Nashville, TN – The Nashville Sounds earned a doubleheader sweep of the Louisville Bats on Thursday night at Louisville Slugger Field. The Sounds won the first game 3-1 behind stellar pitching from Coleman Crow and a pair of hits from Blake Perkins.
Game two saw more offense with Nashville using a four-run fifth inning to seize control of the game and outlast the Bats for a 9-6 final behind a three-RBI performance for Eddys Leonard.
Game 1: Nashville 3, Norfolk 1
Crow, the Brewers no. 26-rated prospect made his fifth start of the season and his second straight as part of a doubleheader for Nashville. The right-hander followed up a scoreless outing over 5.2 IP last Thursday night at First Horizon Park with another strong performance against the Bats in game one. Despite two early baserunners with a leadoff single and walk, Crow limited the Bats to their only run of the game when Edwin Arroyo came around to score on a wild pitch.
The Sounds got their first baserunner in the top of the third via a Luis Matos single before he stole second and was left in scoring position as Davis Daniel retired each of the next three he faced. Back-to-back walks drawn by Cooper Pratt and Luis Lara in the top of the fourth were followed by a Brock Wilken RBI single that evened the score at 1-1. Nashville then took the lead in the fifth as Pratt scored Jacob Hurtubise who walked and moved to third on a single by Perkins. Jordyn Adams delivered a two-out pinch hit triple in the top of the seventh inning ahead of Perkins who added his second hit and first Nashville RBI with a single to make it 3-1.
After the rocky start to the first, Crow settled in and retired 10 of the next 11 he faced before allowing a leadoff single in the fifth along with a two-out hit by pitch. Crow stranded both in the inning and then struck out back-to-back Bats in the sixth after allowing his third hit of the game to lead off the sixth. Brewers no. 28-rated prospect Craig Yoho tossed a three-pitch strikeout to get the Sounds out of the inning and strand the runner on first. Yoho was back out for the bottom of the seventh and worked a 1-2-3 inning and collected his first save of the season to help Nashville take game one.
Game 2: Nashville 9, Norfolk 6
Thomas Pannone pitched his way through a shaky start to game two. The Bats began the game with three straight singles off the left-hander to take an early 1-0 lead. Pannone and the Sounds traded a pair of outs for another run as the Bats made it 2-0 before loading the bases with three straight walks issued by Pannone.
He escaped the jam with relatively minimal damage done as he got Dayne Leonard to strike out and strand all three remaining Louisville runners on base. Consecutive two-out singles and the fourth walk issued by Pannone once again loaded the bases for the Bats in the second, but he and the Sounds left the inning still just down two runs after he got Michael Toglia to line out to end the threat.
Kaleb Bowman took over on the mound in the bottom of the third with two outs. He was greeted with a single but stranded the seventh Louisville runner of the game to send the Sounds to the plate in the top of the fourth. Matos’ second hit of the doubleheader was a two-run home run that evened the score at 2-2. The Bats quickly regained their lead as Arroyo homered off Bowman for his second hit in game two and put the Bats back up by a run. Bowman followed a hit batter and walk in the frame with back-to-back strikeouts to strand two more.
Jett Williams added his second hit of the game with a leadoff single to begin Nashville’s four-run rally in the top of the fifth. Pratt and Lara followed Williams on base to load the bases and back-to-back walks put Nashville in front 4-3. With the bases still loaded and one out, Leonard laced a two-RBI double into the right-center gap to push the Sounds back in front 6-3.
Peter Strzelecki inherited a pair of runners after taking over for Bowman in the bottom of the fifth and was tasked with facing the top of the Bats order. Arroyo added his third hit of the game with a two-RBI triple that pulled the Bats back within a run. Strzelecki sat down each of the next two to maintain the one-run advantage and leave the tying run on third base. Williams was aboard for the third time after drawing a walk to begin the top of the sixth.
Wilken started another two-out rally with a RBI single and would later come around to score on the third bases-loaded walk issued by Bats pitchers to push Nashville’s lead back out to 8-5. Strzelecki struck out two more in the bottom of the sixth to help work around a one-out double and keep it a three-run Sounds advantage.
Ethan Murray connected on his second home run of the season to start the top of the seventh and give the Sounds their largerst lead of the game at four runs. After three straight outs following the solo homer by Murray, Drew Rom headed to the mound in the bottom of the seventh in relief of Strzelecki.
Sitting on three hits and a double shy of the cycle, Arroyo added his fourth RBI of the game with a single cut off by Williams in the right-center field gap that prevented Arroyo from completing the cylce but brought the Bats back within two. Rom picked up his first strikeout of the night for the second out of the inning, but the game stayed alive as he allowed his third single of the frame and sent Rece Hinds to the plate to serve as the potential tying run with runners on the corners. Rom made quick work of Hinds with a four-pitch strikeout to help seal the doubleheader sweep for Nashville.
