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Nashville Sounds

Oxspring Tosses Gem As Sounds Notch Sixth Straight Win

April 23, 2007 - Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Nashville Sounds News Release


NASHVILLE - Chris Oxspring turned in an outstanding outing, allowing one hit over seven scoreless innings, and Ryan Braun went 3-for-4 including his league-leading seventh home run of the year to lead the Nashville Sounds to a 5-1 victory over the division-rival Iowa Cubs on Monday evening at Greer Stadium.

The victory extended Nashville's winning streak to a season-best six games. The red-hot Sounds (12-6), who hold a three-game lead in the PCL American Conference Northern Division over the I-Cubs, have won 11 of their last 13 games.

Oxspring (2-1) dropped his ERA to 1.61 through four starts on the year as he recorded a win for the second straight outing. The Aussie allowed only two runners to reach second over his seven frames. He walked four batters and struck out six in his 103-pitch outing.

Braun continued his assault on opposing pitching, finishing a triple short of the cycle. The third baseman has ripped 15 of his 21 knocks on the year for extra bases.

Vinny Rottino (3-for-4), who has seven hits in his last 10 at-bats, produced his third consecutive multiple-hit effort to extend his hit streak to a season-best three games.

Braun staked the Sounds to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning with a one-out RBI double down the left field line off Iowa starter Les Walrond that plated Chris Barnwell.

Jose Macias upped the Nashville lead to 3-0 in the second with a two-out, two-run single up the middle that brought home Rottino and Callix Crabbe. The knock extended the outfielder's hitting streak to six games, tying for second-longest by a Sound in 2007.

Braun showed off his firepower again in the third when he belted a leadoff solo homer to left-center that careened off the guitar-shaped scoreboard. The blast, off Walrond, was his seventh roundtripper of the season, tying him for the minor-league lead with Joe Mather of Double-A Springfield (Cardinals).

The Cubs scratched across an unearned run in the top of the eighth inning against Sounds reliever Jose Capellan for their lone tally of the evening. Eric Patterson drew a walk, stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error by Rottino, and scored on a Mike Fontenot.

Nashville answered with a run of its own in the bottom half of the frame. Rottino led off with a triple off the wall in left-center and scored a batter later on a Crabbe sacrifice fly, bringing the score to its final 5-1.

Jose Capellan followed Oxspring on the hill and closed out the contest by allowing one unearned run over two innings.

Walrond (2-1) took his first loss of the year after allowed four runs on nine hits over his six frames of action.

The teams wrap up the four-game series with a 10:30 a.m. morning contest on Tuesday that will feature an outstanding pitching matchup. Right-hander Yovani Gallardo (2-1, 2.65), the Milwaukee Brewers' top prospect, will man the bump for Nashville to face Iowa right-hander Carlos Marmol (2-0, 1.65). The hurlers rank second and third, respectively, in the Pacific Coast League with 26 and 24 strikeouts.

The game will feature a crowd filled with over 8,000 area schoolchildren in attendance as part of the successful Nashville Sounds Reading Club program. All program participants who have met their reading goals receive a free ticket to the game and will be recognized for their accomplishments during a pre-game, on-field parade.

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Pacific Coast League Stories from April 23, 2007


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