Nashville’s Velez Goes 2-for-4 with 2 RBIs; Falu Extends Hit Streak to 8 Games
Oklahoma City, OK – The Nashville Sounds went yard three times Saturday night a Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark to defeat the Oklahoma City RedHawks by a 6-3 margin.
The Sounds Eugenio Velez, 2-for-4, started the team’s home run party with a solo shot in the third inning. The opposite field homer, Velez’s third this season, put the Sounds up 3-0 and makes Velez the first player on the team to go yard as the designated hitter.
Shortstop Hector Gomez followed later in the inning with a dinger over the left-field wall, giving Nashville the 5-0 lead.
The three-homer night ties for the team-most this season, matching their April 20th showing against Omaha earlier in the road trip. Ten of the team’s 18 home runs this season have been solo shots.
Nashville plated its first two runs in the second inning on Gomez’s sacrifice-fly and an RBI groundout from Taylor Green. Hunter Morris, Halton and Jeremy Hermida each drew a walk to load the bases for Gomez.
The RedHawks scored their only three runs on four hits in the fourth inning, with two coming from Domingo Santana’s home run. The Sounds made it a three-run game in the following inning with Velez’s RBI single scoring Irving Falu.
Sounds starting pitcher Brad Mills (2-0) held the RedHawks to three runs on eight hits over 5 2/3 innings of work. He fired two strikeouts and walked none to pick up his second win of the season.
Sounds relievers Michael Blazek, Dustin Molleken, Donovan Hand, and Rob Wooten combined for 3 1/3 scoreless innings. Hand entered with one out in the eighth to face Santana, who represented the game-tying run, and fired two strikeouts. Wooten came in to pitch a 1-2-3 ninth inning for his fourth save of the year.
Falu, 2-for-5, reached base with a double in the fifth inning to extend his hit streak to eight games, the most by a Sounds player this season. He grabbed his second hit in the ninth inning: a two-out bunt single.
The Sounds wrap their four-game series against the RedHawks (AAA-Houston Astros) Sunday at 2:05pm. The Sounds will send Milwaukee Brewers top prospect RHP Jimmy Nelson (2-1, 1.80) to the hill opposite Oklahoma City’s RHP Bobby Doran (0-0, 8.15). Jeff Hem has the call on 102.5-FM “The GAME”.
Box Score
April 26th, 2014
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nashville Sounds | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 9 | 0 |
| Oklahoma City RedHawks | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 12 | 1 |
| Nashville | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | LOB | AVG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Falu, 2B | 5 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .254 |
| Velez, DH | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .403 |
| Gindl, CF | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .240 |
| Morris, H, 1B | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | .267 |
| Halton, LF | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | .239 |
| Hermida, RF | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .261 |
| Gomez, H, SS | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .175 |
| Green, T, 3B | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | .224 |
| Pagnozzi, C | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | .069 |
| Mills, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Blazek, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Molleken, 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 | 33 | 6 | 9 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 9 | .248 |
| BATTING 2B: Falu (3, Cruz, R). HR: Velez (3, 3rd inning off Seaton, 0 on, 1 out), Halton (2, 4th inning off Seaton, 0 on, 0 out), Gomez, H (2, 4th inning off Seaton, 0 on, 1 out). TB: Velez 5; Hermida; Gomez, H 4; Falu 3; Halton 5; Gindl. RBI: Gomez, H 2 (8), Green, T (5), Velez 2 (14), Halton (5). Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Pagnozzi; Halton; Gomez, H; Gindl. SF: Gomez, H. GIDP: Pagnozzi. Team RISP: 1-for-6. Team LOB: 6.BASERUNNING SB: Velez (7, 2nd base off Cruz, R/Perez, C). CS: Velez (6, 3rd base by Cruz, R/Perez, C). PO: Velez (2nd base by Cruz, R).FIELDING DP: 2 (Falu-Gomez, H-Morris, H 2). |
||||||||
| Okla. City | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | LOB | AVG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grossman, CF | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .313 |
| Hernandez, E, 2B | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .297 |
| Petit, G, SS | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .326 |
| Singleton, 1B | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .314 |
| Stassi, DH | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .266 |
| Santana, D, LF | 4 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | .293 |
| Meyer, J, 3B | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | .232 |
| Perez, C, C | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .217 |
| Simunic, RF | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .273 |
| Seaton, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Cruz, R, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Tropeano, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Totals | 36 | 3 | 12 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 13 | .284 |
| BATTING 2B: Simunic (2, Mills), Petit, G (8, Mills). HR: Santana, D (2, 4th inning off Mills, 1 on, 1 out). TB: Meyer, J; Singleton 2; Grossman; Stassi; Petit, G 3; Simunic 2; Santana, D 6; Perez, C. RBI: Stassi (18), Santana, D 2 (16). Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Hernandez, E; Perez, C; Meyer, J. SF: Stassi. GIDP: Stassi, Hernandez, E. Team RISP: 1-for-6. Team LOB: 7.FIELDING E: Perez, C (2, missed catch). DP: (Petit, G-Singleton). Pickoffs: Cruz, R (Velez at 2nd base). |
||||||||
| Nashville | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mills (W, 2-0) | 5.2 | 8 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2.95 |
| Blazek (H, 2) | 0.1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7.59 |
| Molleken (H, 2) | 1.1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3.95 |
| Hand, D (H, 3) | 0.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3.09 |
| Wooten (S, 4) | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Totals | 9.0 | 12 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 3.70 |
| Okla. City | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seaton (L, 0-1) | 3.1 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 10.80 |
| Cruz, R | 1.2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3.60 |
| Tropeano | 4.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2.74 |
| Totals | 9.0 | 9 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 4.52 |
WP: Cruz, R.
Pitches-strikes: Mills 89-56, Blazek 7-4, Molleken 22-17, Hand, D 11-6, Wooten 13-8, Seaton 73-40, Cruz, R 14-12, Tropeano 61-38.
Groundouts-flyouts: Mills 10-3, Blazek 0-1, Molleken 2-1, Hand, D 0-0, Wooten 1-0, Seaton 6-1, Cruz, R 1-1, Tropeano 6-4.
Batters faced: Mills 24, Blazek 2, Molleken 6, Hand, D 2, Wooten 3, Seaton 17, Cruz, R 6, Tropeano 16.
Inherited runners-scored: Blazek 1-0, Hand, D 2-0, Cruz, R 1-0.
Umpires: HP: Brian Hertzog. 1B: Shaun Lampe. 3B: Thomas Newsom.
Weather: 85 degrees, cloudy.
Wind: 23 mph, Out to LF.
T: 3:03.
Att: 6,423.
Venue: Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark.
April 26, 2014
