Barreto, Canha Lead Sounds Past Redbirds

Four-hit games from Franklin Barreto and Mark Canha helped the Nashville Sounds out-slug the Memphis Redbirds in an 11-8 win at AutoZone Park Thursday night.
The pair combined to drive in seven runs and score five. Barreto finished a double shy of the cycle while Canha had a pair of doubles among his four knocks.
Nashville never trailed as they jumped out to an early lead and built on it throughout the night. Barreto's big game started in the third when he singled to right-center. He came around to score the game's first run on Josh Phegley's sacrifice fly.
Memphis evened the game at 1-1 before the Sounds plated three in the fifth, two in the sixth, and another three runs in the seventh. Canha and Barreto started the rally in the fifth with a single and run-scoring triple.
Two walks came back to hurt the Redbirds when Joey Wendle's two-run single scored both free passes to make it a 4-1 game. The first four batters reached base in the sixth, including consecutive singles from Canha and Barreto to drive the score up to 6-1.
The duo was at it again in the seventh when Canha drove in Beau Taylor with his first double of the game. Barreto followed with a two-run blast to left-center to give the Sounds a 9-2 lead. It was Barreto's 14th home run of the season with Nashville.
Daniel Gossett was solid on the mound for the Sounds. The right-hander tossed six innings and allowed two runs on eight hits. He walked one and struck out six in his fourth win of the season.
Memphis made it interesting when Gossett exited. Breyvic Valera drilled a solo homer off Kyle Finnegan to start the bottom of the seventh to make it a 9-3 game. After two more hits and a costly error committed by Renato Núñez, Redbirds shortstop Wilfredo Tovar drilled a grand slam to pull Memphis within two runs at 9-7.
'Birds first baseman Rangel Ravelo's RBI triple cut the game to 9-8 in the bottom of the eighth, but that's as close as Memphis would get.
Canha delivered the knockout punch with a two-run double in the top of the ninth inning. Right-hander Lou Trivino worked around a leadoff single by Aledmys Diaz to notch his second save with a scoreless ninth.
Canha and Barreto accounted for half of the Sounds' 16 hits. Beau Taylor added three hits and three runs while Jaff Decker had a single and a double.  
The series finale is scheduled for Friday night at AutoZone Park in Memphis. Right-hander Chris Jensen (5-1, 5.13) starts for the Sounds against right-hander Matt Pearce (3-1, 4.80) for the Redbirds. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.
The 2017 season is the Sounds' 40th in franchise history and their third as the Oakland Athletics' top affiliate. Single-game tickets are available now by calling (615) 690-4487 or by visiting www.nashvillesounds.com.