Nashville, TN – The Nashville Sounds earned the Fourth of July sweep of the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp on Saturday night at First Horizon Park. Nashville used a comeback to earn their fourth walk-off win of the season and first since May 17th in game one.
They continued that momentum to lead from start to finish in the night cap, taking control of the series heading into the finale on Sunday afternoon after holding off a late Jacksonville rally in game two.
GAME 1 – Nashville, 4 | Jacksonville, 3 (F/7)
Brewers no. 7-rated prospect Logan Henderson made his second rehab start with Nashville in game one of the twin bill Saturday night. The Jumbo Shrimp strung together a mini two-out rally in the first to build a 2-0 lead with three straight reaching off the Nashville right-hander including an RBI double for Agustin Ramirez.
The Sounds answered with a run of their own in the first. Jett Williams led off the game with a triple and scored on an RBI single for Tyler Black. Henderson worked back-to-back 1-2-3 innings while Williams collected his second hit of the game with the second straight two-out single for Nashville in the bottom of the second off former Sounds pitcher Janson Junk.
Henderson’s outing came to a close after retiring the first batter he faced in the top of the fourth inning and 68 pitches with Kaleb Bowman taking over in relief. Jacksonville tacked on another run with a solo homer off the bat of Andrew Pintar to push the lead back to two runs.
Like they did in the first, the Sounds answered with a run in the bottom of the frame, this time off left-hander Patrick Monteverde. Andrick Nava swatted a two-out solo blast for his second home run in his last three games and his second Triple-A multi-hit performance.
JB Bukauskas inherited a bases-loaded situation in the top of the fifth after Bowman surrendered a two-out single ahead of back-to-back walks. He fell behind in the count 3-0 but battled back to induce a fly out to end the threat and keep it at a one-run game.
Luke Adams added his second hit of the game with a double in the fifth and Luis Matos started the home half of the sixth with a single before advancing into scoring position on a wild pitch for Jake Walkinshaw. The next three went down in order as Matos was stranded on second as the potential tying run entering the top of the seventh.
Junior Fernandez was back out for his second inning of work on the mound for Nashville and retired the side in order to send the Nashville bats to work in the bottom of the seventh.
Black reached for the second time with a one-out walk and put himself into scoring position with a stolen base before Adams followed him aboard after getting hit by Jacksonville reliever Zach Pop. Jeferson Quero loaded the bases with an infield single and the Sounds put speed on second base as the potential winning run as Eduardo Garcia entered the game as a pinch runner.
It wasn’t needed as Matos drove a ball over the leftfielder’s head for the two-out, walk-off two-RBI hit to give Nashville the game one win.
GAME 2 – Nashville, 5 | Jacksonville, 4 (F/7)
Nashville struck first for the first time this series in game two. Like he did in game one, Black collected a first-inning RBI with his eighth double of the season to score Greg Jones who walked and put himself on second with a swiped bag.
Black was left stranded at the end of the frame and the Sounds left two more aboard in the second after the second walk of the game for Karson Milbrandt and a two-out base hit for Garcia in his first plate attempt of the night after scoring the winning run in game one.
Fellow big league rehabber Coleman Crow made his first appearance since June 9 in a start with the Brewers as he began his rehab assignment on Saturday night with the Sounds. The Brewers no. 24-rated prospect worked around a leadoff double and two out walk to work a scoreless first inning and retired the side in order in the second.
He saw the leadoff batter of an inning reach for the second time through three with a walk to start the third before sitting down each of the next three in order. Jones started the bottom of the third with a single and added another stolen base. Quero cashed in with the runner in scoring position with a RBI single.
Nashville chased Milbrandt after 2.1 IP and six hits and leaving two runners on base for Amos Willingham to deal with and just one out. In total, the Sounds sent all nine to the plate in the inning and built a 5-0 lead with a four-run frame.
Crow’s night came to an end after three scoreless innings with Blake Holub taking over pitching duties in the top of the fourth. He surrendered a pair of hits but worked the fourth consecutive scoreless inning of the game and seventh overall dating back to the fourth inning in the matinee. Will Childers kept the streak alive in his first appearance since June 24 as he stranded Matt Etzel who added his second double of the game.
The Jumbo Shrimp found themselves down just two after Deyvison De Los Santos’ three-run home run off Easton McGee on the third straight hit McGee allowed to start the top of the sixth. The right-hander retired consecutive batters but followed it with a walk and hit by pitch to keep the inning alive. He struck out his second of the inning to end the threat and maintain the two-run advantage for the Sounds.
After a quiet bottom of the sixth that saw Jones reach for a third time and steal his third base, Reiss Knehr was tasked with closing the door on Jacksonville in the top of the seventh. The Sounds’ right-hander saw each of the first three reach via singles, drawing the Jumbo Shrimp within one.
He earned his first out of the inning with a fly ball to deep center field that saw both Jumbo Shrimp runners move into scoring position and put the potential go-ahead run on second. He was able to retire three in a row overall with a infield pop up and ground ball that secured the doubleheader sweep for the Sounds and a series lead heading into the finale on Sunday.
