Category: Sports

There will be a youth tennis clinic next week directed by Westwood tennis coach Justin Winton. The clinic begins on Monday, June 5th and will continue thru Friday, June 9th. The camp is open to beginners and advanced tennis players ages 8 to 17. Cost for the camp is $50 per person with additional siblings for $30. The camp will be held at the tennis courts behind the Raider Academy.
There two morning sessions to choose from: 8:15 -9:45A.M. and 10:00-11:30 A.M. The early session will be centered on beginners and ages 8-13, and the later session will be for intermediates and ages 13-17. Students will receive instruction on how to improve their forehands, backhands, volleys, overheads, and serves. They will hit hundreds of tennis balls over the week and have fun doing it. Beginners will learn how to keep score and play matches, and intermediates will learn how to hit topspin and slice.
There is a growing interest in learning to play tennis in Manchester due to the new middle school teams in Coffee County and Manchester City, and the high school team is growing and improving. We’re trying to build a tennis community in Manchester, and that means getting students to start playing when they’re young.
If you don’t own a tennis racquet, you can still sign up. They will have several quality racquets that students can borrow. You need to wear clothes and shoes that you feel comfortable running around in, and you need to bring water. Any days that are rained out will be rescheduled for the afternoon or Saturday June 10th.
You can sign up by downloading the form below. Just click on it to print, then text or email a picture of the completed form.

After going down 3-0, the Nashville Predators came all the way back to even the score – but their opponent found a way to prevail.

Jake Guentzel scored the winner with 3:17 remaining in regulation and the Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the Predators by a 5-3 final in Game One of the Stanley Cup Final on Monday night at PPG Paints Arena. The loss is Nashville’s first to start a series in these playoffs, marking the first time they’ve trailed in a series in 2017.

Nashville held the Penguins to just 12 shots on goal on the night – including zero in the second period alone – but Pittsburgh ended up on the winning end of the Predators first Stanley Cup Final contest in franchise history.

“From the way we started and the way we continued on after that, I thought our guys played great,” Head Coach Peter Laviolette said. “I thought we played a good game. We hate the score. We hate the result. But we’ll move forward.”

“For the majority of the game, I really liked the way we played,” Preds forward Colton Sissons said. “We played fast and really hard. Everybody was committed tonight, but a couple lapses defensively against a team like that is dangerous, and they make you pay for it.”

Nashville controlled the play to begin Game One, and they thought they had a 1-0 lead when P.K. Subban wristed a shot past Matt Murray. But Pittsburgh challenged the play for offside, and once the officials determined Filip Forsberg was over the blue line before the puck was, the tides turned.

The Penguins were given a 5-on-3 power play, and Evgeni Malkin fired a shot past Pekka Rinne for a 1-0 lead. Then it was Conor Sheary who made it 2-0, followed by a Nick Bonino centering feed that went off Mattias Ekholm and into the net for a 3-0 Pittsburgh advantage after one period of play.

Just as they did to start the game, Nashville had the decided edge in offensive chances in the second period, and a power-play tally from Ryan Ellis at the 8:21 mark of the stanza got the Preds on the board. In fact, the Penguins failed to register a single shot in the middle frame.

That trend continued in the third period, and another Nashville power play brought about a Roman Josi snap shot that deflected in off the knee of Colton Sissons to bring the Preds to within one goal. Then, Austin Watson found Frederick Gaudreau in front, and the rookie buried his first-career postseason goal to complete the comeback.

But on Pittsburgh’s first shot in 37 minutes, it was Guentzel who beat Rinne for the game-winner before Bonino added an empty netter to finish it off.

The Predators will now turn their attention to Game Two of the Final, which comes Wednesday night, with an emphasis on keeping the same confidence and resiliency that’s gotten them to this point.

“We’ve stayed positive, regardless of situations because we know we have to play a certain way,” Nashville Captain Mike Fisher said. “We play to our strengths and our identity and whether we’re up or down, that doesn’t change how we play. I think you saw that tonight when we were down 3-0; this team just doesn’t give up. But that being said, it’s a good hockey team. We have to find ways to get wins, and we weren’t quite good enough because we didn’t come out on the good end.”

