Nashville Sounds 5, Columbus Clippers 3

The Clippers (46-36) attempted to overcome Nashville, (51-30) who has yet to trail in the series, but Columbus fell short and was not able to get around the pitching staff. The Sounds won,  5-3, and were able to extend their lead to secure the win in the eighth inning. After scoring nine or more runs for five straight games last week, the Clippers have scored three or less runs in each of their past four games. 

Close to a series sweep for Nashville, the Sounds have won 10 out of their last 12 games, and being able to get the early lead has been key to their success. RHP Peyton Battenfield was sent to the mound, countered with RHP Josh Lindblom. Battenfield pitched 6.2 innings with three strikeouts and allowed three hits, three runs, and five walks. 

Get the Ball Rolling

Nashville took the lead again in the fourth inning with an Abraham Almonte line drive two-run home run that scored Brice Turang. That marked Almonte’s second homer of the series. Jon Singleton then launched an absolute missile into deep right to score a second homer in the inning, putting Nashville up 3-0. 

In the bottom of the fourth Columbus loaded up the bases with a single from Alex Call and Gabriel Arias, Bo Naylor then walked to advance Call to third and Arias to second. Mitch Tolman got hit by the pitch which scored Call. Jose Fermin came in clutch with a sacrifice fly to left field that drove in Gabriel Arias to cut the deficit 3-2. Call’s scored run moved him into third in the International League with 54, four behind league leader Will Benson. Call also drew his 48th walk of the season in the eighth, which moved him into the top five of the International League for walks this season. 

Benson extended his hitting streak to nine games from Friday’s game, and also extended his on base streak to 16 games with a total of 24 walks in his last 16 games, the leadoff man leads the team in OBP of .420. Benson’s walk took place in the third inning, followed by a single line drive in the bottom on the ninth. 

Talk About Last-Minute

The game was near-silent with little action until the eighth inning, where Almonte came in handy with a single grounder to center field that drove in Pablo Reyes and Brice Turang to keep Nashville in the lead 5-2. Time was running out for the Clippers in the bottom of the ninth, in hopes to break Nashville’s winning streak and Jose Fermin got his second hit of the night with a base hit. Benson singled after Fermin to put the Clippers in scoring position, Tyler Freeman then got out on the sacrifice fly that scored Fermin 5-3. With two hits needed with two outs on the board in order to win, the Clippers were not able to break Nashville’s streak as Will Brennan grounded out. Nashville got five runs with five hits, as for Columbus three runs with six hits. Nashville is only one of two teams Columbus has played amongst the International League’s top seven in pitching on the season. Combining last season’s matchup, Columbus has lost nine games in a row to Nashville. The Clippers have two more chances left in the series in order to break the streak, with the next game on Saturday first pitch set for 7:05. 

Velocity

RHP Peyton Battenfield

1st Inning: 90, 92, 92, 92, 90, 88, 85, 85, 92, 87, 91, 92, 90, 91, 85, 85, 91, 91, 90, 85, 86

2nd Inning: 89, 86, 91, 92, 91, 91, 90

3rd Inning: 90, 83, 85, 91, 92, 93, 90, 84, 85, 85

4th Inning: 84, 90, 86, 91, 91, 92, 86, 93, 93, 87, 84, 84, 90, 85, 92, 83

5th Inning:  84, 84, 85, 85, 85, 90, 85, 84, 92, 85, 89, 84

6th Inning: 83, 85, 91, 78, 85, 93, 86, 85, 93, 85, 90

7th Inning: 85, 92, 92, 85, 84, 85, 88, 92, 79, 85, 84, 91, 91, 93, 85, 93, 85

LHP Alex Young

7th Inning: 85, 81, 92

8th Inning: 90, 91, 85, 86, 87, 93, 87, 86, 85, 92, 86, 85, 85, 94, 92, 86, 92, 85, 84, 93

RHP Justin Garza

8th Inning: 95, 95, 94, 94

9th Inning: 88, 80, 94, 96