After the Nashville Sounds took 3 out of 4 from the Oklahoma City RedHawks at the friendly confines at Greer Stadium, the homestand continued with the American North Division Arch Rival Iowa Cubs who came into town in 2nd place in the division.
The first couple of games did not fare well as the Sounds dropped both of those games. The Cubs had Casey Coleman, who was just demoted from the parent club, the Chicago Cubs. During his start in the opener, Coleman showed why he made it to the major leagues in the first place. He had a dazzling curveball that night as he struck out the first 2 batters. He also held the Sounds to just two hits through the first five innings. The Sounds finally got to Coleman for a couple of runs in the 6th inning, but in the top of the inning, Sounds' right hander Amaury Rivas coughed up four runs in the top of the inning as Iowa increased their lead to 6-0. Mat Gamel tripled in one run and Edwin Maysonet singled in another run. Coleman picked up the win in the game while Rivas took the loss as he gave up 6 earned runs in 5.1 innings. He had not won a game since he defeated New Orleans on April 22nd at Zephyrs Field. The loss was the Sounds' 2nd in a row.
Game 2 was more competitive, but it was too little, too late as the Sounds lost a tough game to the I-Cubs, 7-5. Frankie De La Cruz started for the Sounds, but got himself into a deep hole very early as he gave up a 3 run homer to Scott Moore in the 1st inning and the Sounds were trailing, 3-0 and then Marquez Smith hit a tremendous home run over the left field wall as the Cubs increased their lead to 4-0. Single runs scored in the 4th and 5th by the Cubs made it a 6-0 lead after five innings. Bobby Scales got into the power act with a home run just inside the right field foul pole. The Sounds didn't get on the board until the 7th inning when first baseman Mat Gamel lead off with a double to right center and then scored on an RBI single by Catcher Mike Rivera. In the 9th inning, the Sounds made things interesting when both Rivera and Third Baseman Taylor Green hit two-run homers to cut the I-Cubs' lead to 7-5. Unfortunately, that would turn out to be the final score as the Sounds came up short and dropped their third straight!
Game 3 of the series between the Sounds & the Iowa Cubs didn't start off so nicely for the Sounds since they fell behind 8-2 early in the game. Josh Butler started for Nashville and after escaping a shaky first inning, the roof collapsed on him when I-Cubs Catcher Wellington Castillo lead off with a home run over the left center field wall and then later on, Butler walked two straight batters and Fernando Perez took advantage of the offensive opportunity when he doubled to right field and the Cubs lead 3-0. Iowa scored five more runs in the 3rd highlighted by a two run double by Bobby Scales.
Later on the Sounds would be trailing 10-6 going into the bottom of the 5th inning when the Nashville came back with five runs in the bottom of the 5th inning to take the lead for good. Brett Carroll lead off the inning with a bunt single and then Mat Gamel homered over the right center field wall for his 9th homer of the year. Later on in the inning after the Sounds tied it up at 10-10, Edwin Maysonet put the Sounds on top for good with a looping single to right center that scored Brandon Boggs, who was a pinch batter early on in the inning and reached base with a walk. The Sounds would score 3 more runs in the 6th inning and one insurance run in the 7th when Carroll lead off with a home run over the left field wall. Carroll would go on to have a four for four night with 3 singles and the home run. The Sounds won it 15-11 and pounded out a season high 22 hits in that game.
On Friday, June 3rd, the Sounds wrapped up their homestand with a unique moment. Sounds' right hander, Mark DiFelice got the nod to make his first start of the year since Pitching Coach Rich Gale had mentioned to me in the interview that the Brewers want to see DiFelice get involved in a multi-inning outing. Milwaukee had a desire to see DiFelice increase his innings and as usual, Mark did not disappoint. Although he is now 34 years old and no longer possesses a 92 MPH fastball like he did earlier in his career, DiFelice continued to utilize his off-speed stuff and showed why his maturity, experience and talent are assets to the Brewers. Mark was on a 45 pitch count limit and proceeded to hurl 50 pitches. Despite giving up a home run to Scott Moore (who would be part of the "unique" situation later on), DiFelice was outstanding as he allowed just the one run and hit in the 2nd inning and struck out four and did not walk a batter. DiFelice retired 12 of the 13 batters that he faced. Chase Wright, who piggybacked for DiFelice, continued the great pitching as he hurled 4 scoreless innings himself and allowing just 2 hits while Sean Green continued to be on a hot streak by hurling a scoreless 9th and the Sounds won it, 5-1.
Now for the "unique" situation. Against Wright in the seventh inning, the Iowa Cubs would threaten. Bryan LaHair lead off with a double to left center field and then Ty Wright walked. Now Scott Moore stepped up to the plate. What did he do? He hit a line drive right to the Sounds' Shortstop Edwin Maysonet who was playing near the bag at 2nd base. Maysonet proceeded to grab the line drive, then stepped on the bag to double off Bryan LaHair and then threw on to Mat Gamel at first to triple off Ty Wright! A TRIPLE PLAY!! It was the first kind of play that I have ever called in nearly 30 years of broadcasting. The crowd went nuts! It was that kind of a night! Nashville gained a split in the 4 game set with Iowa after taking 3 of 4 from Oklahoma City. It was a nice way to kick off a road trip that would see the Sounds travel to New Orleans and then Albuquerque. I will have my New Orleans blog coming up and so far it's been a whale of a time in the Big Easy. Until next time, thanks for reading and enjoy your day!
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