Eaton, Cox Carry Omaha to Win
NASHVILLE, TENN. – The Omaha Storm Chasers vaulted back into the win column Thursday night at First Horizon Park as Austin Cox fired six shutout innings and Nate Eaton drove in two runs, in a 2-1 win over the Nashville Sounds. In his first game since being optioned to Omaha,
NASHVILLE, TENN. – The Omaha Storm Chasers vaulted back into the win column Thursday night at First Horizon Park as Austin Cox fired six shutout innings and Nate Eaton drove in two runs, in a 2-1 win over the Nashville Sounds.
In his first game since being optioned to Omaha, Eaton wasted little time making an impact, as he recorded the first out of the bottom of the first, gunning down Nashville’s Andruw Monasterio at home plate from center field on a single, to keep the score at 0-0.
With two outs in the second inning, Eaton proceeded to put the Storm Chasers ahead with a solo homer to left field, then doubled his team’s lead in the fourth with an RBI single that plated Nick Pratto, Omaha’s third straight hit in the inning, after Nick Loftin’s first of two singles in the game.
Two runs of support was plenty for Cox, who delivered one of the best starts of his career, firing 6.0 shutout innings while striking out five. It was his eighth start of 76 professional starts of 6.0+ shutout innings, his second with the Chasers. After allowing the first three batters to reach in the first, he retired his next eight, then set down six of his last seven betters, including a 1-2-3 sixth inning.
Brooks Kriske fired a scoreless seventh inning to keep the shutout intact, but the Sounds lineup got to Collin Snider in the eighth, as the first three hitters reached to score a run and bring the tying run to third base with no outs and the go-ahead run in scoring position. Snider buckled down and struck out the next two and walked a batter, before handing the ball off to Nick Wittgren, who completed an easy four-out save.
Wittgren retired all four batters he faced on just 12 pitches, including a 1-2-3 ninth inning to secure his third save of the season. Wittgren has now thrown 7.2 scoreless innings in a row, and retired his last 14 batters faced over the span of four outings.
Omaha will try to even the series Friday at 6:35 p.m. CT with left-hander Drew Parrish headed to the mound for the Storm Chasers.