Cordell perfect at dish to pace Sky Sox win

Ryan Cordell started Sunday with a bang, and he never looked back.
The Brewers' No. 16 prospect hit a solo homer in the first inning to spark a 4-for-4 day on which he doubled and scored twice to pace Triple-A Colorado Springs to a 6-5 win over visiting Nashville.

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A 2013 11th-round pick by the Rangers, Cordell joined the Brewers last September as the player to be named in the Jonathan Lucroy trade. After playing six positions over four seasons in the Texas organization, he's been deployed solely in the outfield with the Sky Sox, and his bat has helped them improve to 11-5.

He's played in 15 of those games, hitting .305/.364/.627 with nine extra-base knocks and 12 RBIs. Sunday's four-hit performance came on the heels of an 0-for-4 Saturday. 
The right-handed hitter's first-inning homer came on a 2-1 pitch from Sounds righty Zach Neal and cleared the fence in left-center for Cordell's fourth Pacific Coast League blast.
He victimized Neal twice more, yanking a one-out double to left in the fourth and legging out an infield hit in the sixth.

Against righty Tucker Healy in the eighth, Cordell won a nine-pitch battle by lining a one-out single to left.
The Sky Sox carried a 6-0 lead into the ninth, but five hits -- including three doubles -- and a walk cut the margin to one before No. 48 overall prospect Franklin Barreto lined to second baseman Ivan De Jesus Jr. Even that play came with a downside for Colorado Springs, as a piece of Barreto's broken bat hit catcher Tyler Heineman in the face.

Paolo Espino (3-0) earned the win, scattering four hits and a walk while fanning five over 6 2/3 scoreless innings. Rob Scahill recorded the final out for his third save.