Sounds Drop Third Straight To Royals, 8-6
Published on April 28, 2007 under Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Nashville Sounds News Release
OMAHA - The Nashville Sounds dropped their third straight game on Saturday evening at Rosenblatt Stadium, falling 8-6 to the division-rival Omaha Royals.
Nashville (13-9) was out-hit 16-9 in the contest; the 16 Omaha hits were the most surrendered by the Sounds in a game this season. All nine Royals recorded a hit and seven different batters posted two hits on the evening.
The three consecutive Sounds losses immediately follow a string of seven straight wins for the club, which remains in first place in the PCL American Conference Northern Division.
Catcher JD Closser gave the Sounds a 1-0 lead with a two-out solo home run to right in the top of the first inning. The blast, which came against Omaha starter Matt Wright, was the backstop's second of the year.
Omaha tied the contest in the bottom of the first when Billy Butler plated Joey Gathright with a two-out RBI single off Nashville starter Tim Dillard.
Nashville pulled ahead 2-1 in the second when Joe Dillon led off with a double and was replaced by pinch-runner Jose Macias. After Macias moved to third on a groundout, he gave the Sounds a one-run cushion by scoring on a Mike Rivera sacrifice fly.
Sounds first baseman Andy Abad (2-for-4), who logged the club's only multiple-hit effort of the evening, increased the visitors' lead to 3-1 in the fifth when he led off with a solo homer to right off Wright, the veteran's second longball of the season.
Omaha first baseman Justin Huber put the home team back in front with one swing of the bat in the bottom of the sixth, belting a three-run homer to right with two outs. The blast, which was Huber's first of the season, chased Dillard and also scored Butler and Mike Aviles.
The Royals tacked on three scores in the seventh against the Nashville bullpen. After Omaha loaded the bases with a pair of singles and a walk against Mitch Stetter, Alec Zumwalt came on for the Sounds and walked Butler to force home Gathright for a 5-3 lead. Aviles followed with a sacrifice fly and Mitch Maier grounded into a run-scoring forceout to extend the Royals' advantage to 7-3.
Vinny Rottino got into the longball act for the Sounds in the eighth, leading off the frame with a solo homer to left off Royals reliever Thad Markray. The blast was the utilityman's fifth of the year. Nashville pulled within a pair of runs later in the frame when Ozzie Chavez scored on a Closser sacrifice fly to make it a 7-5 contest.
Royals third baseman Fernando Cortez greeted Sounds reliever Lindsay Gulin with a solo homer to right to lead off the bottom of the eighth inning. It was the infielder's second home run in as many nights and the insurance run pushed the score to 8-5.
Nashville brought the potential tying run to the plate with no outs in the top of the ninth after Macias and Abad opened the frame with a single and double, respectively, against Ken Ray. Rivera struck out before Rottino drove in the game's final run with a sacrifice fly to bring the score to 8-6. Ray ended the game by retiring Chavez on a groundout.
Markray (1-0) was awarded his first victory of the year despite allowing two runs in his three innings of relief work for the Royals.
Dillard (0-2) remains winless through five starts in his Class AAA career for the Sounds, taking the loss after allowing four runs on 11 hits over 5 2/3 innings of work.
Nashville outfielders threw out a pair of Omaha runners at the plate in the contest: Rottino tossed out Butler from his post in right field in the first and center fielder Drew Anderson nailed Angel Berroa in the third, both with help of a Chris Barnwell relay to the plate.
The Sounds will look to avoid a four-game sweep when the teams wrap up the four-game series with a 1:35 p.m. finale on Sunday afternoon. Right-hander Chris Oxspring (2-1, 1.61) will man the bump for the Sounds and face former Nashville hurler Ben Hendrickson (2-1, 4.98).
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