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Peralta dominates again at Triple-A

Starter holds Omaha hitless until seventh in Nashville's win
August 23, 2011
Nashville's Wily Peralta insisted a no-hit bid was the furthest thing from his mind Monday night. He boiled his focus on the mound to "Get this guy, then get this guy."

Peralta got most of 'em.

Milwaukee's top prospect completed 6 1/3 hitless innings before allowing a seventh-inning run on two singles in the Triple-A Sounds' 7-3, 11-inning road win over the Omaha Storm Chasers.

Peralta (2-0) retired the first 13 batters he faced before walking Kila Ka'aihue on five pitches in the fifth inning. The 22-year-old right-hander then sat down six in a row before Lorenzo Cain smacked an infield single toward shortstop Edwin Maysonet with one out in the seventh.

"It was a pretty close play," Peralta said. "When I looked at the scoreboard, I saw they had one hit with one out in the seventh inning, I was happy. It was fun trying to throw a no-hitter."

Cain advanced to second on a wild pitch and, after Ka'aihue drew a second free pass, scored on Irving Falu's two-out single into right field. Ka'aihue, the potential tying run, was thrown out attempting to go from first to third on the play.

"We were pretty excited," Peralta said of right fielder Caleb Gindl's assist. "The defense helped me a lot. They were doing their best for me."

Peralta, whom the Brewers signed out of the Dominican Republic in November 2005, had extended his Triple-A scoreless innings streak to 14 1/3 before Cain touched home plate. He exited having thrown 98 pitches over his seven innings and struck out seven.

The starter gave up three Las Vegas runs on six hits over six frames in his Triple-A debut on Aug. 12 then rebounded with seven scoreless innings against Tucson on Wednesday.

In his second-to-last Double-A outing -- the best of his season -- pitching for Huntsville against Carolina on July 31, Peralta completed seven one-hit innings.

Peralta has a 1.80 ERA and 24 strikeouts in his first 20 innings one level from the bigs.

"I'm not changing anything," the Southern League Midseason All-Star said. "I'm just trying to keep doing what I am doing."

Prior to Monday, Peralta had never held an opponent hitless for more than three innings. Pitching for short-season Helena against Billings on July 5, 2008, he tossed three no-hit frames, and matched that in two relief appearances the next season at Class A Wisconsin.

The Storm Chasers scored two runs off of Donovan Hand in the bottom of the ninth to tie the score, 3-3, and force extra innings. Ka'aihue and Yamaico Navarro both smacked run-scoring singles.

The Sounds regained the advantage with four runs in the top of the 11th. Eric Farris struck a run-scoring single off of reliever Brandon Sisk (4-2), then scored on Mat Gamel's longball.

Andrew Pentis is a contributor to MLB.com.