MEMPHIS — The Nashville Sounds crushed the Memphis Redbirds in a 17-3 victory Saturday night at AutoZone Park. The 17 runs were fueled by Akil Baddoo's seven RBI on the night, including his second grand slam of the week, while Tyson Hardin recorded another quality start en-route to his third win of the season for the Sounds.
The Sounds opened the game with a leadoff home run by Tyler Black, his second long ball of the season, into right field and secured the 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning. Hardin made his seventh start of the season for the Sounds and kept the lead to one run after he tossed back-to-back 1-2-3 innings in the bottom of the first and the second. Nashville extended its lead to 2-0 in the top of the third inning as two straight one-out singles by Luis Matos and Luke Adams set up Jeferson Quero to hit a soft blooper just past shortstop into left field and scored Matos for the two-run lead. Memphis answered right back and cut the Sounds lead with a leadoff home run by Colton Ledbetter in the bottom of the third inning before Hardin worked around a single to get out of the inning.
In the top of the fourth inning, the Sounds took a large 7-1 as Brock Wilken crushed a leadoff homer to begin the frame into left field, his fourth long ball of the season. After Eduardo Garcia drew a walk, Black hit a single, and Luke Adams drew the second walk of the frame to load the bases. Baddoo obliterated his second grand slam of the week, his seventh blast of the season, into center field and grew the Sounds early lead to six runs. Hardin continued his stellar pitching in the bottom of the fourth, working around a leadoff single to get out of the frame. However, Memphis cut into the Sounds lead as Hardin allowed an RBI-single for the 7-2 lead still in favor of Nashville.
The Redbirds continued to cut into the Sounds lead in the bottom of the seventh inning as they crossed just one run with an RBI-single off of Hardin. He ended his night tossing his fourth quality start of the season for the Sounds before he was relieved for Easton McGee with two outs in the frame. Quero caught Ledbetter stealing for second base to get out of the inning for a 7-3 lead. Nashville poured on the second six-run inning of the week in the top of the eighth, drawing four consecutive walks by Garcia, Black, Matos and Adams for an 8-3 lead. The Sounds offense blew the game out of proportion with Baddoo ripping a bases-clearing double down the first base line, his, extending the large lead to eight runs. Quero followed with a two-run homer to left field, his eighth of the season, for the 13-3 lead.
Nashville added four more insurance runs in the top of the ninth inning as a Matos single, an Adams double and hit by pitch at Quero, loaded the bases. Eddys Leonard ripped the Sounds second bases-clearing double of the game, scoring Matos, Adams and Quero for the 13-run lead. Wilken added the cherry on top with an RBI-single into left field and drove home Leonard for the 17-3 lead, the most runs the team has scored this season. Jared Koenig and JB Bukauskas each tossed a scoreless inning in the eighth and the ninth to hold on to a 17-3 Sounds win.
The Sounds and Redbirds conclude the first half of the season on Sunday with first pitch scheduled for 1:05 p.m. Nashville will look to spoil the Redbirds chances at the first half International League title with a series finale win.
POSTGAME NOTES:
BID-YOU-BADDOO: Akil Baddoo continued his dominant season with the Sounds, knocking in seven RBI, including his second grand slam of the week in the top of the fourth inning against the Redbirds Saturday night. The 7-RBI night marked a new career-high for Baddoo, surpassing his previous career-high of six RBI, which occurred in Wednesday's win over Memphis. The last time a Sounds hitter recorded seven RBI in a single game was when Mario Feliciano (September 4) and Keston Hiura (May 12) did so during the 2022 season. Baddoo's 7-RBI night ranks tied for the second most at the International League this season. The grand slam marked Baddoo's fourth career grand slam in his 11-year career and the second in his minor league career, both with Nashville. The homer was his seventh of the season for the Sounds and the fifth in his last eight games played dating back to the start of the Durham series on June 9 at First Horizon Park. He has posted a .273 AVG (6-for-22), 5 XBH and 14 RBI in six career games against the Redbirds. The Sounds outfielder leads the team in homers (7) and RBI (28) since joining the Sounds on May 15, while hitting a .275 AVG (22-for-80) with 16 runs. Through 17 games in June, Baddoo is tied for first in RBI (25) among full season minor league hitters (Matt Wallner, Triple-A St. Paul and Drew Brutcher, Double-A Corpus Christi).
BLACK-JACK: Tyler Black crushed his second homer of the season with a leadoff blast in the opening frame of the game Saturday night against the Redbirds. The leadoff homer marked the Sounds' fourth of the season with the other three long balls coming from Jett Williams (2) and Akil Baddoo. Black has posted a .213 AVG (27-for-127), 10 XBH and 13 RBI for the Sounds this season, while recording a .256 AVG (225-for-878), 76 XBH and 139 RBI in his four-year stint with Nashville. Black went 3-for-5 on the night, adding a triple in the 17-3 win over the Redbirds. It marked the fourth multi-hit of the season for the outfielder and his first 3-hit game of the season. He has recorded 108 multi-hit games in his six-year minor league career with 24 three-hit games, adding five four-hit games as well. Black has posted a .265 AVG (407-for-1535), 144 XBH and has added 235 RBI in his six-year minor league career. He ranks first in runs (276), in triples (25) and walks (281) among full season minor league hitters in the Brewers farm system since the 2021 season.
PARDON THE HARDIN: Tyson Hardin tossed his fourth career Triple-A quality start for the Sounds, fifth overall this season, earning his third win for the Sounds in Saturday night's blowout victory over the Redbirds. He allowed three runs on six hits and struck out five Redbirds in 6.2 innings of work. The four quality starts lead all Sounds pitchers this season, two ahead of Garrett Stallings. Hardin also ranks T-3rd in quality starts (11) among minor league pitchers in the Brewers farm system since 2024. He earned his third Triple-A win, which ranks T-3rd for the most wins on the team. He continues to lead the farm system in strikeouts (84), games started (14) and innings pitched (69.1).
A NIGHT TO REMEMBER: The Nashville Sounds crushed the Redbirds with a 17-3 win Saturday night. The 17 runs marks as a new season-long for the team, surpassing the 16 runs Nashville put together against Durham on June 11 at First Horizon Park. Nashville moves to 33-0 when leading after the eighth inning. The team put together 17 hits, which also marked a new season high. The 17 runs mark the sixth time the Sounds have produced 10+ runs in a game this season and the second time the team scored 10 or more runs against Memphis this week. The last time the Sounds scored 17 runs in a game was back on July 21, 2023, against the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp at First Horizon Park. It marked the ninth time Nashville has scored 17 or more runs in a single game since 2005.