PCL1 Nashville Sounds

Rivera Homers Twice, Gallardo Earns Seventh Victory

Published on May 27, 2007 under Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Nashville Sounds News Release


ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - Catcher Mike Rivera enjoyed his second two-homer game of the season and Yovani Gallardo picked up his PCL-leading seventh victory in the Nashville Sounds' 9-7 victory over the Albuquerque Isotopes on Sunday evening at Isotopes Park.

The win was the fourth in the last six games for Nashville (27-23).

Rivera (3-for-5) recorded five RBIs on the evening, matching the most by a Sound all season, and upped his longball total to eight, which ranks second on the club to the recently-promoted Ryan Braun.

Gallardo (7-1), who allowed three runs on six hits over 5 2/3 innings, reclaimed the minor-league strikeout lead with eight punchouts on the evening, leapfrogging over fellow Brewers farmhand Will Inman. The 21-year-old has 84 strikeouts in his 10 starts this season.

The Isotopes grabbed a 1-0 lead against Gallardo in the bottom of the first inning. After Robert Andino and Eric Reed (3-for-5) opened the contest with singles then executed a double steal of second and third, Andino put the home team on the board by scoring on a groundout.

Nashville tied the contest at 1-1 with a two-out rally against Albuquerque starter Chris George in the fourth, the first of five consecutive innings in which the Sounds plated runs.

After the first two batters were retired, Joe Dillon reached on a throwing error by Andino, the Isotopes' shortstop. The red-hot Andy Abad following with a single to extend his hitting streak to eight games, matching his best effort of the season. Rivera evened things by plating Dillon in unearned fashion with an RBI single to center.

Dillon, who was hit safely in 13 of his last 15 contests, continued to haunt his former team in the fifth when he delivered a two-out, bases-loaded ground-rule double off George to left to give Nashville a 3-1 lead. Gallardo and Callix Crabbe, who had each drawn a walk, scored on the play.

Rivera struck again for the Sounds in the sixth when he opened the inning with his seventh home run of the season, a solo shot to center off George. The blast increased the Nashville lead to 4-1.

After allowing a run in the first, Gallardo cruised through the next four innings before running into trouble in the bottom of the sixth. He walked in two runs in the frame, the second with two outs, before being removed by Sounds skipper Frank Kremblas after throwing his 102nd pitch of the night. Joe Thatcher replaced the prospect on the hill and retired former Sound Andrew Beattie on a flyout to escape the jam with Nashville's 4-3 lead intact.

Rivera made Albuquerque pay for issuing a two-out intentional walk to Abad in front of him in the seventh. The Nashville backstop belted his second home run of the contest, a three-run shot to center off Isotopes reliever Harvey Garcia that extended the visitors' advantage to 7-3.

The Isotopes rallied to get a run back in the bottom of the seventh when Andino scampered home from third to score on a Greg Aquino wild pitch.

Nashville added a pair of runs against Garcia in the eighth. Crabbe contributed a one-out RBI single to plate Charles Thomas before bringing the score to 9-4 when he came home on a Chris Barnwell triple to right one batter later. Barnwell (4-for-5) matched the Nashville season high for hits in a game and missed the cycle by a homer.

PCL home run leader Val Pascucci brought Albuquerque within two at 9-7 in the bottom of the ninth by belting a two-out, three-run homer to center off Sounds reliever R.A. Dickey. The blast, which scored Reed and former Sound Chad Hermansen, was the slugger's 13th of the year.

George (3-4) took the loss after allowing four runs (three earned) on seven hits over six innings of work.

The teams wrap up the series with a 2:35 p.m. CT Memorial Day finale on Monday afternoon. Left-hander Zach Jackson (5-3, 4.61) will toe the rubber for the Sounds to face Isotopes right-hander Jeff Fulchino (3-0, 4.75).

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Pacific Coast League Stories from May 27, 2007


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