Nashville, TN – The Nashville Sounds took the series lead over the Iowa Cubs on Saturday night with a 7-4 win. Nashville will have a chance to close out the first half of the International League schedule with their eighth series win in the finale on Sunday afternoon at First Horizon Park.
Southpaw Josh Maciejewski made his first start of the season on the mound after making 15 relief appearances between Nashville and Double-A Biloxi. He worked a season-high four innings and did not allow a hit or walk, and had four strikeouts of the 12 batters he faced.
He exited the game with a 2-0 lead after Anthony Seigler plated the first run of the night with a sac fly in the bottom of the third and back-to-back two-out doubles from Ernesto Martinez Jr. and Drew Avans in the fourth.
Nashville did more two-out damage in the fifth. Jared Oliva tripled home Seigler who led off the inning with a single. Jorge Alfaro then provided Nashville with a 4-0 advantage with a RBI double.
Elvin Rodriguez was in for relief of Maciejewski and faced four batters in the top of the fifth. A one-out double was the I-Cubs first hit of the night but was followed by back-to-back strikeouts for Rodriguez. He was back for the sixth and got two quick outs.
However, a hit by pitch and two walks loaded the bases before a pitching change was made. The first batter Elvis Peguero faced tied the game with a grand slam on the second Iowa hit of the night. Three straight walks followed before Bryan Hudson struck out Darius Hill in his second at-bat of the inning.
Hudson was back for the seventh and added another strikeout to his line. Joel Payamps struck out the side in order in the top of the eighth as the game still remained tied despite holding Iowa to just two hits over eight frames.
The third Iowa error allowed Avans to reach for the third time in four trips to the plate. He immediately stole second and put himself in scoring position for Anthony Seigler who delivered the go-ahead RBI with his second hit. Bobby Dalbec extended the lead to three runs with the fourth Nashville double of the game off Iowa pitching.
Right-hander Blake Holub was the sixth different Nashville pitcher used when he headed to the mound for the top of the ninth. Like Payamps, Holub struck out the side in order for his first save of the season.
In control of the series, Sunday’s series finale will be a pitching rematch from Tuesday’s opener. RHP Tobias Myers (1-3, 3.48 ERA) earned his first Nashville Sounds win of the season on Tuesday and will face Iowa and RHP Kenta Maeda (1-2, 10.23 ERA). First pitch is scheduled for 2:05pm.
