The Nashville Sounds scored six runs in the first three innings on their way to an 8-5 win over the Round Rock Express in front of 7,488 fans Thursday night at First Tennessee Park.
Three consecutive singles opened the scoring in the bottom of the first for Nashville (33-21). Jaycob Brugman and Chad Pinder collected back-to-back singles to set the table for Renato Nunez who laced a base hit down the left field line to make it 1-0.
After a fielder’s choice for the first out in the inning, Ryon Dealy belted a double into the left-center gap that scored Pinder and Andrew Lambo to give the Sounds an early 3-0 lead.
Round Rock (29-24) came back with a pair of runs off Sounds’ starter Zach Neal in the third. A base hit to start the inning by Patrick Cantwell and a bloop single from Brett Nicholas extended the inning for Joey Gallo. The third baseman sent a liner to the wall in right-center for a two-run triple.
Nashville got the runs right back as three walks issued by Kyle Lohse came back to hurt him in the home half of the third. With the bases loaded and two outs, Joey Wendle hit a pop up into shallow left that dropped in between three Express defenders. With the runners moving on the pitch, all three came around to score to extend the lead to 6-2.
Bruce Maxwell got in on the scoring act when he launched a solo homer to right field to lead off the fourth.
The Express scratched across another run against Neal in the fifth before he departed with a 7-3 lead. With the win, he improved to 6-1 on the season.
Three relievers combined to shut down Round Rock the rest of the way. Aaron Kurcz tossed two scoreless innings and Daniel Coulombe pitched the eighth.
The Express brought the tying run to the plate in the top of the ninth in the form of Doug Bernier, but Tucker Healy bucked down and struck him out to finish the win.
Since May 14, Nashville has won 17 of their last 19 games. They’ll attempt to win their fifth consecutive series in game four of the set on Friday.
The series and homestand finale is set for Friday night at First Tennessee Park. Left-hander Dillon Overton (4-4, 3.99) starts for the Sounds against right-hander Chi-Chi Gonzalez (1-5, 5.80) for the Express. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.
