NASHVILLE - The Nashville Sounds dropped game two of this weekend's series with a 9-2 loss to the Norfolk Tides Saturday night at First Horizon Park. Tyler Black extended his on-base streak to 23 consecutive games, while extending his hit streak to nine straight.
Newly acquired Colton Gordon made his Sounds debut and worked around back-to-back singles in the opening frame. The 27-year-old began to settle in by adding three strikeouts along the way through the first two frames. In the bottom of the second inning, the Sounds got the early 1-0 lead as Brock Wilken crushed his ninth home run of the season on a solo blast to left field. Norfolk answered right back in the top of the third inning with Gordon issuing a leadoff walk to begin the frame. Two at-bats later, Heston Kjerstad ripped a hard single past Eduardo Garcia, which scored the tying run for the Tides.
Norfolk took their first lead of the game as Ryan Noda ripped his first triple of the season, giving way to a Chadwick Tromp RBI-single into left field for the 2-1 Tides lead. They continued to threaten in the top of the fourth inning with the bases loaded as Jud Fabian lined an RBI-single into left field and extended the Tides lead to two runs. Norfolk's lead grew with back-to-back RBI-singles, and they added another run to make it a 5-1 advantage against Gordon after the top of the fourth.
Gordon ended his Sounds debut allowing five runs (4 ER) on eight hits and struck out five Tides batters along the way before Lyon Richardson entered the game in the top of the sixth inning. He worked two scoreless innings in the sixth and the seventh inning, adding four strikeouts to heading into the bottom half of the frame. After scoring in the second, the Sounds were held off the board in the next five frames of the game, stranding three runners on base.
Carlos Rodriguez came into the top of the eighth inning and got into immediate trouble, allowing four runs to cross on a bases-clearing triple by Michael Siani and a sac fly by Fabian grew the large lead to 9-1 for the Tides. The Sounds found some life again in the bottom of the eighth inning as Jacob Hurtubise lined a double into the left center gap. Luis Matos got in on the action and blooped an RBI-single into center field, scoring Hurtubise, but that was the end of a shortened rally as the game headed into the ninth inning. Nashville had one last opportunity in the bottom of the ninth inning but were shut down after Jeferson Quero's leadoff single.
The Sounds and Tides conclude the three-game series from First Horizon Park on Sunday night with right-hander Coleman Crow getting the start for Nashville. First pitch is scheduled for 6:05 p.m.
POSTGAME NOTES:
BROCKET LAUNCHER: Brewers no. 19-rated prospect Brock Wilken launched his ninth home run of the season and ended an 0-for-14 stretch at the plate since his last hit left the yard with a grand slam July 10 on the road in Charlotte. Wilken leads the club with 51 RBI this season and is in a four-way tie for eighth in the Brewers farm system in RBI. He has tied his single-season career-high in RBI, a mark he set in 2024 in 108 games with Double-A Biloxi and reached 51 RBI this season in just 81 games. Of his nine home runs this season, six have been go-ahead home runs.
NO LIES: Right-hander Lyon Richardson set his Sounds-high with four strikeouts over 2.0 IP in relief of Colton Gordon on Saturday night. The four strikeouts were since striking out five on May 13 against Indianapolis when he was pitching for Triple-A Louisville. It was his eighth appearance without allowing a hit and just the second in which he worked 2+ innings along with retiring all eight he faced on April 15 also with Louisville against Toledo.
BETTER LATE: For the second straight night, Tyler Black had to wait until his last at-bat to extend his on-base and hitting streaks. Black singled in the bottom of the eighth on Saturday night to reach base for the 23rd consecutive game and push his hitting streak to nine games. He is now the only Nashville player this season to have multiple hitting streaks of 9+ games after also recording a team-best 11-game hitting streak earlier this season (3/28-5/14). Since beginning his on-base streak on June 13, Black is hitting .295 (23-for-78) with nine XBH, 16 RBI, 19 BB, and 22 runs scored and has a hit in 18 of his last 23 games. Brewers no. 8-rated prospect Jeferson Quero also extended his already season-long hitting streak to six games with a single in the bottom of the ninth.
HURTS TO BE: Jacob Hurtubise appeared in his first game with Nashville since May 31 and proceeded to record his fourth multi-hit game with the Sounds this season. Hurtubise finished the night 2-for-3 with a double, walk, and run scored. Saturday night was his 27th appearance of the season with Nashville and he had 26 games with Double-A Biloxi where he hit .317 (26-for-82) with four doubles, four triples, and 19 RBI. Saturday night was his first XBH of the season with the Sounds. He hit in the leadoff spot for the first time with Nashville this season and his first time in the starting lineup hitting higher than the 7th spot.