking ball into right field for an opposite-field, two-run single that increased the Iowa lead to 5-1.
The Cubs put the game out of the reach an inning later with a six-run fourth, upping their lead to 11-1 and chasing Rogers from the contest in the process. The inning was keyed by back-to-back home runs from Jackson (two-run) and Rizzo (solo), the slugger’s PCL-leading 19th roundtripper, off Rogers and a two-out, two-run homer from Apodaca off Sounds reliever Johnnie Lowe, the backstop’s first big fly of the year.
The 10 runs allowed by Rogers were the most permitted by a Sounds pitcher since Chuck Löfgren gave up a ten-spot to Reno on August 4, 2010 at Aces Ballpark.
Sounds first baseman Sean Halton doubled to lead off the sixth inning, extending his season-best hitting streak to eight games, and came plateward when Brown followed with a run-scoring single to center.
Iowa answered the Nashville run with one of its own in the bottom of the sixth when Wright doubled and later scored on a two-out Sappelt two-bagger.
Rizzo struck again for the I-Cubs in the seventh, belting a two-run homer off Lowe to make it a 14-2 contest.
The Sounds closed out the scoring in the ninth when Farris reached on a fielder’s choice and later scored on a Hainley Statia groundout.
Rusin (5-4) picked up the victory after holding Nashville to two runs on six hits over seven frames of work.
Sounds outfielder Caleb Gindl went 0-for-5 on the day to being his season-best five-game hitting streak to a close.
The Sounds continue their divisional road trip tomorrow in Memphis, when they’ll face the cross-state rival Redbirds for the first time this season in a 7:05pm contest. Right-hander Brian Baker (1-3, 6.51) will man the bump for Nashville and face right-hander Shelby Miller (4-4, 5.18), the St. Louis Cardinals’ top prospect.
Box Score
Nashville Sounds (24-40) 3, Iowa Cubs (29-35) 14
June 10th, 2012
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nashville Sounds | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 1 | |
| Iowa Cubs | 0 | 0 | 5 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | x | 14 | 15 | 0 | |
| Nashville | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | LOB | AVG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gindl, RF-CF | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .228 |
| Bianchi, SS | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .290 |
| Schafer, CF | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .283 |
| Halton, 1B | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .281 |
| Brown, J, 1B-RF | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | .301 |
| Gonzalez, A, 3B | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | .269 |
| Patterson, C, LF | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | .232 |
| Farris, 2B | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | .251 |
| Jaramillo, C | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .290 |
| Rogers, P | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .100 |
| Lowe, P | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| McClendon, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 |
| a-Statia, PH | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .267 |
| Totals | 34 | 3 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 13 | .254 |
| a-Grounded out for McClendon in the 9th. | ||||||||
| BATTING 2B: Halton (14, Rusin). TB: Farris; Brown, J 2; Schafer; Halton 2; Jaramillo; Patterson, C; Gonzalez, A. RBI: Farris (12), Brown, J (12), Statia (14). Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Rogers; Gindl. GIDP: Gonzalez, A. Team RISP: 1-for-6. Team LOB: 7.BASERUNNING SB: Patterson, C (5, 2nd base off Rusin/Apodaca). FIELDING |
||||||||
| Iowa | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | LOB | AVG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tolbert, SS | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .229 |
| Jackson, B, LF | 4 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | .265 |
| Rizzo, 1B | 5 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .363 |
| Bowden, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| MacDougal, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Vitters, 3B | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .269 |
| Wright, T, RF | 5 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .287 |
| Amezaga, 2B | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | .287 |
| Sappelt, CF | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | .226 |
| Apodaca, C | 4 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 2 | .278 |
| Rusin, P | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | .176 |
| Lalli, 1B | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .168 |
| Totals | 38 | 14 | 15 | 13 | 6 | 5 | 18 | .271 |
| BATTING 2B: Wright, T 2 (12, Rogers, Lowe), Amezaga (5, Rogers), Sappelt (10, Lowe). HR: Jackson, B (8, 4th inning off Rogers, 1 on, 0 out), Rizzo 2 (20, 4th inning off Rogers, 0 on, 0 out; 7th inning off Lowe, 1 on, 1 out), Apodaca (1, 4th inning off Lowe, 1 on, 2 out). TB: Jackson, B 5; Tolbert; Wright, T 5; Sappelt 2; Apodaca 5; Rizzo 9; Vitters; Rusin; Amezaga 2. RBI: Jackson, B 3 (25), Rizzo 4 (53), Vitters (34), Apodaca 4 (15), Sappelt (21). 2-out RBI: Apodaca 4; Sappelt. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Vitters; Rusin 2. GIDP: Apodaca, Sappelt. Team RISP: 6-for-15. Team LOB: 6.BASERUNNING SB: Jackson, B (12, 2nd base off Rogers/Jaramillo). FIELDING |
||||||||
| Nashville | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rogers (L, 2-4) | 3.1 | 11 | 10 | 10 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 5.87 |
| Lowe | 3.2 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 4.68 |
| McClendon | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4.56 |
| Totals | 8.0 | 15 | 14 | 13 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 4.81 |
| Iowa | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rusin (W, 5-4) | 7.0 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3.81 |
| Bowden | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 20.25 |
| MacDougal | 1.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7.15 |
| Totals | 9.0 | 8 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 4.67 |
WP: Lowe 2.
Balk: Rogers.
HBP: Jaramillo (by Rusin), Patterson, C (by Rusin).
Pitches-strikes: Rogers 80-46, Lowe 62-42, McClendon 14-9, Rusin 93-59, Bowden 16-8, MacDougal 19-13.
Groundouts-flyouts: Rogers 6-0, Lowe 6-2, McClendon 2-0, Rusin 12-2, Bowden 0-1, MacDougal 2-0.
Batters faced: Rogers 24, Lowe 17, McClendon 3, Rusin 28, Bowden 4, MacDougal 5.
Inherited runners-scored: Lowe 2-2.
Umpires: HP: Eric Loveless. 1B: Angel Campos. 3B: Scott Mahoney.
Weather: 88 degrees, sunny.
Wind: 20 mph, Out to LF.
T: 2:59.
Att: 7,042.
