Sugar Land, TX – The Nashville Sounds dopped game one of the doubleheader to Sugar Land on Saturday night but bounced back with an extra-innings win in game two and put an end to a four-game losing streak and a split in the twin bill.
Starting pitching was on display throughout the night with four combined quality starts between the two clubs, including a pair of complete games in the first game.
Game 1 | Nashville – 0 | Sugar Land – 4
It was a return trip to Sugar Land for southpaw Colton Gordon to start game one. The left-hander made 14 appearances (13 GS) for the Space Cowboys this season before being dealt to the Brewers on July 15th. In his second start with Nashville, Gordon turned in a complete game on the bump (6.0 IP) and allowed eight hits and four runs (3 ER) with a pair of strikeouts and a walk against his former club.
He allowed a two-out single before issuing a walk in the bottom of the fourth inning. The scoreless affair turned into a 3-0 Sugar Land lead after Edwin Diaz jumped on the first offering from Gordon and clubbed his fourth home run of the year.
Gordon then worked a scoreless fifth despite allowing three singles in the frame, escaping the inning with the help of an outfield assist for Tyler Black and a lineout double play to get through the inning unscathed. An error to begin the bottom of the sixth later turned into the fourth run of the game for Sugar Land.
In the other dugout, right-hander Ryan Weiss worked a one-hit complete game shutout for Sugar Land. Weiss issued a leadoff walk to start the game but faced the minimum in the inning following a pickoff of Eric Brown Jr. Tyler Black drew a two-out walk in the top of the fourth but was caught stealing second base as Weiss faced the minimum through four.
Ethan Murray drew the third walk issued by Weiss, but it was followed by a groundout to end the top of the fifth. Brown Jr. collected his first Triple-A hit and the only hit allowed by Weiss with a two-out single in the top of the sixth. The Sugar Land right-hander worked a 1-2-3 top of the seventh to finish off the shutout of Nashville. He earned his first career complete game (55 GS) and set a new single-game career high with his 7.0 IP.
Game 2 | Nashville – 5 | Sugar Land – 3
Starting pitching dominated the night cap as well for both clubs. Nashville doubled their hit output from game one and plated their first run of the day in the top of the second inning. Jeferson Quero started the inning with a leadoff double and was followed by a single off the bat of Brock Wilken to push Quero to third.
Ethan Murray cashed in with a sac fly before Jackson Nezuh could get of the inning with a strikeout of Freddy Zamora to leave one stranded. As they have done all series long, Sugar Land responded with a run of their own off Coleman Crow. Back-to-back one-out doubles, the second off the bat of former Sound Raynel Delgado evened the score at 1-1, and it would stay that way into the sixth inning.
The two starters traded 1-2-3 half innings in the bottom of the third and top of the fourth respectively, and Crow faced the minimum in the bottom of the fourth after allowing a single that was quickly erased on a double play. Six-up-six-down in the fifth sent Nashville back to the plate in the top of the sixth still deadlocked at 1-1.
Brown Jr. added his second hit of the doubleheader with a leadoff single and Adams continued his excellent series with his second double in five games played this week to put both Nashville runners in scoring position. Quero reached on a fielder’s choice as Brown Jr. was nabbed at the plate trying to break the tie as runners remained on the corners with two outs. A wild pitch from Nezuh allowed Adams to score the go-ahead run.
Sugar Land once again answered just two batters into the bottom of the sixth as a leadoff triple and RBI single knotted the score 2-2. The sixth and final hit allowed by Crow over his quality start was the third straight hit to start the half inning. A sac bunt pushed both Space Cowboys runners up a base and into scoring position. The Brewers no. 25-rated prospect then earned a strikeout of Shay Whitcomb before getting Trenton Brooks to pop out to end the threat.
Alimber Santa took over on the mound for Sugar Land in relief of Nezuh in the top of the seventh and got a double play of his own to negate a leadoff single for Luis Matos to face just three batters in his only inning of work. Gerson Garabito worked a three-up, three-down bottom of the inning to send the Sounds and Space Cowboys to extras for a third time in the series.
Black drew a pinch hit walk to start the top of the eighth for Brandon Lockridge and a sac bunt attempt for Jacob Hurtubise ended with a forceout of Zamora at third base after starting extras on second. Adams drew the second walk of the frame to load the bases and Miller cleared them with a triple deposited into the right field corner to give Nashville their largest lead of the series at 5-2. Back-to-back strikeouts for Roddery Munoz stranded Miller at third and sent Garabito back out to start a second inning of work.
Diaz added his third extra-base hit of the day with a double to put runners on second and third and send the tying run to the plate. Cavan Biggio brought Sugar Land within two on a sacrifice fly and Garabito earned a strikeout of Jake Meyers for the second out of the inning. Mark Manfredi took over in relief and issued consecutive walks to load the bases and put the potential tying run in scoring position. The left-hander responded with a looking strikeout of Brooks to earn his third save and put an end to Nashville’s four-game slide.The Sounds and Sugar Land will wrap up their Interleague series on Sunday evening at Constellation Field with first pitch scheduled for 6:35pm. LHP Thomas Pannone (4-1, 4.13 ERA) will make his second start of the series, and the Space Cowboys will give the ball to RHP Ethan Pecko (4-5, 4.98 ERA) in the finale.
