Nashville, TN – The Nashville Sounds dropped game one of the series with an 8-2 defeat to the Charlotte Knights on Tuesday at Truist Field. Carlos Rodriguez made his first appearance for the Sounds since May 19 at Durham and allowed four early runs to cross for Charlotte. Matos continued his dominance for the Sounds as he finished the night going 2-for-4 with a homer.
Rodriguez got the start for Nashville and struggled early as the Knights put up five runs in the first two innings of the game. After two base hits in the top of the first inning were stranded on base by the Sounds offense, Rodriguez allowed a sacrifice fly to cross as Rikuu Nishida hit a leadoff single. The Sounds struggled to drive home Andrick Nava, who drew a walk, and Eduardo Garcia, who got on base with a single as the offense stranded four total runners through two.
Charlotte loaded the bases in the bottom of the second on an error and two base hits before Peter Strzelecki replaced Rodriguez with two outs in the inning. A towering grand slam by Ryan Galanie blew the game open to give Charlotte a 5-0 lead. Nashville finally got on the board in the top of the third inning when Matos hit a leadoff homer and cut the score 5-1. It marked his fourth homer of the season for the Sounds and his second straight multi-hit game.
Gerson Garabito relieved Strzelecki in the bottom of the fifth inning and worked a 1-2-3 frame. He came out for the bottom of the sixth inning and allowed a one-out double and a walk to get on base. Nolan Jones lined a two-run double into right field, extending Charlotte’s lead to 7-1. The Knights tacked on another run off Will Childers with an RBI-single and grew the lead to seven runs.
In the top of the eighth inning, the Sounds tallied their final run of the night as Tyler Black and Jeferson Quero hit back-to-back singles. Brock Wilken drew a walk to load the bases and set up Eddys Leonard, who hit into a double play, but still scored Black for the 8-2 deficit.
After Blake Holub had a 1-2-3 frame against the Knights offense in the bottom half of the eighth, Nashville was unable to rally in their finals at-bats, going down in order in the ninth to drop game one of the series.
The Sounds continue the six-game series against the Knights on Wednesday, July 8th. First pitch is scheduled for 6:04pm, and RHP Tyson Hardin will get the start for Nashville.
