Sounds Clipped by Redbirds, Lose Series

The Memphis Redbirds continued their winnings ways with a 3-1 win over the Nashville Sounds on Monday night at First Tennessee Park.
Three of the four runs on the night came in the first inning when Memphis got on the board early on Tyler O'Neill's two-run homer to deep left field.
The Sounds came back with a run of their own with a two-out rally in the home half of the inning. Joey Wendle singled and raced home on Renato Nuñez's double down the left field line.
It stayed 2-1 in favor of Memphis as both starting pitchers settled in. Pitching with the Sounds for the first time in over two months, Daniel Mengden put zeroes on the board for the rest of his four-inning start. He tallied four strikeouts and issued one walk.
Redbirds' starter John Gant set Nashville down for the rest of his outing. After the three hits he allowed in the first inning, Nashville managed just two in innings two through six. Gant struck out seven over 5 2/3 innings and picked up his fifth win of the season.
Three hits for Memphis produced another run for the Redbirds in the fifth. Singles by Gabriel Lino and Alex Mejia set the table for Nick Martini who lined a base hit up the middle off Chris Bassitt to score Lino and make it a 3-1 game.
The Sounds had opportunities in the later innings against the Memphis bullpen. They had two runners on in the sixth when Ryan Lavarnway bounced out to end the inning. Matt McBride singled to start the seventh but was stranded. Nuñez and Mark Canha had consecutive one-out singles in the eighth, but Yairo Muñoz grounded into a 5-4-3 double play to end the threat.
Nashville relievers Logan Bawcom and Lou Trivino combined to toss three scoreless innings to keep the game close, but the offense never came up with the big hit.
The Sounds left eight runners on base and went 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position. Nuñez and Canha had multi-hit games as the Sounds out-hit the Redbirds in the loss.
The two teams begin a fresh four-game series tomorrow, but travel to AutoZone Park in Memphis to do so. Right-hander Ben Bracewell (2-2, 6.21) starts for the Sounds against right-hander Dakota Hudson (0-0, 4.86) for the Redbirds. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m.
The 2017 season is the Sounds' 40^th 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.