Pitching Leads Sounds to Win over Salt Lake

The Nashville Sounds used a dominant pitching performance to grab a 2-1 win over the Salt Lake Bees in front of a sellout crowd of 11,024 fans Saturday night at First Tennessee Park.
One night after the Sounds used three pitchers to shut out the Las Vegas 51s, four pitchers held the Bees to one run on four hits in another one-run win. It's the third time in four games the Sounds have won a one-run game.  
Kendall Graveman started on a Major League rehab assignment and went 4 2/3 innings. The right-hander allowed one run on four hits while walking a pair and striking out five. The lone run he allowed was a one-out solo homer to Ramón Flores to give Salt Lake a 1-0 lead in the second.
It remained 1-0 until the fourth when the Sounds got in on the long ball action. With one out, Mark Canha singled to right field to put a runner on base.
Bees' starter Luis Diaz struck out Jaff Decker for the second out of the inning, but he couldn't escape the inning. Yairo Muñoz followed Decker and drilled a 2-2 pitch from Diaz into the Hyundai Deck for a two-run homer and 2-1 lead.
The lead held up as the bullpen trio of Felix Doubront, Chris Bassitt, and Kyle Finnegan kept the Bees out of the runs and hits column the rest of the way.
Doubront came on for Graveman with two outs in the fifth and struck out Dustin Ackley to end the inning. He went six up and six down in the sixth and seventh innings and earned the win.
Bassitt entered for the eighth and made quick work of Salt Lake. The right-hander retired the top of the order in 1-2-3 fashion. He paved the way for Finnegan who worked around a pair of walks in the ninth.
With runners at first and second and nobody out, Finnegan got Ramon Flores to bounce into a 6-3 double play. With the tying run standing at third base, Sherman Johnson flied out to center field to end the game. It's the third save for Finnegan since joining Nashville in late June.
The Sounds have won four of the first five games on the homestand and improved to 51-55. Diaz was tagged with the loss for the Bees who fell to 55-52 with the loss.
Game two of the four-game series is scheduled for Sunday night at First Tennessee Park. Right-hander Ben Bracewell (1-2, 5.40) starts for the Sounds against right-hander Daniel Wright (4-7, 7.26) for the Bees. First pitch is set for 6:35 p.m.
The 2017 season is the Sounds' 40^th in franchise history and their third as the Oakland Athletics' top affiliate. Single-game tickets are available now by calling (615) 690-4487 or by visiting www.nashvillesounds.com.