Nashville, TN – The Nashville Sounds were handed a 7-3 defeat by the visiting New Orleans Zephyrs in the second game of a four-game series on Sunday afternoon at Greer Stadium.
Nashville (21-35) stranded 11 batters on the afternoon and went 3-for-16 with runners in scoring position.
Right fielder Jordan Brown went 2-for-5 for his third straight multi-hit game. Center fielder Logan Schafer, who entered the game as a defensive replacement, added two hits in two at-bats.
New Orleans took a 1-0 lead in the top of the third against starting pitcher Brian Baker, who walked three, fanned two, and committed a throwing error in the visiting half of the third.
Nashville scored their only three runs in the third inning. After shortstop Jeff Bianchi it a ground-rule double down the left field line, third baseman Andy Gonzalez hit a two-out RBI single to left field to knot the contest. Outfielder Caleb Gindl followed with a two-run triple off the center field batter’s eye to score Gonzalez and Halton, who reached earlier on a walk.
Consecutive two-out RBI singles by Gil Velazquez and Scott Cousins tied the game at 3-3 in the top of the fifth and removed Baker from the game. Cousins would later swipe second base and attempt to score the go-ahead run, but was thrown out at home by outfielder Corey Patterson.
New Orleans broke through in the next frame with two unearned runs against Amaury Rivas for a 5-3 lead. Mat Dominguez reached on a fielding error by Gonzalez to begin the frame, moved to second on a walk, and scored the first run on a RBI double from pinch hitter Luke Montz. On the following play, Kevin Mattison hit a sacrifice fly to deep center field.
The Z’s tacked on two more runs in the top of the eighth for a 7-3 advantage thanks to doubles from pinch hitter Nick Green and Cousins, sandwiched around a walk to Velazquez.
Both starters took no-decisions on the afternoon. Baker yielded three runs (two earned) on four hits and four walks in 4 2/3 innings. Hand also gave up three runs on four hits and four walks in four frames.
Rivas (3-3) allowed two unearned runs on a couple of hits and walks in 2/3 of an inning for the loss. Garate followed with 1 1/3 scoreless innings. Mike McClendon gave up two runs on a 1 1/3 innings. Johnnie Lowe worked around two hits in a scoreless inning of work.
Mike Dunn (1-1) followed Hand with a scoreless frame for the win.
The Sounds and Zephyrs will continue their series at 7:05 pm CT on Monday evening. Right-hander Seth McClung (1-5, 4.93) will toe the rubber for Nashville against New Orleans southpaw Wade LeBlanc (2-4, 3.50).
