NASHVILLE - The Nashville Sounds secured the 6-3 win over the Charlotte Knights Wednesday night at Truist Field to even the series. A four-run seventh inning led the way to the victory as Eddys Leonard's team-leading 11th homer highlighted the frame.
The Knights jumped ahead for the second straight night with a 1-0 lead off starter Tyson Hardin as White Sox Major League Rehabber Munetaka Murakami tallied his first career minor league RBI. An RBI-double by Murakami plated Rikuu Nishida, who led off the bottom of the first with a base hit. In the top of the second inning, the Sounds answered back as Luke Adams led off the frame with a walk. Two at-bats later, Brock Wilken hit a single in to left field and put runners at the corners. After Darrien Miller walked to load the bases, Ethan Murray drew the third walk of the second and scored Adams for the 1-1 tie. Eduardo Garcia then tallied his third RBI of the season for the Sounds and gave Nashville its first lead of the series.
Hardin ended his night tossing consecutive 1-2-3 innings in the second and third before Reiss Knehr took over responsibilities in the bottom of the fourth. Knehr worked around a one-out walk and a one-out single to get out of the inning and retired the side in order in the bottom off the fifth, adding two strikeouts. Charlotte tied the game at 2-2 in the bottom of the sixth as Nishida tallied another multi-hit game against the Sounds and Edgar Quero knocked in an RBI-single off Mark Manfredi.
Nashville took a four-run lead in the top of the seventh inning beginning with the 11th home run of the season for Leonard. The offense did not stop with its large threat, with Tyler Black hitting a base hit into right field and extending his on-base streak to 18 games. Three straight walks by Adams, Jeferson Quero and Wilken were issued by the Charlotte bullpen which loaded the bases and scored Black. Miller and Murray got in on the action and lined back-to-back RBI-singles into center field as the lead grew 6-2. Kaleb Bowman relieved Manfredi in the bottom of the eighth inning and allowed an RBI-single off two hits and a 6-3 lead still in favor of the Sounds.
Junior Fernandez entered the game for Bowman in the ninth inning to close things out and worked around leadoff single. Fernandez struck out Riley Unroe to secure the first out. After Nishida grounded into a force out, Murakami grounded into the final out of the game as Nashville evened the series while Fernandez earned his third save of the season for the Sounds.
The Sounds continue the six-game series against the Knights on Thursday, July 9. First pitch is scheduled for 6:04 p.m. and RHP Lyon Richardson will get the start for Nashville.
POSTGAME NOTES:
NARD DOG: Eddys Leonard pulverized his 11th homer of the season for the Sounds on a go-ahead solo shot to left center field to start the top of the seventh inning. The 11 homers marks as a team-best, breaking a three-way tie with Luke Adams and Jeferson Quero. It was his ninth solo homer of the season, the 10th off right-handers, and his ninth on the road. The homer marked his third against the Charlotte Knights since he made his first career Triple-A appearance during the 2023 season with Toledo. Leonard ranks sixth in SLG (.504), seventh in AVG (.294), tied for seventh in HR (11) and tied for eighth in XBH (26) among full season minor league hitters in the Brewers' farm system this season.
BLACK ON TRACK: Tyler Black extended his on-base streak to 18 consecutive games in Wednesday night's win over the Knights, going 1-for-4 with a walk. The 18 consecutive games continues to be the longest-active on-base streak on the team and ties for the fourth-longest on the team this season. Black has posted a .267 batting average (16-for-60), added 7 XBH, 14 RBI and 17 R when the streak started on June 13. The 18 consecutive games ties for the longest on-base streak he has recorded with the Sounds since 2023. Black has posted a .281 career batting average (38-for-135), added 15 XBH and 19 RBI against the Charlotte Knights in 39 games.
MILLER LIGHT: Darrien Miller earned his first career Triple-A multi-hit game Wednesday night, going 2-for-3 with an RBI and a walk. It marked his first multi-hit game since June 23 with Double-A Biloxi when he went 3-for-4 with a double and an RBI. Miller has recorded 71 multi-hit games, including 13 three-hit games and has a career-high of four hits in a single game on May 13 during the 2022 season with High-A Wisconsin. He added his second career Triple-A RBI and owns a career a .221 batting average (342-for-1548), 120 XBH and 214 RBI in his regular season minor league career since 2019.