A 14-hit outburst wasn’t enough for the Nashville Sounds in an 8-6 loss to the New Orleans Zephyrs in front of a sellout crowd of 10,018 fans Saturday night at First Tennessee Park.

Every Nashville player in the starting lineup had at least one hit while Jaycob Brugman and Colin Walsh had three apiece.

The offensive outburst went for naught when the Zephyrs erupted for six runs in the fifth inning. Starter Chris Smith was cruising and the Sounds held a 3-0 lead going into the top of the fifth before disaster struck.

RBI singles came from Brugman, Walsh and Arismendy Alcantara in the first three innings and Smith had allowed just one hit while racking up seven strikeouts through four frames.

Zephyrs’ third baseman Matt Juengel started the fifth with a double down the left field line. It was one of four extra base hits New Orleans would collect in the frame. Peter Mooney, Austin Nola and Destin Hood all knocked in a pair of runs in the inning.

The Sounds battled back and brought it to within a run late in the game. Walsh’s RBI double in the home half of the fifth cut the deficit to 6-4.

New Orleans tacked on another run in the sixth against Aaron Kurcz before Joey Wendle launched a two-run blast in the bottom of the seventh to make it a 7-6 game. It’s the eighth home run of the season for the Sounds’ second baseman.

Angel Castro delivered two scoreless innings of relief work in the seventh and eighth before the Zephyrs added an insurance run off Ryan Doolittle in the top of the ninth.

Max Muncy started the bottom of the ninth with a lead-off walk, but New Orleans closer Brian Ellington struck out the next three batters to close out the game.

Jeremy Guthrie picked up the win for New Orleans despite scattering 12 hits. Smith was tagged with the loss to send his record to 5-7.

The final game before the Sounds head into the Triple-A All-Star break is set for Sunday afternoon at First Tennessee Park. Left-hander Dillon Overton (9-4, 3.01) starts for the Sounds against right-hander Asher Wojciechowski (2-3, 6.30) for the Zephyrs. First pitch is scheduled for 1:05 p.m.

The 2016 season is the Sounds’ 19th year in the Pacific Coast League and their second as the Oakland Athletics’ top affiliate. Tickets are available now by calling (615) 690-4487 or by visiting www.nashvillesounds.com.

Chris Sale will be making his fifth straight All-Star appearance, and there’s a chance the White Sox ace could be named the American League starter. But the southpaw didn’t exactly strengthen his resume during an 11-8 loss to the Braves Friday night at U.S. Cellular Field.

