Winning Streak Hits Four Games as Sounds Win in Iowa

The Nashville Sounds opened their seven-game road trip with a 3-2 win over the Iowa Cubs Tuesday night at Principal Park.
Nashville jumped out to a 3-0 lead with single tallies in the second, third and fourth innings, while starter Daniel Gossett turned in four shutout innings in his first start of the year with the Sounds.
Nick Martini, Beau Taylor and BJ Boyd all collected hits in the second to bring in the game's first run. Boyd continued his hot hitting when he banged a double off the wall to bring in Martini. In the third, Dustin Fowler doubled, swiped third, then came in to score and make it 2-0 on Martini's sacrifice fly.
Taylor was involved in the third run as well when he doubled to left-center to start the top of the fourth. He moved to third before scoring on a sacrifice fly by shortstop Jorge Mateo to extend the lead to 3-0.
Gossett was dominant early despite battling a high pitch count. He struck out the side in the first inning, notched two more punchouts in the third, then struck out Ryan Court with a pair of runners on base to end the fourth inning. Gossett allowed just one hit in his four innings and racked up six strikeouts.
Iowa staged a comeback with a pair of runs in the fifth off Nashville reliever Kyle Finnegan. Clinging to a 3-2 lead, Simon Castro was summoned from the bullpen and struck out Jacob Hannemann with the bases loaded to prevent any further damage.
Castro, Jeremy Bleich and Josh Lucas took care of the rest out of the bullpen. The trio combined for 4 1/3 scoreless innings while racking up seven strikeouts. Castro earned the win, Bleich got his first hold of the season, and Lucas worked a perfect ninth for his first save.
The four-game series continues Wednesday afternoon at Principal Park in Des Moines. Left-hander Eric Jokisch (0-2, 6.55) starts for the Sounds against right-hander Luke Farrell (0-1, 5.91) for the Cubs. First pitch is scheduled for 12:08 p.m.
Post-Game Notes

• With tonight's win, the Sounds have won four consecutive games and are now 7-6 on the season. It's the first time being over .500 since the season-opening win in New Orleans.
• The four doubles the Sounds had tonight is a team-high in a single game. BJ Boyd, Dustin Fowler, Beau Taylor and Sheldon Neuse had the two-baggers.
• Daniel Gossett made his first start of the season with the Sounds. He went four innings and allowed one hit while collecting six strikeouts. Gossett threw 78 pitches, 48 for strikes.
• Slade Heathcott extended his on-base streak to nine games with a single in the sixth inning. He's hitting .419 (13-for-31) during the nine-game streak.
• BJ Boyd continued his hot hitting with a run-scoring double in the first inning. Boyd finished the night 1-for-3 with a walk and is batting .351 (13-for-37) with 10 RBI on the season.

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.