Sounds Extend Winning Streak to 14 Games with Walk-Off at First Tennessee Park

Anthony García's walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth inning lifted the Nashville Sounds to a dramatic, come-from-behind, 6-5 win over the Round Rock Express in front of 6,215 fans at First Tennessee Park Monday night. The win extended Nashville's winning streak to 14 games, one shy of matching a franchise record 15 games set in 1999.
The Sounds erased a 5-1 deficit with three runs in the eighth and two in the ninth to score their eighth walk-off win of the season.
Trailing 5-1 in the bottom of the eighth, Dustin Fowler sparked a rally with his second hit of the night - a sharp single to right-center. Franklin Barreto and Garcia added singles to cut the deficit to 5-2. An error by Round Rock second baseman Christian Lopes extended the inning and brought in another run to make it 5-3. BJ Boyd followed with an RBI single to left-field to make it a one-run game at 5-4.
The bullpen tandem of Jeremy Bleich and Dean Kiekhefer kept the game within reach. Starter James Naile allowed five runs over seven innings. After Naile exited, Bleich worked a perfect eighth inning and Kiekhefer put up a zero in the top of the ninth.
Facing former Sounds hurler R.J. Alvarez, Jorge Mateo started the ninth inning rally with a walk. The speedster stayed at first as Fowler and Lombardozzi were retired for the first two outs in the inning. Barreto followed and worked the count to 2-1 before ripping a double into the left-center gap, chasing Mateo home from first with the game-tying run.
Garcia took a first-pitch strike before lining a base hit down the left-field line to easily score Barreto from second to give the Sounds a 6-5 win.
Game two of the four-game series is scheduled for Tuesday night at First Tennessee Park. Right-hander Frankie Montas (3-5, 4.47) starts for the Sounds against right-hander Chris Tillman (0-1, 7.71) for the Express. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.
Post-Game Notes
- With tonight's 6-5 win, the Sounds improved to 65-55 on the season.
- The Sounds extended their season-best winning streak to 14 games and have set a season-high mark of 10 games over .500.  
- The 14-game winning streak is the second-longest winning streak in franchise history.
- Tonight's walk-off win was Nashville's eighth of the season.
- The four-run comeback win was Nashville's second-largest comeback win of the season (5 runs - 7/30 at Salt Lake).
- Dustin Fowler had another multi-hit effort, his sixth straight multi-hit game and 22nd in 40 games with the Sounds.
- Dean Kiekhefer threw a scoreless ninth inning and improved to 8-0 on the season.
The 2018 season is the Sounds' 41st in franchise history and fourth as the Oakland Athletics' top affiliate. Single-game tickets are available now by calling (615) 690-4487 or by visiting www.nashvillesounds.com.