Sounds Shut Out Zephyrs, Win Third Straight
Three pitchers combined to shut out the New Orleans Zephyrs in a 7-0 win for the Nashville Sounds Monday night in New Orleans.
It's the third shutout for the Sounds in their last six games. Three consecutive wins has pushed their record to 14 games over .500 at 62-48. The record is just one win shy of matching their high-water mark of 15 games over.
Daniel Mengden, fresh off of being optioned from Oakland, started for Nashville and delivered five scoreless innings. He scattered five hits, walked one and struck out five in his fourth win of the season with the Sounds. The scoreless performance lowered his Triple-A ERA to a minuscule 1.25.
Aaron Kurcz followed Mengden with three scoreless frames of his own before handing off to Patrick Schuster who tossed a scoreless ninth to preserve the shutout.
Newcomer Brett Eibner wasted little time making his mark with the Sounds. Playing in his first game since being acquired by the Athletics in a trade with the Royals, Eibner belted a solo homer in the second inning to give Nashville a 1-0 lead.
The center fielder walked in his final four plate appearances. The four walks matched a franchise record that has been accomplished only 15 times with the last occurring in 2008.
Back-to-back triples by Arismendy Alcantara and Jaycob Brugman increased the Sounds' lead to 2-0 in the fifth.
They scored in four of the final five innings to break the game open. Alcantara manufactured a run in the sixth, an error by Zephyrs third baseman Matt Juengel brought in three runs in the eighth, and Colin Walsh knocked in a run with a groundout in the ninth.
Alcantara, Brugman and Joey Wendle had multi-hit games for the Sounds who will attempt to sweep the series Tuesday night.
Since starting the month of July 1-8, the Sounds have won 14 of 20 games to open a sizable lead in the American Southern Division. They opened play on Monday with a nine game lead in the division.
The series finale in the four-game set is scheduled for Tuesday night at Zephyr Park. Right-hander Raul Alcantara (1-0, 0.00) starts for the Sounds against right-handed pitcher Dylan Axelrod (7-5, 3.93) for the Zephyrs. First pitch is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. CST.
The 2016 season is the Sounds' 19th year in the Pacific Coast League and their second as the Oakland Athletics' top affiliate. Tickets are available now by calling (615) 690-4487 or by visiting www.nashvillesounds.com.