Notes:

Predators forward Colin Wilson missed Game One due to injury, but Captain Mike Fisher and forward Craig Smith both returned to the Nashville lineup on Monday.

Fisher recorded an assist on Ryan Ellis’s goal, his first point of the postseason. He also picked up an assist on Gaudreau’s tally.

Pittsburgh failed to register a shot in the second period, the first time since official tracking for shots on goal began in 1957 that a team went without a shot in a full period of a Stanley Cup Final game.

Game Two of the Stanley Cup Final comes Wednesday night in Pittsburgh before the series shifts to Nashville for Games Three and Four on Saturday and next Monday, respectively.

Pete Weber’s Postgame Report

Julio Teheran navigated around three solo homers and Matt Adams and Danny Santana hit two-run doubles in a six-run third inning as the Braves topped the Angels, 6-3, in Monday night’s series opener at Angel Stadium.

Atlanta sent 11 batters to the plate in the third, using five hits, a walk and an error by third baseman Cliff Pennington to build a 6-1 lead. Angels right-hander Ricky Nolasco lasted only 2 2/3 innings, yielding six runs (two earned) on six hits while walking two and striking out two.
“Just couldn’t get out of that inning,” Nolasco said. “I let some things get out of hand, and I couldn’t get that last out. It kind of snowballed from there. It’s disappointing.”
The Braves’ offensive eruption was enough for Teheran, who scattered six hits while walking one and striking out five over 6 1/3 innings.
Atlanta manager Brian Snitker lauded his starter, who managed to escape a two-out situation with men on second and third during the fifth inning, by striking out Kole Calhoun to end the threat.
“Big strikeout of Calhoun in the [fifth] inning,” Snitker said of Teheran. “He was good. Got around the homers. He was really good at that.”
Andrelton Simmons, a former Braves shortstop, opened the scoring with a solo shot in the second, and Albert Pujols and Luis Valbuena hit back-to-back jacks in the fourth that cut Atlanta’s lead to 6-3.
Pujols is now only two home runs shy of becoming the ninth player in Major League history to reach 600.
The defeat capped a tough day for the Angels, who learned that they will be without star center fielder Mike Trout for six to eight weeks. Trout suffered a torn UCL in his left thumb on Sunday and will undergo surgery on Wednesday.
Adams’ ground-rule double put the Braves ahead, 2-1, in the third, but the Angels had a chance to escape the inning without allowing further damage. With two outs and runners on second and third, Tyler Flowers lined a hard-hit grounder to third that Pennington could not handle, knocking in another run and extending the inning. The Braves took advantage of Pennington’s miscue, as Rio Ruiz followed with an RBI single and Santana’s double off the right-field wall pushed the Braves’ lead to 6-1 and chased Nolasco from the game. Four of the six runs scored against Nolasco were unearned.
“If we make a couple plays, I think that inning definitely doesn’t get away from us with six runs,” Angels manager Mike Scioscia said.
Down by three, the Angels had a chance to chip away at the deficit in the seventh when they loaded the bases with one out. Martin Maldonado reached on a hit by pitch, and Pennington and Eric Young Jr. followed with back-to-back singles, prompting Snitker to lift Teheran in favor of Jose Ramirez. Ramirez worked out of the jam by inducing a 5-4-3 double play from Cameron Maybin, killing the Angels’ rally and preserving the Braves’ 6-3 edge.
Veteran starter Bartolo Colon (2-5, 6.96 ERA) assumes the mound Tuesday evening against an Angels club with which he won the 2005 American League Cy Young Award. The 44-year-old enters with a career record of 12-7 with a 3.57 ERA in 24 starts against his former team. First pitch is scheduled for 9:07 p.m. CT and you can hear the game right here on Thunder Radio

The Nashville Sounds’ offense continued to struggle in a 6-0 shutout loss to the Colorado Springs Sky Sox in front of a Memorial Day crowd of 9,018 at First Tennessee Park Monday afternoon.

