Nashville Sounds fall to Round Rock Express 5-4 in Extra Innings

Rob Wooten Works 3 1/3 Hitless; Sean Halton Homers for Nashville

Round Rock, TX – The Nashville Sounds had the Round Rock Express down to their final five outs Friday night at Dell Diamond, but could not hold off a late rally and lost in extras by a 5-4 margin; their seventh straight loss.

The Sounds led through the first seven innings, but Round Rock manufactured a pair of runs in the eighth off of Travis Webb to level the game, 4-4, leading to Nashville’s first extra-innings game of the year.

Guiding the Sounds in extras up to the 12th was reliever Rob Wooten, who worked through 3.1 innings without surrendering a hit. Wooten tossed 41 pitches in the appearance, fanning two and walking one.

From the start, Nashville felt the impact of their two newest additions: Josh Prince, who joined the team earlier in the day after spending the last 28 with the Milwaukee Brewers, and Khris Davis, in his second game back since 2012.

Prince opened the game with a double to right field and after stealing third, was driven in by Davis, who singled through the drawn-in infield. Prince and Davis paired up again in the third to make it 2-0 with Davis’ RBI-groundout.

Davis’ grounder up the middle was fielded by Express second baseman Jurickson Profar who tried to tag Scooter Gennett, who singled prior, before eventually just taking the sure out at first. The play gave Prince, who reached base on balls, enough time to score from second.

Meanwhile, starting pitcher Mike Fiers held off the Express early in his third start with the Sounds. The Florida native allowed two runs on four hits and two walks over six innings of work. Round Rock’s runs came on a wild pitch in the third and Engel Beltre’s ground rule double in the fifth.

Fiers twirled eight strikeouts on the night, the most by a Sounds starter this season, and fanned four batters with runners in scoring position. The 27-year-old left the game in line for the win after his second quality start.

The Sounds maintained the edge by picking up a run in the fourth and sixth innings. Outfielder Sean Halton connected on a solo homer in the fourth off of Round Rock’s left-handed starter Ryan Feierabend. The next score came via Caleb Gindl’s sacrifice-fly in the sixth, which plated Hunter Morris from third.

In extras, Cole Garner was ejected by home plate umpire D.J. Reyburn, despite arguing the correct side of the call. Garner knocked one of his pitches into the dirt near his feet, which spun into fair territory. Catcher Robinson Chirinos collected the ball and threw to first for the out. Garner never moved, thinking the ball was foul, but was called out. Upon the call, Garner disputed and was ejected. Moments later the crew gathered to discuss the play and ruled the ball foul. Pinch hitter Hainley Statia finished the at-bat with a strikeout.

The Sounds face the Express in game two of four on Saturday night at 7:05pm. Starting on the hill for Nashville will be RHP Frankie De La Cruz (1-3, 7.23) against Round Rock’s lefty Brad Mills (3-0, 2.81). Baseball returns to Greer Stadium on Tuesday, May 7th, as the Sounds host the Fresno Grizzlies (AAA-Giants).

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