“[Sale] wasn’t as sharp as he usually is,” Braves catcher and Sale’s former personal catcher Tyler Flowers said. “These are the kinds of days you hope to face guys of that caliber and just try to be ready for the mistake and take advantage of it.”
Sale tied his career-high by allowing eight earned runs on 10 hits over five innings. He struck out five and walked two, yielding three home runs and a career-high seven extra-base hits in a single start. He dropped to 14-3 with his ERA rising to 3.38. Since Sale suffered his first loss on May 24, after nine wins in nine starts, he has allowed 65 hits and 35 earned runs over 56 2/3 innings, with 61 strikeouts and 12 home runs.
“Velocity wise, tonight he looked mortal,” said White Sox manager Robin Ventura of Sale. “They got some good swings at him. There was some hard contact, a couple homers; it just looked like it wasn’t his best stuff. There was some velocity there you’d see every once in a while, but mostly if you’re missing in the middle, they’re going to hit it.”
Atlanta had 15 hits, including a career-high four from Adonis Garcia. Flowers, who caught every start Sale made for the White Sox in 2014 and 2015, homered and drove in three, while Gordon Beckham, another former Sale teammate in Chicago, had three hits. Every Braves’ starter but Erick Aybar had at least one hit.
“Pretty embarrassing. It’s about as bad as I possibly think I’ve been in awhile,” Sale said. “Stuff like this happens. You take the good with the bad, and this certainly was the bad.”
Matt Wisler earned the victory, although he gave up six runs on eight hits over five innings. Chris Withrow threw 1 2/3 perfect innings of relief. Adam Eaton and Todd Frazier homered for the White Sox.
“It was kind of a weird game to start off with, but ultimately, the good guys came out on top,” the Braves’ Freddie Freeman said. “We haven’t scored that many runs in a while, and then to get that many hits. It was good to come back in that game. It was definitely a weird game, but it was nice to win.”
For the third time this year, fourth if you count Cactus League play, the White Sox turned a triple play. The first two came at U.S. Cellular Field, as well, on April 22 against the Rangers and on May 18 against the Astros. This one took place in the third, after a Sale walk to Chase d’Arnaud and a Beckham single. Freeman hit a liner to short that Tim Anderson trapped, and with d’Arnaud going back to the base, he was able to tag him, step on second and throw to first to get Freeman.
“Everything has to go right with a triple play and that did,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “Chase was hung out there. He couldn’t do anything. The stars were aligned for that one. Freeman hit it right on the screws.”
After making multiple defensive mistakes during a three-run second inning that gave the White Sox a 4-3 lead, the Braves tied the game when Nick Markakis began the fourth inning with his third home run within a span of seven at-bats. Atlanta took the lead for good during a four-run fifth inning that included three consecutive two-out doubles recorded by Jeff Francoeur, Flowers and Garcia.
The White Sox had runners on second and third, two out and Eaton at the plate in the sixth inning against Joel De La Cruz, with the right fielder having worked the count full. Jose Abreu and Frazier followed in the lineup, waiting for an attempt to cut into an 11-6 deficit, but Eaton struck out swinging to end the frame.
Most of the damage Wisler incurred came during the three-run third inning that included Ender Inciarte making a wayward throw to second base and Markakis allowing J.B. Shuck’s RBI double to fall in front of him in shallow right field. Wisler added to the defensive woes when he opted to field Eaton’s squeeze bunt as it appeared to be going foul, allowing the run to score and Eaton to reach base.
“We never stopped playing,” Snitker said. “We never quit. How do you explain it? It’s baseball and those things happen.”
Sale’s eight runs represented a season-high allowed and his highest total since April 30, 2015, when he gave up nine (eight earned). The setback also snapped a five-start winning streak for Sale, who also won in each of his first nine starts.
Julio Teheran will take the mound when Atlanta and Chicago resume this three-game series on Saturday at 1:10 p.m. CT. Teheran will making his first start since undergoing treatment earlier this week for an infected right thigh. The All-Star hurler has allowed two earned runs or less in 10 of his past 14 starts.  Thunder Radio will bring you coverage of the game on the Atlanta Braves Radio Network beginning at 1 PM on Saturday.

The New Orleans Zephyrs sent the Nashville Sounds to their sixth straight home loss with a 5-1 setback in front of 7,444 fans Friday night at First Tennessee Park.

The two teams made it through six innings before severe weather forced the game to come to a halt.

Xavier Scruggs wasted little time getting New Orleans on the board in the top of the first inning. The first baseman belted a solo homer off Zach Neal – one of two he hit in the game – to make it 1-0.

He was at it again in the third when he launched his second of the night. After Robert Andino singled to right-center to put a runner on, Scruggs hit a 3-0 pitch from Neal into the left field seats to give the Zephyrs a 3-0 lead.

Nashville got a home run of their own when Rangel Ravelo hit the first pitch of the bottom of the third out to left-center off Dylan Axelrod. It was Ravelo’s fifth blast of the season and cut the deficit to 3-1.

New Orleans tacked on two more runs in the top of the fifth. Scruggs knocked in his fourth run of the night with an RBI single to left field, and Destin Hood added another with a sacrifice fly.

Neal was charged with the loss after allowing all five runs (four earned). In two starts against the Zephyrs this season, the right-hander has allowed eight earned runs. In eight other PCL starts, he has allowed a total of 11.

The Sounds didn’t get anything going against Axelrod after the third. Following Ravelo’s homer, they loaded the bases with one out but Ryon Healy bounced into an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play.

Axelrod retired 10 of the final 11 batters he faced and picked up his sixth win of the season.

Game three of the four-game series is set for Saturday night at First Tennessee Park. Right-hander Chris Smith (5-6, 3.90) starts for Nashville against right-hander Jeremy Guthrie (5-5, 7.20) for New Orleans. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.

The 2016 season is the Sounds’ 19th year in the Pacific Coast League and their second as the Oakland Athletics’ top affiliate. Tickets are available now by calling (615) 690-4487 or by visiting www.nashvillesounds.com.