The Sacramento River Cats had a strong performance at home in an 11:35 a.m. start at Raley Field today, defeating the Nashville Sounds 8-1.

The children participating in U.S. Bank AAA School Day, as well as the rest of the 8,846 fans in attendance, were in for a treat as the home team took on the PCL American North Division leader.

The Cats (20-27) scored six runs on five hits in the bottom of the third inning, putting the game out of reach for the Sounds (26-19) early in the game. The Cats’ Michael Affronti started the inning off with a home run to left field for the first run of the game. Eric Sogard followed up with an RBI triple driving left fielder Corey Wimberley home, extending the score to 2-0.

Josh Donaldson continued the Cats' hot streak by hitting an RBI single, with Sogard reaching home plate. Matt Carson hit a three-run home run to left-center field with Donaldson and Carson on the bases. For Affronti and Carson, both had their first home run of their career
with the River Cats.

Pitcher John Halama had a good showing as well in his River Cats debut. In seven innings pitched he allowed six hits, had five strikeouts and finished his first start with a 0 ERA.

In the bottom of the eighth inning, Cats’ right fielder Corey Brown had a 2-RBI triple, with Carson and Anthony Recker reaching home plate. At that point, the Cats were up 8-0.

Out of nine hits the Sounds had in the game compared to the eight hits the Cats had, Nashville’s only run came in the ninth inning on a walk by Brad Kilby with the bases loaded on a 3-2 count with two outs.

The Cats will finish its only series against the Sounds this season tomorrow at 7:05 p.m. The team leads the season series 2-1 and have won three of the last four games.