Nashville, TN – The Nashville Sounds dropped game two of this weekend’s series with a 9-2 loss to the Norfolk Tides Saturday night at First Horizon Park. Tyler Black extended his on-base streak to 23 consecutive games, while extending his hit streak to nine straight.
Newly acquired Colton Gordon made his Sounds debut and worked around back-to-back singles in the opening frame. The 27-year-old began to settle in by adding three strikeouts along the way through the first two frames.
In the bottom of the second inning, the Sounds got the early 1-0 lead as Brock Wilken crushed his ninth home run of the season on a solo blast to left field. Norfolk answered right back in the top of the third inning with Gordon issuing a leadoff walk to begin the frame. Two at-bats later, Heston Kjerstad ripped a hard single past Eduardo Garcia, which scored the tying run for the Tides.
Norfolk took their first lead of the game as Ryan Noda ripped his first triple of the season, giving way to a Chadwick Tromp RBI-single into left field for the 2-1 Tides lead. They continued to threaten in the top of the fourth inning with the bases loaded as Jud Fabian lined an RBI-single into left field and extended the Tides lead to two runs. Norfolk’s lead grew with back-to-back RBI-singles, and they added another run to make it a 5-1 advantage against Gordon after the top of the fourth.
Gordon ended his Sounds debut allowing five runs (4 ER) on eight hits and struck out five Tides batters along the way before Lyon Richardson entered the game in the top of the sixth inning. He worked two scoreless innings in the sixth and the seventh inning, adding four strikeouts to heading into the bottom half of the frame. After scoring in the second, the Sounds were held off the board in the next five frames of the game, stranding three runners on base.
Carlos Rodriguez came into the top of the eighth inning and got into immediate trouble, allowing four runs to cross on a bases-clearing triple by Michael Siani and a sac fly by Fabian grew the large lead to 9-1 for the Tides. The Sounds found some life again in the bottom of the eighth inning as Jacob Hurtubise lined a double into the left center gap.
Luis Matos got in on the action and blooped an RBI-single into center field, scoring Hurtubise, but that was the end of a shortened rally as the game headed into the ninth inning. Nashville had one last opportunity in the bottom of the ninth inning but were shut down after Jeferson Quero’s leadoff single.
The Sounds and Tides conclude the three-game series from First Horizon Park on Sunday night with right-hander Coleman Crow getting the start for Nashville. First pitch is scheduled for 6:05pm.
