Nashville Sounds Baseball
Renato Nunez and Matt Olson Hit First Home Runs
Oklahoma City, OK – Renato Nunez and Matt Olson hit back-to-back home runs in the sixth inning to lead the Nashville Sounds to a come-from-behind 5-3 win over the Oklahoma City Dodgers Friday night at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark.
Nashville trailed, 3-2, when Nunez launched a solo shot off Dodgers reliever Red Patterson to tie the game. Just moments later, Olson drilled his own solo shot over the right field wall to give the Sounds a 4-3 lead.
They never trailed again as they added an insurance run on Nunez’s sacrifice fly in the eighth.
The lead lasted until the third inning when a two-out error came back to hurt the Sounds. With runners at first and second, Micah Johnson hit a groundball to Pinder. The shortstop flipped to Joey Wendle at second for the force out, but Wendle dropped the ball and all runners were safe.
Two pitches later, Jose Tabata lined a bases-clearing double to give Oklahoma City a 3-1 lead.
The Sounds got a run back in the fifth when Pinder lined a base hit to left to score Bruce Maxwell who led off the inning with a walk.
That led to the back-to-back blasts from Nunez and Olson in the sixth. Pinder, Nunez and Olson accounted for six of the Sounds’ nine hits on the night.
Starter Zach Neal worked around three Nashville errors and picked up the win. All three runs he allowed were unearned. The bullpen trio of Daniel Coulombe, Tucker Healy and Angel Castro combined to retire 12 of the final 13 batters Oklahoma City sent to the plate.
Game two of the four-game series is set for Saturday night in Oklahoma City. Left-hander Sean Manaea (1-0, 1.69) starts for the Sounds against left-hander Julio Urias (1-0, 0.00) for the Dodgers. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05pm.
The 2016 season is the Sounds’ 19th year in the Pacific Coast League and their second as the Oakland Athletics’ top affiliate. Season ticket memberships are available now by calling 615.690.4487 or by visiting www.nashvillesounds.com
