De La Cruz Dominates Express, Leads Sounds to 5-0 Shutout
August 2, 2011 - Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Nashville Sounds News Release
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Right-hander Frankie De La Cruz hurled 7 2/3 scoreless innings and Mat Gamel belted a pair of home runs to lead the Nashville Sounds to a 7-0 shutout win over the Round Rock Express on Tuesday evening at Greer Stadium in the finale of a four-game series.
With the win, the Sounds (54-57) salvaged a split of the four-game series and earned their third shutout victory of the season.
De La Cruz (6-6) continued his recent dominance on the hill by scattering six hits while striking out seven batters over his 7 2/3 scoreless frames to drop his seasonal ERA to 3.73.
In his last 12 starts, the red-hot right-hander is 6-1 with a 2.35 ERA (18er/69.0ip). Tonight's effort marked the team-leading 12th quality start of the year for De La Cruz.
Right-hander Mike McClendon closed out the shutout by recording the final four outs.
Gamel powered the Nashville offense with his fourth two-homer game of the year, belting a pair of solo homers to up his team-leading longball total to 23 on the year.
The Sounds got on the board first with an unearned run in the bottom of the second inning. Gamel led off with a walk and moved to second on Brandon Boggs' two-out single. Both runners advanced a base when Round Rock hurler Brett Tomko uncorked a wild pitch, then catcher Kevin Cash misfired into left field as he attempted to throw out Gamel at third, allowing the first run of the night to score.
Nashville doubled its lead to 2-0 in the third as two of the Sounds' hottest hitters teamed up. Logan Schafer led off with a double into the right field corner and scored when Jordan Brown followed with an RBI single up the middle.
Schafer has hit safely in 11 of his 12 Triple-A contests at a .388 clip (19-for-49), while Brown extended the club's longest active hitting streak to six games (11-for-28, .393).
The Sounds' lead increased to 3-0 in the fifth when Eric Farris hit a line drive to center then came around to score on the play following a pair of Express miscues. Center fielder Joey Butler overran the ball then shortstop Nick Green misfired into the stands behind the third base bag.
Gamel made it a 4-0 game in the sixth when he homered for the second straight night against Round Rock pitching, taking Tomko deep to right to lead off the frame for his team-leading 22nd longball of the year.
Brown (2-for-4) closed out the evening's scoring in the eighth with his second run-scoring knock of the night, a two-out, two-run double to right off Express reliever Darren O'Day.
Tomko (5-4) was saddled with a quality-start loss for the visitors after surrendering four runs (two earned) on eight hits over his six innings of work.
The Sounds travel to Colorado Springs tomorrow morning to begin an eight-game road trip. Right-hander Mike Fiers (3-0, 2.25) will be activated from the disabled list to start Wednesday's 8:05 p.m. CT opener of a four-game series at Security Service Field. He'll face Sky Sox right-hander Clayton Mortensen (1-5, 9.82).
Baseball returns to Greer Stadium on Friday, August 12th, when the Sounds begin an eight-game homestand.
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