The shutout loss was the second in three games against the Sky Sox. Nashville was also blanked in game one of Sunday’s doubleheader. Over the last three games, the offense has mustered just two runs on 13 hits.

Sky Sox starter Josh Hader and relievers Wei-Chung Wang, Tristan Archer, and Tim Dillard did the job Monday afternoon.

Hader and company received some early offense when the Sox put three runs on the board in the second inning against Sounds hurler Paul Blackburn.

Consecutive hits by Garrett Cooper, Brett Phillips, and Nate Orf started the rally. After Blackburn retired Tyler Heineman for the first out of the frame, he hit Yadiel Rivera to force in the game’s first run. Kyle Wren came up two batters later and made it 3-0 with a two-run single up the middle.

Brett Phillips added a run with a sacrifice fly in the third, and Wren and Ryan Cordell collected run-scoring base hits in the fourth to give Colorado Springs a 6-0 advantage.

The offense never kicked into gear for the Sounds who managed just six hits. They left nine runners on base and went 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position.

Jaycob Brugman went 2-for-4 with a pair of singles and extended his on-base streak to a team-high 17 games. It’s the fourth-longest active streak in the Pacific Coast League.

Blackburn was tagged with the loss after entering the day on a scoreless innings streak of 13. Wang picked up the win for Colorado Springs after tossing three scoreless frames.

The Sounds and Sky Sox wrap up the five-game series tomorrow with the completion of Saturday’s suspended game, followed by another seven inning contest. The action starts at 5:05 p.m. Tuesday at First Tennessee Park.

The Coffee County Red Raider baseball team held their end of season awards banquet on Tuesday night May 23. The season was highlighted by a record of 18-15 and a #3 seed in the District 8-AAA tournament. Head Coach David Martin recognized the All District 8-AAA players: senior Cade Giles, junior Jacob Langham and senior Noah Anderson. Senior Cade Giles was also recognized as the District 8-AAA Player of the Year. Junior Nathanial Tate and senior Grant Sadler were recognized as All District Honorable Mention.
Team awards were given to the following players:
Team MVP- Cade Giles
Bust Your Butt Award – Grant Sadler
Offensive Award – Jacob Langham
Defensive Award – Nathanial Tate
Pitcher of the Year – Grant Sadler

by Thomas Willis / Digital Manager & Producer – Nashville Predators

The Nashville Predators first trip to the Stanley Cup Final will be paired with an opponent making their second consecutive appearance.

The Preds will head to Pittsburgh on Saturday afternoon, where their series with the defending champions will commence on Monday evening. The Penguins went seven games with the Ottawa Senators in the Eastern Conference Final where a 3-2 double overtime victory earned them their second-straight conference crown and the right to defend their 2016 title.

Meanwhile, Nashville emerged victorious in the franchise’s first appearance in a conference final, taking out the Anaheim Ducks in six games.

“It’s a dream come true,” goaltender Pekka Rinne said. “But it’s a funny thing, though. With everything that’s happening around us, you still feel hungry, and now we have a chance to play for the Cup. It’s a pretty amazing feeling. And you’ve been working for that for a long, long time.”

Games Three, Four and Six* will be hosted in Nashville on June 3, 5 and 11, while Games One, Two, Five* and Seven* will be played in Pittsburgh (*if necessary).

Season Series Refresh:

Nashville’s regular-season record versus Pittsburgh: 1-1-0

Scoring Leaders:

Goals: Nashville: Viktor Arvidsson, Kevin Fiala, Calle Jarnkrok (2); Pittsburgh: Patric Hornqvist (2)

Assists: Nashville: Filip Forsberg, P.K. Subban (2); Pittsburgh: Scott Wilson (2)

Points: Nashville: Calle Jarnkrok (3); Pittsburgh: Scott Wilson (3)
Recap: PIT 1, NSH 5

With several members of the team stricken with illness, the Predators blasted the Penguins, 5-1, without the services of Mike Fisher, Craig Smith, Colton Sissons and Pekka Rinne, who were all out of the lineup.

