Tucson Sidewinders Get 10th Inning Homer to Defeat Nashville Sounds 6-5

MLN Newswire - www.mlntherawfeed.com – TUCSON, Ariz. – Tucson first baseman Josh Whitesell belted a one-out home run in the bottom of the tenth inning to propel the Sidewinders to a 6-5 victory over the Nashville Sounds on Friday evening at Tucson Electric Park.

The loss snapped the Sounds' season-best three-game winning streak and allowed Tucson to avoid a series sweep. The contest was Nashville’s second extra-inning affair of the year (0-2).

Nashville grabbed a 2-0 lead in the top of the fourth inning on a two-out, two-run triple off the bat of shortstop Ozzie Chavez. Russell Branyan (single) and Adam Heether (walk) scored on the three-bagger, Chavez’s second of the year.

Tucson evened the contest in the bottom of the frame with a pair of runs against Mark DiFelice. Trot Nixon and Whitesell opened the frame with a single and double, respectively, and were later driven in on a Trent Oeltjen groundout and a Jesus Merchan sacrifice fly.

The Sounds missed a golden opportunity to reclaim the lead in the fifth, when they loaded the bases with one out with three walks against Sidewinders starter Billy Buckner but failed to score. The right-hander recovered to induce consecutive popouts from Branyan and Heether to escape the jam unscathed.

ADVERTISEMENT

Nixon gave the home team a 5-2 lead in the bottom of the fifth with a two-out, three-run homer to right off DiFelice, his fifth roundtripper of the season.

Branyan answered Nixon’s three-run blast with one of his own two innings later, taking Tucson reliever Emiliano Fruto deep in the top of the seventh to knot the score at 5-5. A pair of walks came back to hurt the right-hander as Nunez and Brad Nelson drew free passes before coming plateward on Branyan’s team-leading seventh longball of the year.

Neither team scored again until the home half of the tenth, when Whitesell touched Sounds reliever Jason Shiell for the game-winning blast, his eighth home run of the year.

Sidewinders reliever Jailen Peguero (1-1) worked three innings of scoreless, one-hit relief and was awarded the victory. Shiell (0-3) was dealt the loss for the Sounds.

Neither starter factored in the decision. DiFelice allowed a season-high five runs on seven hits in his six frames for the Sounds. Buckner, who left in line for the win, turned in a quality start, holding Nashville to a pair of runs on four hits in his six innings of work.

Nelson singled in the first inning for Nashville to extend his season-best hitting streak to nine games, matching the best effort by a Sounds player this season (also Vinny Rottino).

The Sounds travel to Las Vegas on Saturday to complete their road trip with a four-game series against the 51s (AAA-Dodgers). Left-hander Lindsay Gulin (0-3, 4.19), who spent two seasons with Las Vegas in 2002-03, makes the start against his former club and will face 51s right-hander Miguel Pinango (1-2, 5.17).
 

Subscribe TODAY and use the code BMR for 50% Holiday Savings off of the $11.99 annual subscription price!!!

Tucson-Nashville Box 5-9-08