NASHVILLE - The Nashville Sounds claimed the series with a 4-3 walk-off win over the Iowa Cubs on Friday night at First Horizon Park. Ethan Murray hit his first career walk-off win and earned his first career win as a pitcher in the process.
Iowa took a 2-0 lead to open the game in the first two innings on a sacrifice fly and an RBI-single from Eric Yang which were allowed by starter Tate Kuehner. The southpaw's night was done early in the top of the second inning, allowing two runs on two hits and added a strikeout in 1.2 innings of work as Easton McGee replaced Kuehner with two outs in the frame. McGee ended his night tossing 18 pitches, 11 for strikes in 1.1 innings of work with Drew Rom taking the reins in the top of the fourth inning. Rom tossed two scoreless innings, issued two walks and struck out two I-Cubs batters in the process.
Blake Holub made his second relief appearance this week against the I-Cubs in the top of the sixth inning and stranded a runner after allowing a single into center field. Nashville began the theatrics in the bottom of the sixth inning and started the mount the comeback. Cooper Pratt clubbed the third Triple-A homer of his career with a solo shot to left field and cut the I-Cubs lead to 2-1 heading into the final three innings of the game. Holub wrapped up his night tossing two scoreless innings and finished with three strikeouts, including two in the top of the seventh.
The Sounds threatened with runners in scoring position in the home half as Murray drew a two-out walk ahead of Jeferson Quero, who punched a base hit into right field and advanced Murray to third base, the first time all night Nashville had a runner in scoring position. After Quero stole his third bag of the season, Iowa shut down the threat with a strikeout of Freddy Zamora to head into the eighth. Craig Yoho replaced Holub and began his outing with a 1-2-3 inning.
Nashville tied the game in the bottom of the eighth for the second straight as Jacob Hurtubise, who replaced major league rehabber Akil Baddoo in the sixth, hit a soft single into left field. Pratt earned his second consecutive multi-hit gam with a RBI double into left center and scored Hurtubise to tie the game 2-2. Yoho returned to the mound in the ninth and stranded yet another runner in scoring position to keep things all square. The game headed to extras as Nashville came up empty with three strikeouts in the bottom of the ninth.
The I-Cubs regained the lead in the top of the 10th inning with Kevin Alcantara scoring on a Jonathon Long base hit into left field and giving Iowa the 3-2 advantage. Right-hander Junior Fernandez faced just one batter in relief of Yoho and worked a double play ball to prevent any further damage. Zamora answered with a RBI-single of his own, scoring Jordyn Adam to keep Nashville alive.
Murray made his first career appearance on the mound in the top of the 11th inning and despite issuing a walk, stranded two runners in scoring position with the help of Luis Lara's diving catch in center field.
After Eddys Leonard was intentionally walked with one out, Murray ripped an RBI-single into right center and scored Brock Wilken from second base for the 4-3 walk-off win.
POSTGAME NOTES:
ONLY IN MILB: Infielder Ethan Murray earned a handful of firsts on Friday night. He delivered the first walk-off hit of his professional career with a single in the bottom of the 11th inning to score Brock Wilken and give Nashville their second walk-off win of the season. On any other night, that would be the story in itself. However, Friday night was not just any other night. Murray came to the plate in the bottom of the 11th after having just pitched a scoreless top of the 11th after playing the first 10 innings of the game at third base. He is the first Nashville position player to appear in a game since Nick Kahle tossed 1.0 IP on the road in Durham last August. It also just so happened to be the first pitching appearance of his minor league career, and he tossed a clean sheet in his mound debut, working around a leadoff walk to strand a runner in scoring position. His first career walk-off hit made him the pitcher of record, and his bat earned himself the first win of his professional career.
LIKE THIS OR LIKE PRATT: Cooper Pratt swatted his third home run of the season and second in his last week with a solo shot in the sixth inning Friday night against Iowa. Baseball America's no. 49 overall prospect in their newly updated Top 100 rankings is hitting .300 (9-for-30) with two home runs, three doubles, and has eight RBI over his last seven games since May 8th. After sitting at a season-low .156 AVG (10-for-64) with a double and three RBI through April 23 and his first 16 games of the season, Pratt has heated up. He is since hitting .286 (20-for-70) with nine extra-base hits (4 2B, 2 3B, 3 HR) and 14 RBI over his last 19 games. Friday night was his ninth multi-hit game of the season and his seventh in his last 19 games.
HEY GIRL: Another day, another appearance without allowing an earned run for Brewers no. 28-rated prospect Craig Yoho. The right-hander worked his seventh consecutive appearance and ninth overall in 10 games with a little help from Junior Fernandez, who cleaned erased both hits allowed by Yoho in the top of the 10th inning with an inning-ending double play. Since making his professional debut in 2023, Yoho owns the best ERA in the minor leagues for any pitcher with 100+ appearances. The next closest is Zach Agnos, who posted a 1.77 ERA in 102 MiLB games in the same time frame. You would have to lower the number of appearances to 27+ to find a pitcher with a lower ERA than Yoho. Brock Stewart, who is currently in the Dodgers organization, owns a 1.03 ERA over his last 27 appearances in the minor leaguers since the start of 2023. The 2.1 IP worked by Yoho were the second-most in his 104 career minor league games and helped to set a new single-game high in Triple-A. He set his career-high with 3.0 IP on May 7, 2024, with High-A Wisconsin. Friday night was the 60th time in 67 career games with Nashville that he did not allow an earned run.
COULD HAVE BEEN FOREVER: Brock Wilken and Tyler Black each saw their respective streaks come to an end Friday night. Wilken snapped his league-best 30-game on-base streak after going 0-for-5 with a strikeout. He did cross the plate though as the game-winning run on Ethan Murray's walk-off RBI single after beginning the bottom of the 11th on second base. The 30-game on-base streak was the longest of his career so far, and the seventh-longest on-base streak for a Nashville player since 2005. Tyler Black pinch-hit for Jacob Hurtubise in the bottom of the 10th and grounded out to end his 11-game hitting streak. It was the second-longest hitting streak of his professional career.
GIVE ME THEM DIGITS: The Sounds earned their first extra-innings win of the season, the first win of the year when tied/trailing after the eighth inning, the second walk-off win, 16th home win, third series win, and earned the fifth straight win to match the longest winning streak of the season so far. Nashville's last extra-innings before Friday night came on September 7, 2025, at Norfolk. After tying the game at 2-2 in the bottom of the eighth on Cooper Pratt's second RBI of the night, the team is now 1-17 on the season when either tied or trailing after the eighth inning. Ethan Murray joins Jett Williams as walk-off heroes for Nashville this season. Nashville owns the series win over Iowa after capturing their fifth straight win overall including each of the first four games this homestand. The five straight wins are tied for the most consecutive wins this season after also doing so April 14-18 vs. Worcester. Nashville's 16 wins at home are tied for the most in the minor leagues this season with Double-A Richmond (16-2), High-A Bowling Green (16-5), and Low-A Eugene (16-5).