Nashville, TN – The Nashville Sounds ended the first half of the International League schedule in a pitcher’s duel on Sunday afternoon at First Horizon Park.
In a pitching rematch from Tuesday’s opener, Tobias Myers and Kenta Maeda each exited the game with scoreless outings. After being held hitless through six innings, the Sounds needed just three hits to squeeze out a 1-0 win.
After pitching six scoreless on Tuesday night, Myers worked a three-up, three-down top of the first. He left one stranded in the second after allowing two of the four hits over his five innings on Sunday. Singles in the third and fourth innings were all the I-Cubs could get off Myers who exited the game allowing five baserunners and had six strikeouts.
Sam McWilliams was greeted into the game with a leadoff double in the sixth before surrendering a two-out single that put I-Cubs on the corners. McWilliams picked up his second strikeout to strand both. He was back out on the mound for the top of the seventh and retired one batter before Tyler Jay entered the game for a lefty-lefty matchup. After getting the Sounds through the seventh, Jay returned to the mound for another lefty-lefty matchup with Owen Caissie. Easton McGee induced a pair of flyouts of the only two batters he was tasked to face.
Maeda walked back-to-back Nashville hitters in the second with two outs without any damage done. Another two out walk-in the fourth were the only three baserunners the Sounds had through the bottom of the sixth. Bobby Dalbec broke up Maeda’s no-hitter with a leadoff single in the seventh but was left on first base after the Iowa right-hander retired the next three he faced.
After seven scoreless innings, Iowa turned to Porter Hodge in the bottom of the eighth. Drew Avans used his speed to avoid an inning-ending double play on a 3-6 fielder’s choice. Jeferson Quero earned the second Nashville hit of the game with a single that pushed Avans to third and sent Anthony Seigler to the plate and forced a pitching change for Iowa. Seigler won a seven-pitch battle with Riley Martin with a RBI single and the game’s only run.
Craig Yoho retired the side in order in the top of the ninth for his fourth save of the season. The bullpen combined to hold the Iowa hitless over the final 3.1 IP
The Sounds will hit the road to start the second half of the season against the first half winners, the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp (Triple-A, Miami). The two teams started the year with a three-game series at First Horizon Park with Jacksonville taking the weekend series 2-1 in the only matchup between the two so far in 2025. First pitch on Tuesday, June 24th is scheduled for 6:05pm CT.
