PACIFIC COAST LEAGUE BASEBALL

Round Rock has more first-inning problems in loss to Nashville

ROUND ROCK, Texas — The Express players should probably check their watches, because they've shown up late in every game of this homestand.

For the third straight night, Nashville jumped on Round Rock in the first inning, coasting to an easy 8-2 win on Monday night and continuing a trend that has plagued the Express pitching staff all season.

The Sounds put up five runs in the first inning Saturday and two in the first on Sunday to force Round Rock to play from behind.

On Monday, Nashville ripped Express starter Jack Cassel for six runs in the first.

Hernan Iribarren led off the game with a triple that fell between left fielder Nick Gorneault and center fielder Yordany Ramirez. The Sounds collected five more hits in the inning, including the biggest blow, Chris Woodward's bases-loaded triple.

Round Rock (59-70) has allowed 95 runs in the first inning this year, its most in any inning. For the first three games of the four-game set with Nashville, Express starters have a 39.00 ERA and opponents are hitting .667 in the first inning.

"I hope that doesn't become a long trend," Express manager Dave Clark said. "When you get down like that, it's hard to keep coming back. We still had 8.5 innings to get back in it, but we just didn't get much done."

Cassel (8-4) has been the Express' most consistent starter, but he left too many pitches up against the Sounds (54-76) and has seen his ERA rise from 1.98 on July 27 to 3.40 after Monday. He's allowed eight or more hits in each of his last four starts, to go with a 1-3 record.

Nashville left-hander Lindsay Gulin (6-7) kept Round Rock just off-balance enough to meander his way through six innings for the win. He allowed one run on seven hits in six innings.

Mark Saccomanno and Ray Sadler each went 3 for 5 for Round Rock, but the Express stranded 13 runners.

Round Rock will try to avoid a demoralizing series sweep tonight. Nashville still holds the worst record in the Pacific Coast League and has won only three road series this year.

Mark Swanson is a correspondent for The Austin American-Statesman.