Sounds' Capuano silences Tacoma in first start

Left-hander Chris Capuano twirled eight innings of scoreless, three-hit ball to lead the Nashville Sounds to an 8-0 victory over the Tacoma Rainiers on Thursday evening at historic Greer Stadium.

Capuano (1-0) was outstanding in his first start at the Triple-A level this season after three outings in the Advanced-A Florida State League The former Major League All-Star allowed only three hits while walking two batters and striking out four in his 74-pitch effort.

Left-hander Zach Braddock closed out the win with a scoreless ninth for the Sounds, striking out the side around a two-out Brad Nelson single.

The win was the third shutout victory of the season for Nashville (21-12), which has won three of its last four contests after dropping five of the previous seven.

Sounds catcher Jonathan Lucroy staked the home team to a 3-0 lead in the second when he belted a three-run homer to left-center off Tacoma starter Chris Seddon. The blast, which plated Joe Koshansky and Trent Oeltjen, was the backstop's second of the year.

Nashville upped its advantage to 4-0 in the third against Seddon. Ray Olmedo (2-for-5) reached on a one-out bunt single and moved to second on a Johnny Raburn single. The runners executed a double steal and Olmedo trotted to the plate in unearned fashion when Rainiers catcher Josh Bard's throw sailed into left field.

Oeltjen pushed the Nashville lead to 6-0 in the sixth when he swatted an opposite-field, two-run homer to left. The roundtripper, which chased Seddon, was the outfielder's third of the year and first at home. Erick Almonte opened the frame with a walk and also scored on the blast.

The Sounds wrapped up the evening's scoring in the seventh with a pair of runs off Tacoma reliever Yusmeiro Petit. Koshansky and Almonte each contributed an RBI single in the frame.

Seddon (3-1) took his first loss of the year for Tacoma after surrendering six runs (four earned) on six hits over five-plus frames of work.

The teams wrap up their four-game series with a 7:05 p.m. finale on Friday night at Greer. Right-hander Marco Estrada (1-2, 3.55) will make the start for the Sounds to face Tacoma right-hander David Pauley (0-3, 3.41).