Nashville Sounds sweep Round Rock Express in Doubleheader at Greer Stadium

Nashville Sounds Baseball

Third Baseman Jason Rogers Goes Yard Three Times in 12 Innings

Nashville, TN – The Nashville Sounds (66-56) completed a doubleheader sweep over the Round Rock Express on Sunday night at Greer Stadium, largely in part to third baseman Jason Rogers, who had three home runs and 9 RBIs on the night.

In the opener, Rogers belted a pair of homers and drove in a career-high six RBIs to lead the Nashville Sounds to a 13-4 win over the visiting Round Rock Express.

The 13 runs scored matched a season high for Nashville, which extended its division lead to two games over cross-state rival the Memphis Redbirds.

Sounds right fielder Jeremy Hermida also enjoyed a strong night at the plate, going 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles and season-high four RBIs.

On the hill, Taylor Jungmann (6-5) authored a quality start to pick up his second win in his last three trips to the hill for the Sounds. The right-hander allowed two runs, both on solo homers, and matched his career high with nine strikeouts over his six innings of action.

The Sounds jumped out to a quick lead in the bottom of the first inning against Round Rock starter Luke Jackson, as the first four batters of the frame reached base and scored.

Hermida put Nashville on the board with an RBI double that plated Logan Schafer before  Rogers (3-for-3) delivered the big hit of the initial frame, a line-drive three-run homer to left. The blast was the infielder’s fifth of the year and gave the home team a 4-0 lead.

Nashville tacked on three more runs in the second against Jackson (1-1), who suffered his first Triple-A loss of the year after giving up nine runs in one-plus innings of work.

The Sounds loaded the bases with a Hector Gomez (3-for-3) double and a pair of walks before Eugenio Velez (2-for-4) ripped an RBI single and Hermida followed by smacking a two-run double off the right-center wall to make it a 7-0 game. Rogers continued his big evening by chasing Jackson from the contest with a two-run single to left that stretched the Nashville lead to nine.

Round Rock right fielder Jared Hoying put the visitors on the board in the fourth inning with the first hit of the night against Jungmann, a one-out solo homer to right-center. The 432-foot blast was the slugger’s 20th big fly of the year.

Rogers swatted his second homer of the day in the fourth, a one-out shot to left off Express reliever Lisalverto Bonilla, that upped his RBI total to six to match his career best , established last season.

Express center fielder Ryan Strausborger made it a 10-2 contest in the top of the sixth with an opposite-field solo homer to left-center, his first roundtripper of the year.

Nashville wrapped up its scoring with three runs in the home half of the fifth off Jimmy Reyes. Velez and Hermida each contributed RBI singles in the frame and Gomez scored on a wild pitch to stretch the lead to 13-2.

In the nightcap, the Sounds once again used the hot bat of third baseman Jason Rogers to defeat the Express, this time by a 4-2 margin.

Rogers connected for his third home run of the night in the third inning of game two. The three-run blast marks his seventh dinger since joining the Sounds on June 27.

Sounds shortstop Hector Gomez led off the inning with his team-leading 13th home run of the season, which tied the game 1-1.

The Sounds finished with four home runs over the course of the doubleheader’s 12 innings, after having only three in their previous 88 innings.

Sounds starter Ariel Pena (9-7) helped keep the Express in check, allowing only one run on five hits over 5 2/3 innings of work. His lone blunder was a home run allowed to Express designated hitter Michael Choice, who later homered off closer Rob Wooten.

Pena fired eight strikeouts in his 86-pitch outing to pick up his ninth win of the season. He also walked a pair.

Reliever Brent Leach picked up the final out in the sixth inning to strand a pair of Pena’s runners, while Wooten collected his 10th save.

Logan Schafer led the team with two hits, but it was Rogers who delivered the knockout punch.

The pair of wins keeps Nashville two game ahead of Memphis for first-place in the American Conference Southern Division with 22 games to play.

The Sounds will try for the five-game series sweep in Monday’s 7:05pm finale. Right-hander Donovan Hand (1-7, 5.40) will make the start for the Sounds and face Round Rock southpaw Ryan Feierabend (8-5, 4.54).

Box Score – Game 1

Box Score – Game 2