Sounds Roughed Up In Iowa, Lose 6-1

DES MOINES, Iowa - The Nashville Sounds failed to keep up with the Iowa Cubs Wednesday afternoon at Principal Park, losing by a 6-1 margin: the team's largest deficit of the season.

Tied 1-1, the I-Cubs took control of the game by scoring two runs off Sounds starter Johnny Hellweg (1-1) in the fifth inning. The 6-foot-9 hurler surrendered a wild pitch to score Arismendy Alcantara, who reached base on balls and moved to third on Javier Baez's double over a leaping Kevin Mattison in centerfield.

Iowa's first baseman Chris Coghlan drove a fly ball to right field for the sacrifice to score Baez and put the Cubs up 3-1.

Hellweg took the loss, his first, allowing three runs on five hits and four walks over five innings of work. He fanned a total of five I-Cubs before reliever Alfredo Figaro started the sixth inning by allowing Brett Jackson a lead-off home run.

Figaro remained in the game and was touched for a two-run homer in the seventh inning off the bat of Josh Vitters. The dinger scored Baez, 2-for-4, who singled into right-field earlier in the frame. Dustin Molleken finished up for the Sounds by striking out the side in the eighth.

Nashville scored their only run in the second inning when Taylor Green, 2-for-3, lifted a solo home run over the right-center field wall. Green's two-out bomb is his first and the team's fifth of the young season.

I-Cubs starting pitcher Carlos Pimentel (1-1) helped his own cause in the home half of the second inning, slapping a two-out single through the infield to drive home Coghlan and level the game.

Pimentel held Sounds batters to three hits en route to his first win of the season, collecting 10 strikeouts along the way. Iowa pitchers combined for 16 strikeouts on the day, the most allowed by Sounds batters this season.

Sounds outfielder Eugenio Velez entered as a pinch hitter for Hellweg in the sixth inning and failed to record a hit for the first time at the Triple-A level since August 11, 2013. The utility man ended last season on a 22-game hit streak and began his 2014 campaign with hits in five consecutive games. Hunter Morris, 0-for-4, also saw his five-game streak end today.

The Sounds conclude their season-opening road trip on Thursday at 12:05 p.m. in Iowa. Nashville sends RHP Jimmy Nelson (1-0, 1.50) to the hill opposite the I-Cubs RHP Kyle Hendricks (0-1, 11.57). Sounds broadcaster Jeff Hem has the call on 102.5-FM "The GAME". The Sounds home opener, presented by PPG Porter Paints, is scheduled for Friday, April 11 at Greer Stadium against the reigning PCL Champion Omaha Storm Chasers (AAA-Royals).