Juuse Saros earned his first NHL win, as the Preds scored five unanswered goals to overcome an early deficit. Young forwards Viktor Arvidsson and Kevin Fiala provided the offensive spark as both players tallied twice.

“We could’ve gone out there and hoped our way through the game or waited for lucky bounces,” center Ryan Johansen said. “Every guy in this [locker] room went out there and attacked the game in full force, especially after them scoring a goal like that early on. We kept our composure, and Juuse was phenomenal.”
Predators fall to Penguins, 4-2

Calle Jarnkrok gave the Predators a 1-0 lead in their only visit to Pittsburgh, but a poor second-period performance provided the two points to the Penguins.

Former Preds forward Patric Hornqvist scored twice in a five-minute span to put the Penguins ahead 4-1 after 40 minutes of play.

“They’re a good team, and they’re going to make good plays… but for our group [in the second], we had turnovers; we weren’t moving our feet,” defenseman Ryan Ellis said. “The first and third were good, but the second, we lost it in the second.”

“I thought the first period we were good, third period we were good, just that 20 minutes there in the second period, we let off the gas,” forward Ryan Johansen said. “Like we always talk about, especially with the losses, you have to play 60 minutes, especially with a team like them. They made us pay there in the second, so that was the game.”

Series Analysis: Four Things

Health of Fisher, Smith: The loss of top centers Ryan Johansen and Mike Fisher before Game Five versus Anaheim had many projecting that the Ducks would be moving on to play in their first Stanley Cup Final since 2007.

Instead, with heroics from Pontus Aberg and Frederick Gaudreau in Game Five and then a hat trick from Colton Sissons, who was bumped to the first line, in Game Six, it was the Predators who moved on to the Cup Final. Now with a six-day gap between Game Six and the opening contest of the Stanley Cup Final, attention turns to if any reinforcements are waiting in the wings for Nashville.

The Predators know they’ll be without Johansen and Kevin Fiala for the extent of the postseason, but General Manager David Poile thinks there’s a strong possibility his club will receive an influx of talent into their top six. In between the series, the GM said he’s “optimistic” both Fisher, who missed Games Five and Six of the conference final, and Craig Smith, who missed the entire conference final, will be able to suit up for Nashville in their series with Pittsburgh.

Back-to-Back: A Game Seven victory over Ottawa made the Penguins the first team to reach consecutive Cup Finals since they did so eight years ago (2008 and 2009).

All the superstar talent is still there for Pittsburgh, as captain Sidney Crosby, Phil Kessel and Evgeni Malkin lead the club offensively and Matt Murray, after seceding the reins to Marc-Andre Fleury due to injury, is back in net. There is one dynamic missing from the Penguins Cup-winning club of last season with No. 1 defenseman Kris Letang out due to injury, but so far that hasn’t slowed down the club at all this postseason.

Like the Chicago Blackhawks, who the Preds faced in Round One, the Penguins have a championship pedigree that can only be developed through winning on the big stage. Pittsburgh has faced elimination twice in their current playoff run, showing an enviable moxie while eliminating the Presidents Trophy-winning Washington Capitals and upstart Senators in Game Sevens.

Can Nashville steal a game on the road from a Pittsburgh club that’s 7-3 on home ice in the playoffs and knows the importance of home ice advantage? It will be step one in trying to knock off the current king of the hill.

Zone Entries: The Ducks were frustrated by it, the Blues were slowed by it and the Blackhawks were eliminated because of it.

The Predators’ 1-3-1 structure in the neutral zone has been a thorn in each of their opponents’ sides, and equally discouraging for the opposition has been the knowledge that as soon as they dump the puck into the zone, Nashville’s netminder is behind his net, trapping the rim around the glass and setting it on a tee for the Preds defense. St. Louis and Chicago were left looking befuddled numerous times in their series with Nashville when time after time they couldn’t solve how to maintain possession into the offensive zone.

