Nashville Sounds
Colorado Springs, CO – The Nashville Sounds were trounced 17-3 by the Colorado Springs Sky Sox in Monday night’s series opener. The Sky Sox scored 14 runs in the first three innings and coasted the rest of the way to the victory.
Dustin Fowler stayed hot for the Sounds, going 4-for-5 on the night for his team-leading 10th multi-hit game of the season and second straight game with at least three hits. For the second game in a row he came within one hit of completing the cycle. Fowler ripped a two-run double in the third inning to put Nashville on the board. He also singled in the fifth and ninth innings and tripled in the seventh.
After not pitching for nearly two weeks, Sounds starter Chris Bassitt struggled in his first start of the season. The Sky Sox pounced on him early as they took advantage of a wild pitch to score a run in the first inning. Then in the second inning they erupted for six runs as they batted around.
The first four batters all reached base and came around to score. The six-run frame was highlighted by Ji-Man Choi’s two-run blast off the batter’s eye in straightaway center field. 10 batters came to the plate for Colorado Springs in the third inning against Raul Alcantara and Jake Sanchez as the Sky Sox scored seven more runs to extend their lead to 14-2.
Bassitt lasted just two innings while Alcantara went just 2/3 of an inning. Both right-handers surrendered seven runs on seven hits. Sanchez and Bobby Wahl also took the mound for Nashville on the night. With the bullpen short on available arms, infielders Slade Heathcott and Steve Lombardozzi were pressed into pitching duty for the first time in their careers.
Heathcott tossed a scoreless seventh inning with one strikeout while Lombardozzi allowed one run on two hits with a walk and a strikeout in his inning of relief. Heathcott and Lombardozzi became the second and third position players to pitch for the Sounds this season, joining Melvin Mercedes who did so on April 21st at Omaha.
The Sounds continue a four-game series against the Sky Sox Tuesday night. Right-hander Kendall Graveman (0-0, 0.00) starts for Nashville against right-hander Freddy Peralta (4-1, 4.01) for Colorado Springs. First pitch is scheduled for 7:40pm CST.
Post-Game Notes
With Monday’s 17-3 loss, the Sounds dropped to 12-12 on the season.
The 17 runs allowed and 20 hits surrendered were both single-game highs allowed by the Sounds’ pitching staff.
By allowing 17 earned runs, the Sounds’ pitching staff missed out on posting the franchise’s lowest ERA in a month since MLBAM began producing monthly stats in 2005. The Sounds finish the month of April with a 3.30 ERA. The Sounds entered the night with an ERA of 2.67, which would have been the lowest in a month since 2005.
The Sounds used two position players on the mound in a game for the first time since May 28th, 2017 when Chris Parmelee and Ryan Lavarnway both took the mound in game one of a doubleheader against Colorado Springs.
The game lasted three hours and 33 minutes, the longest nine-inning game of the season.
The 2018 season is the Sounds’ 41st in franchise history and fourth as the Oakland Athletics’ top affiliate. Single-game tickets are available now by calling 615.690.4487 or by visiting www.nashvillesounds.com
