Nashville, TN – The Nashville Sounds split this week’s series against the Norfolk Tides with a 5-1 final in Sunday’s win at First Horizon Park. Five different Sounds contributed an RBI, while Brock Wilken extended his on-base streak to 22 games.
After a few quiet innings from both offenses, the Sounds got on the board first in the bottom of the third inning as Eddys Leonard got on base with a one-out single, extending his hit streak and on-base streak to five consecutive games. Luis Matos drew a 12-pitch walk, and Luis Lara was hit by pitch to load the bases for Wilken, who grounded into a force out and scored Leonard for the first run of the game. Jett Williams and Jeferson Quero drew back-to-back walks and plated Matos for the early 2-0 lead.
Right-hander Carlos Rodriguez made his second appearance this week versus the Tides, fourth overall start with Nashville this season, and finished the day allowing no runs on two hits, issuing four walks and three strikeouts in 2.2 innings of work. Drew Rom entered the game and posted 2.1 scoreless frames with two punchouts, including two 1-2-3 innings to finish his day as he was replaced for right-hander Craig Yoho in the top of the sixth inning.
The Sounds added three more runs in the bottom half of the sixth as Quero and Freddy Zamora drew back-to-back walks. After Ramón RodrÃguez dropped a sacrifice bunt and advanced the runners to second and third, Jordyn Adams got in on the action as he hit an RBI-single on a blooper into right field and scored Quero. After Adams stole second to put two runners in scoring position, Leonard added his own RBI with a groundout for a four-run lead. The Sounds poured on another run after Matos got on base with an infield single and Lara singled into center field scoring Adams for the 5-0 lead.
Yoho finished his day posting two scoreless innings with three strikeouts as he was replaced for Blake Holub in the top of the eighth inning. The Tides finally got on the board with a solo shot to left field off of Holub to cut the Sounds lead to 5-1. Entering the top of the ninth inning with Holub still on the mound, despite the lone single allowed in the frame, he struck out two in the process and finished the game with a 5-1 final.
With Monday off, the Nashville Sounds will travel to Louisville for the first time this season to take on the Louisville Bats in a six-game series from May 5th-10th. The first game is set to begin on Tuesday with first pitch at 5:05pm.
