Nashville, TN – The Nashville Sounds won their third straight game with an 8-2 victory over the Durham Bulls on Tuesday night at First Horizon Park.
Brewers no. 16-rated prospect Tyson Hardin tossed his third quality start in five games with Nashville and set a career-high with 11 strikeouts to earn his second Triple-A win.
Akil Baddoo and Cooper Pratt provided Hardin with four runs of support on a pair of two-run home runs as the Sounds cruised to the series opening win.
Hardin started his night by striking out the side in the top of the first to work around a one-out infield single and added another strikeout as part of a 1-2-3 top of the second. It was the first of three straight three-up, three down innings for the right-hander who added two more strikeouts in the fourth to record strikeouts of six of the first 12 batters he faced.
He added three more in the top of the fifth to work around a one-out double and tie his career-high with nine strikeouts through five innings of work. The lone run he allowed came via a leadoff home run by Logan Davidson to begin the top of the sixth. Hardin then retired three straight, including back-to-back strikeouts to help set a new career-high with 11 and finish his outing facing just three over the minimum.
Baddoo started the scoring for Nashville in the bottom of the second with a two-run home run. All three of his home runs this season have coming against Durham including the multi-home run game he had against the Bulls on May 20th.
The Sounds tacked on another run their next trip to the plate as Luis Lara reached base with a single and came around to score on a two-out RBI single for Jeferson Quero. The Sounds were unable to add any more runs on a bases-loaded opportunity as the game remained 3-0 until the bottom of the fifth.
Brock Wilken hit a two out double and was followed by a triple for Eddys Leonard as the Sounds strung together consecutive extra-base hits off Cam Hill. Jett Williams kept the inning alive with a walk. His speed forced an errant pickoff attempt and allowed Leonard to score and move Williams to third. The last 90 feet were made easy with Pratt capping the four-run inning with a two-run home run to give the Sounds a 7-0 cushion after five innings.
Jared Koenig continued his Major League rehab assignment with his fourth straight scoreless appearance as he added a strikeout and picked off Homer Bush Jr. to end the top of the sixth to erase the lone hit he surrendered.
The Bulls worked across their second run of the night with a RBI single for former Sound Oliver Dunn as part of two hits allowed by Junior Fernandez in the top of the eighth. Nashville cashed in on another bases-loaded situation when Baddoo collected his third RBI of the night with a two-out free pass for the eighth run of the night to make it 8-2.
Reiss Knehr struck out three of the four batters he faced in the top of the ninth as the Sounds set a new season-high for strikeouts with 16 for the game.
Nashville and Durham will continue their series on Wednesday night at First Horizon Park. RHP Brett Wichrowski (1-0, 4.76 ERA) will make his First Horizon Park debut on the mound for the Sounds. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35pm.