“I think anytime, whether it’s a 1-3-1 or a 1-2-2, a 1-4, an 0-5, whatever you want to play in the neutral zone; I think anytime you can get a goaltender that can get out and handle the puck I think it’s an incredible advantage,” Preds Head Coach Peter Laviolette said prior to Game Six of the conference final. “It’s like having an extra defensemen back there that’s able to move the puck. So there’s some great goalies in the League, not just Pekka, but great goalies that are really good at handling the pucks.

“He’s very good at knocking them down. He can get back there. You see how he does it. When he goes back there he uses his whole body and he can get a piece of it.”

If Mike Fisher is able to return for the series, that’s half the problem solved, but that would still leave Colton Sissons or maybe Frederick Gaudreau facing the playoffs’ leading scorer in Malkin.

In order to alleviate the threat posed by the Pens’ top two centermen it’s likely the Preds will rely on their top four defensemen – and specifically the P.K. Subban and Mattias Ekholm pairing – even more.

Nashville General Manager David Poile said the defensive play from Subban was exquisite in the conference final, while Ekholm was heralded by several members of the national media as the Predators’ best blueliner in the series. Is Nashville’s shutdown duo up to the task? Their performance against the Penguins top scorers should go a long way in determining the next Stanley Cup champion.

Penguins goaltender Matt Murray and Predators netminder Pekka Rinne are among the NHL’s best in every major category.
Penguins goaltender Matt Murray and Predators netminder Pekka Rinne are among the NHL’s best in every major category. Getty Images

X-Factors: Pekka Rinne (Nashville) and Matt Murray (Pittsburgh)

The two goaltenders in the Stanley Cup Final will each share the enormous pressure of backstopping their clubs toward a championship, but they’ll be doing so from two very different places. Nashville boasts the NHL’s stingiest defense, while the Penguins are No. 1 on offense.

The 34-year-old Pekka Rinne has put up numbers ranking among the all-time NHL’s best during the Predators’ 2017 playoff run. The Finn’s save percentage (.941) and goals-against average (1.70) rank in the Top Five all-time with a minimum of 15 postseason games played.

Rinne and the Predators have also allowed the second fewest goals-against per game (1.81) by a conference champion in the last 10 years (behind the 1.57 by the 2012 Los Angeles Kings). That stinginess on defense paces all teams in this year’s playoffs as well.

Matt Murray, on the other hand, has only recently retaken the starter’s net in Pittsburgh after a lower-body injury forced him to miss Game One of Round One. Marc-Andre Fleury took over in the crease, leading the Penguins past the Columbus Blue Jackets and Washington Capitals, but when he faltered in the conference final, Head Coach Mike Sullivan turned back to Murray, who led the Penguins to a championship last spring.

The gaudy numbers put up by the 23-year-old, 6-foot-4 netminder have to be taken with a grain of salt, since he’s only started four contests in this year’s playoffs, but Murray seemed to go right back to being the calming presence the Pens needed when he entered the net last week.

He’s also shown he can do it all before: going 9-3 with a .930 save percentage in the 2016 postseason. Plus, the Penguins are putting up offense to spare for Murray so far, connecting for 3.05 goals-for per game.

Which masked man steals a game or two in the Final? Either Rinne or Murray have shown they’re more than capable this postseason.

The San Francisco Giants jumped on Atlanta knuckleballer R.A. Dickey immediately, scoring in each of the first three innings and cruising to a 7-1 victory Sunday at AT&T Park.

