Nashville, TN – Bruce Zimmermann tossed a quality start in the Nashville Sounds 8-1 win over the Gwinnett Stripers on Tuesday from First Horizon Park. Luis Urias notched three RBI, while Ernesto Martinez Jr. increased his hitting and on-base streak to eight games.
In the bottom of the first, the Sounds began the scoring off Stripers starter Jhancarlos Lara. Brandon Lockridge led off with a single and Tyler Black worked a walk to put runners at first and second. Urias doubled to left, plating Lockridge and Black to make it a 2-0 ballgame.
Nashville extended the lead against Lara in the bottom of the third. Jared Oliva was hit by a pitch, stole second, and moved to third on a throwing error. A groundout from Urias allowed Oliva to score and put the Sounds up 3-0.
In the bottom of the fourth, Nashville scratched another run across off Lara. Oliver Dunn and Eric Haase worked back-to-back walks to put a runner in scoring position. Martinez Jr. notched a base hit to right, scoring Dunn to move the score, 4-0. The single increased Martinez Jr.’s on-base streak to eight games.
The Sounds opened the game up in the bottom of the fifth with three runs off Lara. Oliva was hit by a pitch, while Black and Urias worked back-to-back walks to load the bases. Raynel Delgado walked, plating Oliva from third and keeping the bases loaded. Dunn grounded out to second, moving Urias to third and scoring Black to make it a 6-0 ballgame. Haase mashed a sacrifice fly to score Urias and increase the lead, 7-0.
Matthew Batten recorded the first hit and run of the game for Gwinnett with a solo homer in the top of the sixth off Zimmermann. Overall, Zimmermann allowed just the one run with three strikeouts over 6.0 innings of work.
In the bottom of the eighth, the Sounds added some insurance with a run off Stripers reliever Amos Willingham. Martinez Jr. reached on an error and came around to score on a double by Freddy Zamora to make it an 8-1 ballgame.
In the top of the ninth, Will Childers earned a shutout frame to finalize an 8-1 victory for Nashville.
Right-hander Alexander Cornielle makes his Triple-A debut for the Sounds on Wednesday in game two of the series. First pitch from First Horizon Park is slated for 6:35pm CT.
