Oklahoma City, OK – Mike Fiers continued his early-season dominance on the mound and Hunter Morris belted a three-run home to lead the Nashville Sounds to a 5-3 victory over the Oklahoma City RedHawks on Friday evening at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark.
Fiers (4-0) has won each of his four outings this season with quality-start efforts, including a six-inning, one-run performance to defeat the RedHawks. He struck out 10 batters on the night and leads the Pacific Coast League with 36 strikeouts on the year. His ERA stands at an impressive 1.01 through four outings.
Fiers, who struck out 12 Omaha batters in his previous outing, became the first Nashville hurler to fan 10+ batters in consecutive starts since Yovani Gallardo accomplished the feat on May 17th and 22nd, 2007.Morris powered the Sounds to a 3-0 lead with a three-run, two-out homer off Jake Buchanan, the slugger’s team-leading third big fly of the season. He has hit safely in eight of his last nine contests at a .314 clip (11-for-35).
To set the table for Morris, Irving Falu (3-for-5) extended the Sounds’ longest hitting streak of the year to seven games with an infield single and Hainley Statia contributed a two-out single in his first Triple-A plate appearance of the year.
Buchanan (1-2) drew the loss for the RedHawks after allowing three runs on six hits in four frames.
Oklahoma City got onto the board in the fourth when second sacker Enrique Hernandez took Fiers deep to left for a two-out solo homer, the infielder’s first roundtripper of the year.
The Sounds got the run right back in the top of the fifth when Falu singled for his second hit of the night and raced around the bases to score on an Eugenio Velez RBI double to right, upping the Nashville advantage to 4-1.
Nashville tacked on another run in the top of the eighth when Jeremy Hermida singled with two outs against Oklahoma City reliever Kevin Chapman then scored on Hector Gomez’s double to the wall in left-center, making it a 5-1 contest.
Outfielder Caleb Gindl enjoyed a season-best 3-for-4 night for Nashville.
Alfredo Figaro and Donovan Hand each followed Fiers with a scoreless inning of relief work for the Sounds before Rob Wooten ran into trouble in the ninth.
The teams continue the series with another 7:05pm matchup on Saturday evening. Left-hander Brad Mills (1-0, 2.13) will toe the slab for Nashville and face RedHawks right-hander Ross Seaton (NR).
Box Score
April 25, 2014
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nashville Sounds | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 12 | 1 |
Oklahoma City RedHawks | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 9 | 0 |
Nashville | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | LOB | AVG |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Falu, 3B | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .241 |
Velez, LF | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | .397 |
Orr, 2B | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .373 |
Statia, 2B | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | .250 |
Morris, H, 1B | 4 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | .278 |
Halton, DH | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | .219 |
Gindl, CF | 4 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .243 |
Diaz, R, C | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | .229 |
Hermida, RF | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | .256 |
Gomez, H, SS | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | .167 |
Fiers, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
Figaro, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
Hand, D, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
Wooten, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
Totals | 38 | 5 | 12 | 5 | 2 | 10 | 16 | .246 |
BATTING 2B: Velez (5, Downs, D), Gindl (4, Lo), Gomez, H (5, Chapman, K). HR: Morris, H (3, 3rd inning off Buchanan, J, 2 on, 2 out). TB: Velez 2; Hermida; Gomez, H 2; Falu 3; Halton; Statia; Gindl 4; Morris, H 4. RBI: Morris, H 3 (9), Velez (12), Gomez, H (6). 2-out RBI: Morris, H 3; Gomez, H. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Hermida; Morris, H; Gomez, H; Halton; Falu. Team RISP: 1-for-11. Team LOB: 8.BASERUNNING SB: Falu (5, 2nd base off Stoffel/Stassi).FIELDING E: Falu (3, fielding). |
Okla. City | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | LOB | AVG |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Grossman, LF | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 6 | .333 |
Torreyes, SS | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .309 |
Petit, G, DH | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .317 |
Singleton, 1B | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | .305 |
Stassi, C | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | .263 |
Santana, D, CF | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | .273 |
Hernandez, E, 2B | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .333 |
Meyer, J, 3B | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | .231 |
Simunic, RF | 4 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .276 |
Buchanan, J, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
Downs, D, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
Lo, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
Stoffel, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
Chapman, K, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
Zeid, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
Totals | 37 | 3 | 9 | 3 | 2 | 11 | 14 | .282 |
BATTING 2B: Petit, G (7, Fiers). HR: Hernandez, E (1, 4th inning off Fiers, 0 on, 2 out). TB: Meyer, J; Petit, G 3; Hernandez, E 5; Stassi; Simunic 3. RBI: Hernandez, E (6), Grossman (2), Torreyes (13). 2-out RBI: Hernandez, E. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Stassi; Grossman 2; Santana, D; Petit, G. Team RISP: 1-for-8. Team LOB: 9.FIELDING DP: (Meyer, J-Singleton). |
Nashville | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Fiers (W, 4-0) | 6.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 1 | 1.01 |
Figaro (H, 4) | 1.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4.50 |
Hand, D | 1.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3.27 |
Wooten | 1.0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.25 |
Totals | 9.0 | 9 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 11 | 1 | 3.79 |
Okla. City | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Buchanan, J (L, 1-2) | 4.0 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 5.16 |
Downs, D | 1.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 8.00 |
Lo | 1.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3.00 |
Stoffel | 1.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4.15 |
Chapman, K | 1.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3.00 |
Zeid | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3.52 |
Totals | 9.0 | 12 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 10 | 1 | 4.50 |
WP: Lo.
IBB: Morris, H (by Stoffel).
Pitches-strikes: Fiers 97-64, Figaro 19-9, Hand, D 15-10, Wooten 28-20, Buchanan, J 53-35, Downs, D 18-14, Lo 17-9, Stoffel 14-8, Chapman, K 14-8, Zeid 17-11.
Groundouts-flyouts: Fiers 6-1, Figaro 3-0, Hand, D 1-0, Wooten 3-0, Buchanan, J 6-1, Downs, D 0-0, Lo 3-0, Stoffel 2-0, Chapman, K 2-0, Zeid 0-0.
Batters faced: Fiers 23, Figaro 5, Hand, D 5, Wooten 6, Buchanan, J 17, Downs, D 5, Lo 5, Stoffel 5, Chapman, K 5, Zeid 3.
Umpires: HP: Thomas Newsom. 1B: Brian Hertzog. 3B: Shaun Lampe.
Weather: 81 degrees, clear.
Wind: 19 mph, Out to LF.
T: 2:53.
Att: 6,345.
Venue: Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark.
April 25, 2014