Nashville Sounds fall to Memphis Redbirds 5-2 at First Tennessee Park

Nashville, TN – The Memphis Redbirds used a solid start from veteran right-hander Jerome Williams to top the Nashville Sounds, 5-2, in front of a sell-out crowd of 10,092 Thursday night at First Tennessee Park.

Memphis took the first two games of the series and the Thursday’s finale to take three of four from Nashville. The series loss is the first for the Sounds since May 2nd-5th against the Iowa Cubs.

The 34-year-old Williams went six innings and allowed just one run in the process. The lone run was a solo blast off the bat of Ryon Healy in the sixth inning.

The Redbirds gave Williams a lead before he had to throw a pitch. Kolten Wong was hit by the first pitch thrown by Nashville’s Chris Jensen to start the game. The right-hander was making his Sounds and Triple-A debut.

Wong moved to second on a groundout, swiped third base, and then scored on a fielder’s choice by Tommy Pham to make it 1-0 going into the bottom of the first.

Pham was back at it again in the third when he launched a two-run homer to deep left field to give Memphis a 3-0 advantage.

Another run batted in by Pham made it 4-0 in the fifth. Wong reached on a one-out bunt single and moved around to third on a pair of wild pitches before Pham’s base hit to right brought him in. Pham finished the night 2-for-4 with four RBI and Wong went 2-for-4 with three runs scored.

Healy got the Sounds on the board in the sixth with a towering homer to straightaway center field. It’s his fifth home run with Nashville and 13th overall this year.

After Memphis added another run in the eighth, Chad Pinder cut into the deficit with Nashville’s second homer of the night. He hit a solo blast off reliever Ryan Sheriff to make it a 5-2 game. It was Pinder’s eighth home run of the season and third in as many days.

That’s as close as they’d get as Miguel Socolovich worked a perfect ninth inning to close the win for the Redbirds.

Jensen was tagged with the loss in his debut and Williams earned the win to improve to 2-1.

The Sounds welcome the Round Rock Express to First Tennessee Park for a four-day, five-game series set to begin Friday night. Right-hander Chris Smith (4-5, 4.36) starts for the Sounds while the Express have not announced a starter. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05pm.

The 2016 season is the Sounds’ 19th year in the Pacific Coast League and their second as the Oakland Athletics’ top affiliate. Tickets are available now by calling 615.690.4487 or by visiting www.nashvillesounds.com