Nashville Sounds Baseball
Mike Fiers Earns Win With Sharp Debut Start Featuring 9 Strikeouts
Des Moines, IA – The Nashville Sounds bested the Iowa Cubs Tuesday night at Principal Park, riding Mike Fiers’ impressive season debut and Eugenio Velez’s hot streak to a 4-1 victory.
Fiers (1-0) dominated the I-Cubs in his first start of the season, limiting the home team to one run on three hits over six innings of work to pick up his first win. The 28-year-old retired a stretch of 12 consecutive batters in the contest and collected nine strikeouts.
Fiers delivered 78 pitches with 54 going for strikes. Donovan Hand took over in the seventh and eighth innings, and was followed by closer Rob Wooten, who pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his PCL-leading third save of the young season. The three combined to pitch 13 strikeouts and did not surrender a walk.
Offensively, outfielder Eugenio Velez continued his hot start to the season by roping a two-run double to the left-field corner to give the Sounds an early 2-0 advantage in the third inning. The hit scored Elian Herrera and Pete Orr, who both recorded two-out singles.
Up 2-1 in the sixth, the Sounds regained a two-run advantage on Kevin Mattison’s sacrifice-fly that scored catcher Robinzon Diaz from third base. Diaz initially reached base on a Javier Baez throwing error and moved to third when Hunter Morris crushed a double into right field.
Velez, two-for-four, scored the Sounds’ final run of the contest in the eighth inning after stealing third base.
Both Morris and Velez increased their team-leading hit streaks to five games. Velez, who has a hit in each of his five starts, concluded the 2013 season on a 23-game hit streak.
Iowa lefty Chris Rusin (0-2) was charged the loss, allowing three runs, two earned, on seven Nashville hits. Eli Whiteside scored the Cubs’ only run in the fifth inning with his RBI single.
The Sounds play game three of their four-game set with Iowa on Wednesday at 12:05pm. Nashville sends reigning PCL Pitcher of the Year Johnny Hellweg (1-0, 3.38) to the hill opposite the I-Cubs RHP Carlos Pimentel (0-1, 7.20). Sounds broadcaster Jeff Hem has the call on 102.5-FM “The GAME”.
Box Score
April 8th, 2014
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nashville Sounds | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 10 | 1 |
| Iowa Cubs | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 1 |
| Nashville | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | LOB | AVG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Herrera, CF-2B | 5 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .211 |
| Orr, 2B | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .333 |
| Hand, D, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Wooten, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Velez, LF | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | .529 |
| Diaz, R, C | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .250 |
| Morris, H, 1B | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .348 |
| Gomez, H, SS | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .300 |
| Hermida, RF | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .200 |
| Green, T, 3B | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | .143 |
| Fiers, P | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| a-Mattison, PH-CF | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | .000 |
| Totals | 35 | 4 | 10 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 10 | .239 |
| a-Struck out for Fiers in the 7th. | ||||||||
| BATTING 2B: Velez (1, Rusin), Herrera (1, Rusin), Morris, H (4, Rusin), Gomez, H (2, Cabrera, A). 3B: Orr (1, Rusin). TB: Velez 3; Hermida; Gomez, H 2; Herrera 3; Orr 4; Diaz, R; Morris, H 2. RBI: Velez 2 (6), Gomez, H (4). 2-out RBI: Velez 2. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Diaz, R 2; Orr; Green, T; Hermida. SF: Gomez, H. GIDP: Morris, H, Herrera. Team RISP: 2-for-9. Team LOB: 6.BASERUNNING SB: Velez (3, 3rd base off Cabrera, A/Whiteside).FIELDING E: Hand, D (1, fielding). |
||||||||
| Iowa | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | LOB | AVG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Szczur, CF | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | .238 |
| Valaika, 2B | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | .200 |
| Baez, J, SS | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | .056 |
| Anderson, La, 1B | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .083 |
| Coghlan, LF | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | .211 |
| Villanueva, 3B | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | .313 |
| Jackson, B, RF | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | .118 |
| Whiteside, C | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | .167 |
| Rusin, P | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .000 |
| Cabrera, A, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| a-Alcantara, PH | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .222 |
| Mateo, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Totals | 32 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 14 | 10 | .183 |
| a-Lined out for Cabrera, A in the 8th. | ||||||||
| BATTING 2B: Valaika (1, Fiers), Villanueva (2, Fiers). TB: Whiteside; Valaika 2; Coghlan; Villanueva 2. RBI: Whiteside (2). 2-out RBI: Whiteside. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Anderson, La; Whiteside. Team RISP: 2-for-8. Team LOB: 4.FIELDING E: Baez, J (3, throw). DP: 2 (Valaika-Baez, J-Anderson, La, Baez, J-Anderson, La). |
||||||||
| Nashville | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fiers (W, 1-0) | 6.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 1.50 |
| Hand, D (H, 2) | 2.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Wooten (S, 3) | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Totals | 9.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 14 | 0 | 2.85 |
| Iowa | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rusin (L, 0-2) | 6.0 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 6.52 |
| Cabrera, A | 2.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2.70 |
| Mateo | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2.45 |
| Totals | 9.0 | 10 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 5.50 |
HBP: Green, T (by Mateo).
Pitches-strikes: Fiers 78-54, Hand, D 30-20, Wooten 14-9, Rusin 86-68, Cabrera, A 22-15, Mateo 15-9.
Groundouts-flyouts: Fiers 6-2, Hand, D 0-1, Wooten 1-0, Rusin 8-4, Cabrera, A 3-1, Mateo 1-0.
Batters faced: Fiers 21, Hand, D 8, Wooten 3, Rusin 26, Cabrera, A 8, Mateo 3.
Umpires: HP: Marcus Pattillo. 1B: Shaun Lampe. 2B: Thomas Newsom. 3B: Brian Hertzog.
Weather: 54 degrees, partly cloudy.
Wind: 12 mph, L to R.
T: 2:30.
Att: 3,273.
Venue: Principal Park.
April 8, 2014
