Sounds Blanked in Round Rock to Begin Trip

The Nashville Sounds' offense never got going in a 2-0 loss to the Round Rock Express Tuesday night at Dell Diamond.
Nashville's 10-game road trip started with a thud as the offense produced only three hits - all singles. Sheldon Neuse had a base hit in the second, Jorge Mateo singled in the third and Dustin Fowler had a single in the sixth. The Sounds had only two innings when they put a runner in scoring position.
A solid pitching performance went by the wayside as the combination of Daniel Mengden and Chris Bassitt limited the Express to two runs. Mengden started and tossed four shutout innings in a scheduled short start. The right-hander yielded four hits and struck out two in his second consecutive scoreless outing.
Bassitt took over for Mengden in a 0-0 game in the fifth. He breezed through two quick innings before he found trouble in the seventh. Andy Ibáñez and Tony Sanchez produced back-to-back singles to start the inning and put runners at the corners for Round Rock.
Bassitt came back to strike out Cliff Pennington and Nick Noonan for the first two outs of the inning. But Nick Torres bounced a base hit up the middle to score Ibanez and Sanchez to make it 2-0.
There wasn't much going the rest of the way. Round Rock relievers retired the final 11 batters they faced. Starter Chris Rowley tossed six shutout innings before Connor Sadzeck, Zac Curtis and RJ Alvarez each tossed a scoreless frame in relief.
Game two of the three-game series is scheduled for Wednesday night at Dell Diamond. Right-hander Raúl Alcántara (5-4, 4.91) starts for the Sounds against right-hander Adrian Sampson (5-4, 4.02) for the Express. First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m.
Post-Game Notes
- With tonight's 2-0 loss, the Sounds dropped to 67-60 on the season.
- Third baseman Sheldon Neuse extended his hitting streak to seven games with a single in the second inning.
- BJ Boyd appeared as a pinch-hitter and went 0-for-1, ending his 13-game hitting streak.
- Franklin Barreto's on-base streak came to an end at 22 games.  
The 2018 season is the Sounds' 41st in franchise history and fourth as the Oakland Athletics' top affiliate. Single-game tickets are available now by calling (615) 690-4487 or by visiting www.nashvillesounds.com.