Durham, NC – The Nashville Sounds held off the Durham Bulls late-inning rally for a 6-5 win Friday night at Durham Bulls Athletic Park. The Sounds four-run spark in the top of the third inning was highlighted by Jeferson Quero’s two-run single.
The Sounds were blanked over the first two innings on Friday night, extending their scoreless drought to seven straight innings including Thursday’s five-inning shutout loss. Nashville ended that and hopped out to a 4-0 lead in the top of the third inning. Greg Jones led off the inning with an infield base hit. Akil Baddoo and Cooper Pratt followed with back-to-back walks to load the bases ahead of Luis Lara, who grounded into a force out but still scored Jones for the first run of the game.
A wild pitch by Durham’s Brody Hopkins scored Baddoo from third while Lara stole his 18th bag of the season. After Brock Wilken drew his second walk of the night, Quero crushed a two-run single off the left field wall and scored Lara and Wilken for the 4-0 lead. The Bulls tacked on a run with a solo shot from Tony Santa Maria and cut the Nashville lead to 4-1 through four innings.
In the top of the fifth inning, Nashville extended its lead back to four runs with Wilken ripping an RBI-double to left field, his 10th double and 28th RBI of the season, and scored Lara after he drew a leadoff walk. Two at-bats later, Luis Matos hit a bloop single just over the second basemen and scored Wilken for the largest Sounds lead of the night 6-1.
The Bulls cut into Nashville’s lead again in the bottom of the fifth with three singles and a hit by pitch to make it 6-3. Starting pitcher Coleman Crow was charged with three runs in the game, allowing two runs in the fifth. Reiss Knehr replaced Crow and inherited two runners allowing one to score and but ultimately stranded two to get out of the inning.
The Bulls continued to cut into the Sounds lead with two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning, including an effective triple to right center off Garrett Stallings. In the bottom of the eighth with Stallings still on the mound, Durham threatened by loading the bases off of two singles and a hit by pitch.
Nashville’s defense stepped up as a forceout at home and a popout, both to Pratt, shut down the bases-loaded threat heading into the ninth. Junior Fernández took the reins in the bottom of the ninth inning and earned his first save of the season, tossing a 1-2-3 ninth for a 6-5 Sounds win.
The Sounds continue their road series against the Durham Bulls on Saturday, May 23rd. First pitch is scheduled for 5:45pm CT
