Sounds Suffer Devastating Last At-Bat Loss In Round Rock, 8-7
May 6, 2011 - Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Nashville Sounds News Release
ROUND ROCK, Texas - The Round Rock Express erased a two-run deficit in the bottom of the ninth inning to hang a devastating 8-7 loss on the Nashville Sounds on Friday evening at The Dell Diamond in the opener of a four-game series.
The loss was the fifth in a row for the Sounds (9-18), who suffered their PCL-leading 11th one-run defeat of the year.
In the top of ninth, the Sounds took advantage of ineffective Express reliever Pedro Strop to break a tie and take a 7-5 lead. Brendan Katin led off with an opposite-field double to right then scored when Mat Gamel followed with a first-pitch single back up the middle and center fielder Endy Chavez overran the ball. Two batters later, Jeremy Reed drove in an insurance run with a single to left that gave Nashville a two-run cushion.
Round Rock stormed right back in the bottom of the frame against Sounds reliever Zack Segovia. Andy Tracy got extended life after a questionable non-called third strike by the home plate umpire and took advantage by leading off with a double to left to get things started. After Brad Nelson lined out, former Sound Luis Cruz stepped in and mashed the first pitch he saw from Segovia over the left field wall for a game-tying two-run homer, the infielder's fifth roundtripper of the year.
After Sounds catcher Mike Rivera was ejected following the homer as he argued the missed strike call with the home plate umpire, the Express continued their rally. Doug Deeds flew out to the wall for the second out, then Craig Gentry and Kevin Cash singled off Segovia to put a pair of runners on base for PCL mainstay Esteban German, who blooped a game-winning single to shallow center which dropped just in front of a charging Brett Caroll to allow Gentry to race home with the winning run.
Strop (1-0) backed into a win by being bailed out by the Round Rock rally. The right-hander allowed two runs in his 1 1/3 innings of work. Segovia (1-2) was saddled with the loss after giving up three runs on five hits in 1 2/3 frames.
Six different Nashville hitters recorded multiple-hit efforts on the evening, led by three-hit games from Carroll and Caleb Gindl, as the Sounds etched a season-best 15 knocks in the losing effort.
Round Rock jumped out to a 1-0 lead against Sounds starter Frankie De La Cruz in the bottom of the first inning. German led off with a triple to center and scored the night's first run on Chavez's ensuing groundout.
The Express stretched their lead to 3-0 in the second against De La Cruz. Doug Deeds led off the frame with his fourth home run of the season, a solo shot to right. Round Rock later loaded the bases with a pair of walks and a Brian Barden single sprinkled among a pair of outs before Tracy drew a walk to force home Cash with the inning's second run. De La Cruz then struck out former Sound Brad Nelson to leave the bases full and escape further damage.
Round Rock added another run in the fourth when Barden tripled with one out and came plateward one batter later on Tracy's RBI single.
After leaving runners on base in each of the first four innings (twice in scoring position), the Sounds finally broke through in the fifth inning against former Nashville hurler Zach Jackson.
The first two batters of the frame were retired by the left-hander before Gindl doubled to right and scored the first Sounds run when Eric Farris followed with a single to center. Carroll (3-for-5) then hammered his first home run of the season, a two-run shot to left-center, which drew the visitors within a single score at 4-3.
Gindl (3-for-5) tied the contest at 4-4 in the seventh when he greeted new Express reliever Yhency Brazoban with a solo homer to right-center, his second big fly of the season.
Round Rock took advantage of a Farris fielding error and some crafty baserunning to reclaim a 5-4 lead in the bottom of the seventh. With one out, Nelson doubled and moved to third when Cruz, the 2010 Sounds MVP, reached as Farris booted his groundball. As Doug Deeds struck out, the two former Nashville standouts executed a double steal, with Nelson reaching home to give the home team a one-run advantage.
Nashville again evened the contest at 5-5 in the following half-inning as Rivera ripped his second double of the night and later scored on a sacrifice fly to left off the bat of Anderson Machado. The Sounds missed an opportunity to do further damage, however, leaving the sacks full in the frame as Strop entered the contest and retired Carroll on a first-pitch fly to shallow right to escape the jam.
The teams continue the series with another 7:05 p.m. meeting on Saturday. Right-hander Josh Butler (1-2, 4.76) will toe the rubber for the Sounds to face Round Rock right-hander Derek Hankins (4-1, 4.94).
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