MLN Newswire - www.mlntherawfeed.com-OMAHA, Neb. – The first-place Nashville Sounds swept the division-rival Omaha Royals in a doubleheader on Sunday afternoon at Rosenblatt Stadium.

Nashville (33-26) notched a come-from-behind 8-6 victory in the opener before logging a 3-1, 10-inning win in the nightcap.

Sounds shortstop Alcides Escobar led Nashville to an 8-6 win in the opener with a 3-for-4 effort that included three run-scoring hits. The Sounds scored seven of its eight runs in the contest and went 6-for-9 with runners in scoring position. Omaha got off to a quick start against Nashville starter Matt Ginter, plating four first-inning runs.

The Sounds rallied to knot the contest at 4-4 in the third with a two-out rally against Royals starter Bruce Chen. Shortstop Alcides Escobar, who continued his recent hot hitting with a pair of doubles in the contest, opened the Nashville scoring with an RBI two-bagger. Angel Salome followed with a run-scoring single to right before Joe Koshansky belted game-tying two-run homer to right off Chen, his 11th roundtripper of the year.
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Cory Aldridge put Omaha back in front in the fourth with a leadoff homer to right off Ginter, his sixth tater of the season, and Mario Lisson upped the advantage to 6-4 two batters later with a solo shot to left, his fourth on the year.

Once again, Nashville rallied to tie the contest in the fifth. Escobar ripped his second RBI double of the afternoon to center to plate Cole Gillespie before Brendan Katin greeted Omaha reliever Victor Marte with a run-scoring single to left that evened things at 6-6.

The Sounds grabbed their first lead of the opener in the top of the sixth with a two-run, two-out rally against Marte (0-2), who took the loss for the Royals. Gillespie doubled and scored the go-ahead run when Jason Bourgeois followed with an RBI triple to right. Escobar provided an insurance run for Nashville when he plated Bourgeois with a bloop single to left, bringing the score to its final 8-6 count.

R.J. Swindle (1-0) picked up the victory for the Sounds in the opener with 2 2/3 innings of scoreless relief. David Johnson notched his third save of the year by recording the final two outs for Nashville.

In the nightcap, Bourgeois led off the contest with a triple off Dusty Hughes and scored the game’s first run two batters later on an Angel Salome RBI single.

Omaha tied it at 1-1 in the fifth with an unearned run stemming from a throwing error by Sounds starting pitcher Lindsay Gulin. Irving Falu led off with a single and moved to third when Gulin misfired to first on Tug Hulett’s sacrifice bunt before scoring on a double-play grounder.

Neither team scored again until the tenth as the game went three innings beyond the scheduled seven-inning session and the teams combined to bat just 1-for-19 with runners in scoring position in the contest.

Sounds left fielder Michael Garciaparra led off the tenth by drilling Greg Atencio’s first pitch over the left field wall for his first home run of the season, giving Nashville a 2-1 lead. Salome plated an insurance run later in the frame with a sacrifice fly.

Ryan Houston (2-1) worked the final four innings in scoreless fashion to earn the nightcap win for the Sounds, while Atencio (2-5) was saddled with the loss.

The division rivals wrap up their four-game series as well as their 16-game season series on Monday afternoon with a 12:05 p.m. finale. Left-hander Chase Wright (4-5, 4.12) will man the bump for the Sounds to face veteran Omaha right-hander Brandon Duckworth (2-2, 4.75).

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