Brandon Crawford paced San Francisco’s offense by driving in three runs, scoring one with a first-inning groundout and sending home a pair with a second-inning single as San Francisco surged to a 7-0 lead. Dickey also issued a season-high five walks; three of those runners scored.
Crawford, who entered the game 0-for-9 against Dickey, downplayed his success.
“It wasn’t as if I hit the ball all over the place,” he said. “I just tried to see the knuckleball up. That’s the hardest part of a knuckleball, that it’s dancing all over the place. Fortunately, I think, it was dancing so much that he couldn’t find the strike zone.”
The Giants were retired 1-2-3 in each of the final five innings.
“When you get six hits,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said, “it’s good to get them in a bunch like we did the first three innings.”
That provided more than enough support for Johnny Cueto, who ended a personal three-decision losing streak while allowing six hits and Atlanta’s lone run in six innings. For the second start in a row, Cueto struck out eight and walked one.
Braves manager Brian Snitker said Dickey battled himself early and credited the right-hander for pushing through six innings to help save Atlanta’s bullpen.
“In the beginning it was like there was no in between,” Snitker said. “It was either an unbelievable knuckleball or something that was really flat. He found his release point in the middle and did a good job of stretching the game a little bit. That’s what we needed, innings.”
The Giants secured their seventh victory in their last nine home games and won their third consecutive home series.
A knuckleball’s movement is so fickle that even its most elite practitioners often don’t know where it’s going. The Giants got an indication this would be a rough day for Dickey when catcher Kurt Suzuki mishandled a first-inning knuckler for a passed ball that enabled Eduardo Nunez to score the game’s first run. Dickey also flung a second-inning wild pitch that helped the Giants add four runs.
“It wasn’t that I didn’t have a good knuckleball,” Dickey said. “It was moving but I would throw two that would be the most hellacious knuckleballs you’ve ever seen and then I’d throw a third that would just kind of flatten out with the same release point and get hit. I didn’t really have the right formula early on.”
Atlanta’s Rio Ruiz entered Sunday batting .346 (9-for-26) in his previous eight games. However, the rookie infielder wasn’t able to stay hot. He grounded out in the fourth inning with a pair of runners aboard and struck out in the sixth to strand a runner on third.
Ender Inciarte’s double in the fifth inning was his 36th hit this month, the most by a Braves player in May since Freddie Freeman had 36 in 2013. The modern-era franchise record for hits in May is 47 shared by Hank Aaron (1959) and Ralph Garr (1974).
Right-hander Julio Teheran makes his first career appearance against the Los Angeles Angels on Monday in the opener of a three-game series in Anaheim beginning at 9:07 ET. Teheran has only one win since April 26 but has not allowed an earned run in two of his previous three starts.

The Nashville Sounds earned a doubleheader split when Ryan Lavarnway’s walk-off base hit scored Matt Chapman to give Nashville a 2-1 win in game two in front of a sellout crowd of 10,307 Sunday night at First Tennessee Park.

With the game tied 1-1 going into the bottom of the seventh, Chapman hit a line drive down the left field line and hustled into second base for a leadoff double.

After Jaff Decker’s sacrifice bunt put Chapman 90 feet away with one out, Lavarnway hit the first pitch he saw from David Goforth down the left field line for the game-winner.

Right-hander Corey Walter was brilliant in his second career Triple-A start. Walter was added to the roster earlier in the day and went the full seven innings in his first win for Nashville (24-23). He limited Colorado Springs to one run on six hits. He didn’t walk a batter and struck out a pair.

Lavarnway’s base hit provided the second-walk off winner for the Sounds in 2017. He joins Matt McBride who sent the Sounds to a win over New Orleans on May 1 with a walk-off home run.

Game one was all Colorado Springs from start to finish in an 8-0 shutout of Nashville. Garrett Cooper’s RBI single gave the Sky Sox a 1-0 lead in the first and they never looked back.

Ivan De Jesus, Jr.’s solo homer in the second off Chris Smith made it a 2-0 game. The Sox went on to add four in the fourth to send Smith to his second loss of the season.

Starter Brandon Woodruff didn’t need much run support on his way to a dominant performance. He tossed six shutout innings and limited Nashville to just one hit and two walks. He struck out five en route to his sixth win of the season.

Nashville was limited to just two hits in the first game – a single by Franklin Barreto in the sixth, and a single by Chapman in the seventh.

The Sounds and Sky Sox play game three of the five-game series Monday afternoon at First Tennessee Park. Right-hander Paul Blackburn (3-4, 3.33) starts for Nashville against left-hander Josh Hader (3-4, 5.81) for Colorado Springs. First pitch is scheduled for 12:05 p.m.

