Lawrenceville, GA – The Nashville Sounds dropped their second straight in walk-off fashion to the Gwinnett Stripers on Saturday night at Gwinnett Field. The two clubs traded early runs before Nashville allowed the final two runs of the night in a 4-3 loss in extra innings.
Tate Kuehner was excellent on the mound for the Sounds, and the offense saw Luis Lara and Ramon Rodriguez each tally three-hit games at the plate.
Lara earned his first hit of the night with a RBI single to score Jett Williams in the top of the first inning as the later collected his lone hit of the game to lead off the night for Nashville. Kuehner limited Gwinnett to just the tying run in the bottom of the second despite back-to-back hits to start the inning, including a leadoff double for Aaron Schunk.
The see-saw start to the night continued in the top of the third when Brock Wilken put the Sounds back in front with a sacrifice fly to score Luke Adams, who doubled for his only hit of the night to begin the inning for Nashville.
Gwinnett looked poised to take their first lead after three straight one-out singles not only evened the score at 2-2 but left runners on first and second for Kuehner to navigate. The southpaw stranded both with the help of his third strikeout of the night. He then worked a 1-2-3 bottom of the fifth as the game remained tied at 2-2.
Lara made it a 3-for-3 start to the game when he added his third single of the night to follow Cooper Pratt aboard in the fifth inning. However, the pair or Brewers prospects were left stranded after a strikeout and lineout got Lucas Braun through his fifth and final inning relatively unscathed despite the eight hits allowed.
Kuehner put a bow on his first career Triple-A quality start with his fourth strikeout to end the home half of the sixth. Pratt and Adams both reached ahead of Lara to start the top of the seventh, but a popped-up bunt attempt by Lara ended with Pratt and Adams off the bases after a high-IQ double play was turned and started by Gwinnett reliever Tayler Scott. With Lara reaching on the play, he put himself into scoring position with a steal and Wilken took care of the rest with a RBI double to put Nashville back in front 3-2.
Peter Strzelecki stranded the tying run in scoring position in the bottom of the seventh after allowing a one-out double but was later charged with the tying run after a leadoff single in the eighth came around to score when Will Childers was greeted into the game with a RBI double off the bat of Rowdy Tellez.
Childers kept it all square at 3-3 despite a walk following the double to Tellez as the Stripers’ aggressiveness on the bases backfired trying to steal home. A two-out walk issued by Childers proved harmless in the bottom of the ninth when the right-hander struck out Brewer Hicklen looking to send the game to extras.
The Sounds went down in order in the top of the 10th and left-hander Brian Fitzpatrick took over on the mound in the bottom of the inning for Nashville. A productive groundout moved the winning run to third, and Jose Azocar finished it off with a RBI single through the left side of the infield to give Gwinnett the 4-3 win and the series.
The Sounds and Stripers will wrap up the series Sunday afternoon before the Sounds return to First Horizon Park for the first matchup against a Boston Red Sox affiliate since 1991 beginning on Tuesday, April 14th when Worcester comes to Nashville. RHP Carlos Rodriguez is slated to get the ball for the Sounds in the series finale at Gwinnett Field Sunday with first pitch scheduled for 12:05pm CT.
