Nashville Sounds Baseball
Tucson, AZ – Third baseman Andy Gonzalez delivered a go-ahead, two-run single with two outs in the eighth inning for a 4-3 victory over the Tucson Padres on Friday evening at Kino Stadium.
Trailing 2-3 entering the eighth, second baseman Eric Farris got things started by singling, stealing second base, and reaching third on a throwing error. After first baseman Erick Almonte and right fielder Jordan Brown worked two-out walks, Gonzalez grounded a two-run single up the middle to plate Farris an Almonte. The game-winning RBI was Gonzalez’s second in the last three games.
Twenty-four of the Sounds’ 40 games have been decided by one or two runs (10-14 in those contests), which lead the PCL.
Starting pitcher Claudio Vargas helped his own cause in the second frame to put the Sounds on the board. With the bases juiced and one out, Vargas lined a hit up the middle that deflected off of pitcher Kip Wells and drifted past the second baseman to score third baseman Andy Gonzalez. On the following play, center fielder Logan Schafer made it 2-0 with an infield groundout to shortstop.
The Padres knotted the contest at 2-2 in the home half of the third. Leadoff hitter Blake Tekotte lined his fourth homer of the right field wall and was followed by a Logan Forsythe double, which removed Vargas from the game. Later in the inning with two outs, Yasmani Grandal knocked a game-tying RBI single to left.
The Padres took a 3-2 in the sixth as Grandal lead off the frame with a base hit, moved to second on a wild pitch from Donovan Hand, and scored on a Sawyer Carroll RBI single.
Tucson threatened in the eighth, putting runners on the corners with no outs. After Grandal doubled and moved to third on a wild pitch, Carroll walked to remove Johnnie Lowe from the ball game. Reliever Mike McClendon then entered the game and worked out of a jam. The right-hander struck out Daniel Robertson on three pitches and induced an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play.
In his Sounds debut, Vargas gave up two runs on three hits and two walks in two plus innings of work. The 33-year-old struck out four batters with 51 pitches, (31 strikes) in a no-decision.
In relief of Vargas, Hand worked a season-high four innings, giving up one run on four hits while striking out two. Lowe (4-0) pitched a scoreless frame for the victory and extended his scoreless streak to 15 1/3 innings. McClendon stranded two runners and picked up a six-out save.
Nashville swiped a season-high four bases, including two from Farris.
Tucson starter Kip Wells allowed two unearned runs on four hits while fanning two for a no-decision. Anthony Reyes (0-1) took the loss in his season-debut with two runs in 2 2/3 innings.
The Sounds and Padres will play the third game of a four-game series at 9:05pm CT at Kino Stadium in Tucson. Right-hander Mike Fiers (1-2, 3.53) will man the bump against Tucson righty Jorge Reyes (2-5, 4.93).
Box Score
Nashville Sounds (15-25) 4, Tucson Padres (13-28) 3
May 18th, 2012
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nashville Sounds | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 7 | 0 | |
| Tucson Padres | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 10 | 4 | |
| Nashville | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | LOB | AVG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Schafer, CF | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .268 |
| Farris, 2B | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | .260 |
| Statia, SS | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | .291 |
| Almonte, 1B-3B | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | .215 |
| Brown, J, RF | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .250 |
| Gonzalez, A, 3B | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .313 |
| McClendon, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 |
| Gindl, LF | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | .176 |
| Maldonado, C | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | .202 |
| Vargas, P | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 |
| Hand, P | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .333 |
| a-Patterson, C, PH | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .215 |
| Lowe, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Halton, 1B | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .257 |
| Totals | 33 | 4 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 13 | .247 |
| a-Flied out for Hand in the 7th. | ||||||||
| BATTING TB: Farris; Brown, J; Vargas; Schafer; Gonzalez, A; Statia; Gindl. RBI: Vargas (1), Schafer (11), Gonzalez, A 2 (7). 2-out RBI: Gonzalez, A 2. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Farris; Gindl. GIDP: Almonte 2. Team RISP: 3-for-7. Team LOB: 6.BASERUNNING SB: Gonzalez, A (1, 3rd base off Wells, K/Grandal), Gindl (1, 2nd base off Wells, K/Grandal), Farris 2 (12, 2nd base off Wells, K/Grandal, 2nd base off Reyes, A/Grandal). CS: Farris (3, 3rd base by Wells, K/Grandal). PO: Farris (2nd base by Wells, K). FIELDING |
||||||||
| Tucson | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | LOB | AVG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tekotte, CF | 5 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .283 |
| Forsythe, 3B | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | .313 |
| Gyorko, 2B | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | .375 |
| Clark, M, 1B | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | .259 |
| Grandal, C | 4 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .284 |
| Carroll, RF | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | .243 |
| Robertson, LF | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | .320 |
| Weems, SS | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | .273 |
| Wells, K, P | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | .500 |
| Reyes, A, P | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .000 |
| Hamren, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Boxberger, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| a-Contreras, PH | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .292 |
| Totals | 35 | 3 | 10 | 3 | 5 | 10 | 22 | .267 |
| a-Struck out for Boxberger in the 9th. | ||||||||
| BATTING 2B: Forsythe (1, Vargas), Tekotte (10, Lowe), Grandal (4, Lowe). HR: Tekotte (4, 3rd inning off Vargas, 0 on, 0 out). TB: Carroll; Tekotte 7; Gyorko; Wells, K; Forsythe 2; Grandal 4. RBI: Tekotte (11), Grandal (13), Carroll (19). 2-out RBI: Grandal. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Clark, M 2; Wells, K 2. GIDP: Weems. Team RISP: 2-for-11. Team LOB: 10.BASERUNNING SB: Carroll (4, 3rd base off Vargas/Maldonado), Robertson (5, 2nd base off Vargas/Maldonado). CS: Robertson (3, 2nd base by Hand/Maldonado). FIELDING |
||||||||
| Nashville | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vargas | 2.0 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 9.00 |
| Hand | 4.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4.88 |
| Lowe (W, 4-0) | 1.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0.00 |
| McClendon (S, 2) | 2.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 4.41 |
| Totals | 9.0 | 10 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 10 | 1 | 4.47 |
| Tucson | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wells, K | 5.0 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Reyes, A (L, 0-1) | 2.2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 6.75 |
| Hamren (BS, 1) | 0.1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Boxberger | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4.50 |
| Totals | 9.0 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 5.47 |
Vargas pitched to 2 batters in the 3rd.
WP: Vargas 2, Hand, Lowe.
HBP: Maldonado (by Wells, K).
Pitches-strikes: Vargas 51-30, Hand 60-41, Lowe 23-14, McClendon 23-15, Wells, K 78-49, Reyes, A 48-30, Hamren 10-6, Boxberger 12-10.
Groundouts-flyouts: Vargas 0-1, Hand 6-3, Lowe 1-0, McClendon 2-0, Wells, K 8-2, Reyes, A 3-3, Hamren 0-0, Boxberger 1-0.
Batters faced: Vargas 11, Hand 16, Lowe 6, McClendon 7, Wells, K 20, Reyes, A 12, Hamren 2, Boxberger 3.
Inherited runners-scored: Hand 1-1, McClendon 2-0, Hamren 3-2.
Umpires: HP: Scott Mahoney. 1B: Angel Campos. 2B: Eric Loveless. 3B: Matt Schaufert.
Weather: 92 degrees, clear.
Wind: 12 mph, Out to RF.
T: 3:30.
Att: 2,838.
