New Orleans Homers Way Past Nashville

The New Orleans Baby Cakes hit four home runs on their way to a series-opening 6-2 win over the Nashville Sounds at Shrine on Airline Thursday night. Second baseman Isan Díaz hit a pair of solo blasts off Sounds' starter Seth Maness.
The home run barrage started immediately when Magneuris Sierra started the bottom of the first inning with a lead off home run for the Baby Cakes.
New Orleans went on to score single tallies in the third, fourth and fifth innings to extend their lead to 4-0. The first home run of the night for Diaz was a solo shot in the top of the fifth inning.
Nashville got on the board in the sixth. With one out, Zack Granite doubled to right field. Two batters later, Matt Davidson singled to left-center to score Granite and cut the deficit to 4-1. It was Davidson's team-high 48th RBI of the season.
The home runs for New Orleans didn't stop. Diaz roped his second homer of the night in the bottom of the seventh inning and Deven Marrero launched a solo blast off David Carpenter in the bottom of the eighth to make it a 6-1 game.
Nashville's offense never got going. Aside from the hits from Granite and Davidson in the fifth, the offense stalled until the ninth inning. Eli White doubled to start the frame and he came around on a run-scoring single by Tyler Pill to trim the deficit to 6-2.  
Game two of the five-game series is scheduled for Friday night in New Orleans. Left-hander Wes Benjamin (2-5, 6.82) starts for Nashville against right-hander Joe Gunkel (0-1, 5.79) for New Orleans. First pitch is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.
Post-Game Notes
- With tonight's 6-2 loss, the Sounds dropped to 28-44 on the season.   
- Carlos Tocci singled in the first inning to extend his on-base streak to 18 games. Since the streak began on May 28, he's hitting .382 (26-for-68).
- New Orleans outfielder Magneuris Sierra hit a leadoff home run in the bottom of the first inning. It's the first leadoff home run allowed by the Sounds since Drew Robinson hit one for Round Rock on June 24, 2018.
- Nashville starter Seth Maness went 7.0 innings in the loss. It's only the second time a Sounds starter has thrown at least 7.0 innings in 2019 (Richelson Pena - April 12 at San Antonio).
The 2019 season is the 42nd in Nashville Sounds franchise history and first as the Triple-A affiliate of the Texas Rangers. Single-game tickets are available now by calling (615) 690-4487 or by visiting www.nashvillesounds.com.