NASHVILLE - After being held scoreless through six innings, Nashville made a late push with the game's final three runs and had the tying run at the plate in the bottom of the ninth in a 5-3 loss to Gwinnett on Wednesday night. A combined pitching effort kept the Stripers off the scoreboard for the final five-plus innings to give the Sounds a chance at the late rally. Brewers no. 7-rated prospect Jeferson Quero recorded two of the five hits for the Nashville including his sixth home run of the season.
Right-hander Quinn Priester's fifth rehab start with Nashville ended in the top of the first after 38 pitches, two hits, three runs, three walks, and a strikeout. Kaleb Bowman earned the final out of the opening half inning to strand two runners and send Nashville to their first at-bats in a three-run hole. Bowman worked around a one-out walk in the top of the second to strand another and picked off DaShawn Keirsey Jr. to end the top of the third after reaching via the second Sounds error of the night.
Quero chopped a single through the left side of the Stripers infield in the top of the second and Eddys Leonard drew a walk in the third as the only two Nashville hitters to reach base the first time through the order against Owen Murphy. JB Bukauskas relieved Bowman in the top of the fourth and issued three straight free passes to begin his outing as Gwinnett drew their seventh walk of the game. Bukauskas picked up a strikeout before inducing a pop out for two quick outs with the bases still loaded. Brett Wisley hit a one-hop comebacker off Bukauskas that brought home the fourth Gwinnett run and an end to his night with Junior Fernandez taking over on the mound after Bukauskas exited the field with the trainer. The Stripers added to their lead on a balk before Fernandez got the final out of the inning to strand two and keep it a 5-0 deficit despite just three Gwinnett hits.
Murphy worked his second 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the fourth to keep the Sounds bats at bay while Fernandez made quick work of Gwinnett in the top of the fifth with a pair of strikeouts and a ground out. Will Childers became the fourth Nashville reliever used when he took over in the top of the sixth and tossed the second straight clean half inning for the Sounds in his only inning of work. Blake Holub pitched the seventh and extended it to 10 straight Gwinnett batters retired after allowing the fifth run of the night in the fourth inning.
Akil Baddoo laced a single in the bottom of the seventh to end a run of 13 straight Sounds batters retired for Murphy and 21 combined batters between the two teams. Quero added his second hit and got the Sounds on the scoreboard with a two-run home run to left field and chased the Braves no. 5-rated prospect out of the game after 6.2 IP with three hits and two runs allowed with eight strikeouts. Holub was back to the mound and saw the run of 12 straight Gwinnett batters retired end with a Jose Azocar two-out double into right-center field. The right-hander ended the inning with a line out hauled in by Luis Lara in right field.
Nashville drew a leadoff walk in the bottom of the eighth, but a double play and ground out sent Jacob Waguespack to the mound in the top of the ninth trying to keep it a three-run deficit. He did just that with a pair of strikeouts to work around a one-out walk and send the Sounds to the plate in the bottom of the ninth chasing three runs and the top of the order due up.
Brewers no. 4-rated prospect Cooper Pratt extended his on-base streak to 17 straight games with a one-out single and Lara poked a ground rule double into the left field corner to send Baddoo to the plate as the tying run. He scored Pratt with a sacrifice fly to right to make it 5-3 and put Quero in the batter's box. The Brewers no. 7-rated prospect went down swinging as Gwinnett hung on to even the series.
The Sounds and Stripers will continue the series on Thursday night with Brewers. No. 17-rated prospect Tyson Hardin (1-0, 1.42 ERA) set to make his third Triple-A start. First pitch from First Horizon Park is set for 6:35 p.m. CT.
POSTGAME NOTES:
YO QUERO: Jeferson Quero clubbed his sixth homer of the season with a two-run home run to left field, cutting into the Stripers lead 5-2 in the bottom of the seventh inning. That homer marked his third two-run blast of the year, his fifth on right-handed pitchers and his third at First Horizon Park this season. Quero has posted a hit in seven-of-his-last-10 games and his first homer since May 14 against the Iowa Cubs. He recorded his 11th multi-hit game of the season which is fifth on the team. The multi-RBI game marked his ninth of the year, which ties for the second-best on the team behind Eddys Leonard (10). Quero's 32 RBI are the fifth-best amongst qualified Brewers minor league players this season and second on Nashville's roster behind Leonard (33).
PRATT ATTACK: Cooper Pratt extended his on-base streak to 17 consecutive games in Wednesday night's loss against the Stripers, finishing the night 1-for-4 with a run. Pratt has recorded at least a hit in 10-of-his-last-14 games, posting a .304 batting average, 7 XBH and 16 RBI. The 17 consecutive games are currently leading the team with the longest-active on-base streak and ties for the third-longest overall on the team with Greg Jones. Pratt has posted a .269 batting average (18-for-67), three doubles, four homers and 17 RBI during his streak. He is currently tied for the eighth-longest active streak in the International League and tied for 14th at the Triple-A level.
BIG JUNIOR: Junior Fernández extended his streak without an earned run to six consecutive games in Wednesday night's game against the Stripers, tossing 1.1 innings of work and adding two strikeouts. The six consecutive games are tied for the fifth-highest active streak on the team with Drew Rom. He has posted 6.0 scoreless innings, allowed four hits and struck out four batters since May 12 when the streak began. Fernández's streak without an earned run sits at a career-high in the minor league levels at 10 consecutive games with Triple-A Memphis in 2019 (1-0, 13.0 IP, 5 H, 13 K, 6 BB). He also tied his career-high 10 consecutive games with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2022 (13.0 IP, 9 H, 9 K, 5 BB).
THE GREATEST BOWMAN: Kaleb Bowman extended his scoreless streak to three consecutive games in Wednesday night's game against the Stripers, finishing his night tossing 2.1 scoreless innings and issuing a walk. He has posted 6.1 scoreless innings, while allowing three hits and eight strikeouts in the span. Bowman's career-high remains at 13 consecutive games without allowing an earned run last season with Double-A Biloxi to go along with allowing nine hits and striking out 11 batters in 16.1 innings of work.