Ty Blach doesn’t blow away hitters with his stuff or observers with his statistics. All he does is remain steady, a trait that the San Francisco Giants appreciated Saturday night in their 6-3 victory over the Atlanta Braves.

Blach took a three-hit shutout into the eighth inning before he finally faltered. He ultimately yielded two runs and six hits in 7 2/3 innings, marking the fifth time in seven starts that he has worked at least seven innings while surrendering three or fewer earned runs. He also struck out a season-high five.

Blach’s 3.83 ERA is deceiving. He allowed 10 runs (eight earned) in three innings on May 6 at Cincinnati. Without that game, his ERA as a starter is 2.33.
Braves manager Brian Snitker appreciated Blach’s finesse.
“He was a little here, there and just a tough guy to get a hold of,” Snitker said. “That’s the first time we’ve seen that this year, that type of left-hander. That’s only the fourth [left-handed] starter we’ve faced all year, I think. Guys like that can give you trouble.”
The Giants also revived their offense while ending a four-game losing streak. Having accumulated six runs in their previous four games, they matched that total by relying on an unusual burst of power against Braves starter Mike Foltynewicz, who allowed five of San Francisco’s runs in four innings. Nick Hundley’s two-run homer in the second inning opened the Giants’ scoring, which continued with three runs in the fourth. Brandon Belt’s 10th homer of the season launched that uprising. The Giants entered Saturday with a Major League-low 40 home runs.

The Braves brought the potential tying run to the plate with two outs, but Giants reliever Derek Law coaxed Matt Adams’ harmless grounder to first base.
“We made a run at it late but it’s one of them days again where we just got too far down too early,” Snitker said.
San Francisco signed Hundley as a free agent last offseason primarily for his offensive abilities. The Giants wanted a backup for Buster Posey who resembled Posey a little more in the batter’s box. They reasoned that Hundley, who reached double figures in homers in three of the previous four seasons, could fill that role. His season-high three-RBI night, which included a run-scoring single in the eighth inning, provided evidence that he can.
Adams seemed to be the right man for the Braves to have at bat in the eighth. The recent acquisition from St. Louis owned a five-game hitting streak, and five of his eight hits with Atlanta had gone for extra bases. With runners on second and third, another gapper would make it a one-run game. But Law won the confrontation by inducing Adams to roll over on a 94 mph fastball.
Blach stroked singles in the fourth and seventh innings, his first hits off a pitcher not named Clayton Kershaw. Blach collected two hits off Kershaw last Oct. 1 and added another earlier this season.
Blach was only the fourth left-handed starter the Braves have faced so far this season. They are 2-2 in those games.
Knuckleballer R.A. Dickey (3-3) pitches the series finale at AT&T Park on Sunday at 3:05 p.m. ET. Dickey has a 2.88 career ERA against the Giants but has given up 12 earned runs over his last 24 1/3 innings overall.

Saturday night’s game between the Nashville Sounds and Colorado Springs Sky Sox has been suspended due to rain at First Tennessee Park.

The game will be resumed on Tuesday, May 30th at 5:05 p.m. Following the completed nine-inning game, the Sounds and Sky Sox will play a seven-inning contest.

Sounds pitcher Daniel Gossett worked around a one-out single by Ivan De Jesus to put up a zero in the top of the first. Before the rain came, Nashville’s offense put five runs on the board.

Run-scoring hits came from Renato Nuñez, Jaff Decker, and Matt McBride. Play came to a halt immediately after McBride’s double down the left field line gave Nashville a 5-0 lead.

Tickets for Saturday’s game can be exchanged at the First Tennessee Park Ticket Office for any 2017 regular season game for a ticket of equal or lesser value, subject to availability.

The two teams are scheduled to meet Sunday for a previously scheduled doubleheader. Game one is set to begin at 4:05 p.m. with game two to follow approximately 30 minutes after game one. Both contests will be seven innings.