Nashville Sounds beat Omaha Storm Chasers 8-6 in Extra innings Thriller

Nashville Sounds Bullpen Tosses 7 2/3 Scoreless Innings In Series Finale

Papillion, NB – Ryan Roberts had a big day at Werner Park on Tuesday afternoon, blasting his second home run of the game to lead off the 12th inning and helping propel Nashville to an 8-6 win over Omaha.

The victory allowed the Sounds to take three of four from Omaha, marking their first series win since the end of June. The four hour and 10 minute game was Nashville’s sixth win in 13 extra-inning contests this season.

Roberts played hero for the Sounds with his solo shot to start the 12th. It was the designated hitter’s fourth home run of the series and his fourth RBI of the game.

He finished 3-for-5 in the game and added his 26th double as well. Roberts joined Joey Wendle (April 12th at Colorado Springs) and Jason Pridie (July 20th at Colorado Springs) as Sounds who have posted multi-homer games this season.

The fun all started in the first two innings of the series finale, as Nashville had a 5-1 lead after two. Craig Gentry walked to open the game and stole second base two batters later. After Pridie worked a two-out walk, the runners executed a double steal to move up another base. Nate Freiman executed the next step perfectly, lining a double into the left field corner to score the pair. The first baseman extended his RBI total to 13 in the last 15 games.

Gentry collected a RBI and scored another run in the second inning as well. His double allowed Carson Blair, who walked to open the frame, to score. After Wendle grounded into a fielder’s choice in the next at-bat of the inning, Roberts smacked a double that scored Gentry from third and Wendle all the way from first. The five-run cushion came in support of Brad Mills.

The left-hander entered with a 2.02 ERA in his last three starts prior to Tuesday’s contest, but labored over 4 1/3 innings of work. Omaha scored in four consecutive innings off Mills, who allowed six runs on eight hits. The starter also walked two and struck out a pair.

Christian Colon cut into the Nashville lead with his first homer of the season in the second inning. It started the string of runs for Omaha, who evened the score after five innings. The Storm Chases put up a three spot in the fourth, capped by a two-run single from J.C. Boscan.

The Sounds got to six runs when Roberts slammed his first home run of the game. The ball landed on the grass berm in left field at Werner Park and upped the designated hitter’s season total to seven.

Pitching got better for both teams when the starters took their exit. Ryan Dull worked his way out of a couple of jams, including a bases-loaded, one out situation in the fifth.

Then in the sixth, the right-hander had a runner on third with no outs, but retired the next three in a row. Pat Venditte breezed through the seventh and eighth innings, striking out a batter in front of his hometown crowd. Angel Castro entered and retired six straight over two frames, while Brock Huntzinger kept Omaha off the scoreboard in the 11th and 12th innings to bump his record to 2-2 on the season.

The Sounds head back to First Tennessee Park on Wednesday for a five-game showdown with their cross-state rivals, as the Memphis Redbirds currently leads The Tennessee Lottery I-40 Cup Series, 6-5. Nashville is slated to hand the ball to Nate Long (2-4, 5.89) in the series opener, while the Redbirds will go with John Gast (5-8, 5.08). Game time is scheduled for 7:05pm.

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