Nashville, TN – The Nashville Sounds jumped out to an early lead and never looked back on Saturday night as they beat the Charlotte Knights 6-3 in front of another sellout crowd at First Horizon Park.
The Sounds used a five-run first and cruised the rest of the way, getting stellar pitching from the bullpen to give Sounds manager Rick Sweet career win 2,496, placing him in a tie with Bob Coleman for the second-most wins in Minor League Baseball history.
After escaping a bases-loaded jam unscathed in the first that saw him throw 31 pitches with just one hit allowed, Nashville’s offense immediately provided Carlos Rodriguez with some run support. The Sounds batted through the order off Major League rehabber Tyler Gilbert to plate five runs on five hits.
Luis Matos got the big inning started with a leadoff double and Tyler Black pushed the first runs across with a two-RBI double into the left field corner. Andrick Nava followed with a two-RBI single, and Freddy Zamora hit his first triple of the season to score Nava and give the Sounds a 5-0 lead. Rodriguez’s night came to an end just two batters into the top of the second with a leadoff single followed by a two-run home run for Riley Unroe.
Newly added right-hander Jack Seppings made his Triple-A debut in relief and retired the first three he faced in order, including a strikeout to start his night. He made it six in a row with a three-up, three-down top of the third. The run ended with a leadoff walk to Tim Elko in the top of the fourth and his first hit allowed came via a two-out bunt single before he earned his third strikeout to end the threat. He finished his night with 3+ scoreless frames, working around three hits and a walk with three strikeouts. Kaleb Bowman cleaned up the top of the fifth with a strikeout of Mario Camilletti to strand Eric Haase at first base.
Despite a two-out walk for Luke Adams in the bottom of the fifth, the Sounds remained hitless since the first. That changed with consecutive singles to start the home half of the sixth. Nava collected his second hit of the night and was followed aboard by a single for Jacob Hurtubise.
Zamora bunted into an out that forced Nava out at third and an inning-ending double play kept the Sounds in front by just three runs. Bowman worked around the first two Knights batters reaching against him in the seventh with a double play of his own before striking out Haase to get through 2+ scoreless before turning the ball over to southpaw Mark Manfredi.
Each of the first three Sounds batters reached in the seventh to load the bases but were able to push just one run across after a double play and ground out minimized the prime scoring opportunity. Unroe swatted his second home run of the night in the top of the ninth off Manfredi to get the Knights a little closer.
His second came from the right side after the switch hitter left the yard hitting lefty in the second inning. Manfredi responded by striking out two of the next three and inducing a game-ending ground out.
The Sounds and Knights will wrap up their season series on Sunday evening. RHP Brett Wichrowski (2-2, 8.47 ERA) is scheduled to make his second start of the series after working 1.1 IP in his second game back from the injured list on Tuesday night for the Sounds. First pitch is set for 6:35pm.
