Nashville Sounds blowout El Paso Chihuahuas, 13-3

Nashville Sounds Baseball

First-Place Nashville Matches Season High For Runs Scored

El Paso, TX – First baseman Matt Clark belted a pair of home runs to lead the Nashville Sounds to a 13-3 rout over El Paso on Wednesday evening at Southwest University Park.

Nashville (67-57), which matched a season high with its 13 runs on the night, retained its half-game division lead over cross-state rival Memphis, which won in Albuquerque.

The teams combined for six home runs and 12 extra-base hits on the evening.

Shortstop Hector Gomez gave the Sounds a 1-0 lead in the second when he belted his team-leading 14th home run of the year, a one-out solo shot to left off Andrew Cashner (0-1).

El Paso answered Gomez’s shot with a pair of their own in the home half of the frame to grab a 2-1 advantage.  Yeison Asencio and Adam Moore did the damage against Donovan Hand.

The home run show continued in the third when Clark slugged a two-out, two-run homer to right to put Nashville back on top, 3-2, and chase Cashner from the contest. The blast was Clark’s second in two nights and seventh on the year.

Logan Schafer singled in the fourth inning to extend his hitting streak to 11 games, matching the longest effort by a Sounds player this season.

The Sounds broke the game open with a six-run outburst in the top of the fifth inning against a pair of El Paso relievers, sending 11 batters to the plate in the frame.

Clark got things started as he struck again for the Sounds, swatting a leadoff opposite-field homer down the left field line off Dennis O’Grady to up the Nashville lead to 4-2. The blast was Clark’s eighth with the Sounds and 18th overall on the year. His two-homer night is the fifth recorded by a Nashville batter in 2014.

Sean Halton (3-for-5) followed Clark’s blast with a single to chase O’Grady, and Gomez greeted new reliever Keyvius Sampson with an RBI double into the left field corner to make it a 5-2 contest. After a walk and hit batsman loaded the bases, the right-hander issued a walk to Schafer to force home Gomez. Eugenio Velez then lifted a sacrifice fly to deep center for a 7-2 Nashville lead and Jeremy Hermida capped off the scoring with a two-run double off the left-center wall.

Shortstop Tyler Greene hit El Paso’s third solo homer of the night to lead off the bottom of the fifth. The infielder’s seventh big fly of the year but the Nashville lead to 9-3.

The Nashville offense kept going in the sixth, plating four more runs against new El Paso reliever Bobby LaFromboise. Pinch-hitter Irving Falu contributed an RBI single in the frame before Velez drilled a two-run double and Rogers plated a run with a groundout that upped the advantage to 13-3.

Dustin Molleken followed Hand with 2 2/3 scoreless innings of relief before Jose De La Torre recorded the final four outs to close out the Nashville win.

The teams continue the series with another 8:05pm CT matchup on Thursday. Right-hander Michael Blazek (2-4, 3.65) will toe the slab for the Sounds and square off against El Paso right-hander Matt Wisler (7-4, 5.30).

Box Score