DURHAM, NC. — The Nashville Sounds held off the Durham Bulls late-inning rally for a 6-5 win Friday night at Durham Bulls Athletic Park. The Sounds four-run spark in the top of the third inning was highlighted by Jeferson Quero's two-run single .
The Sounds were blanked over the first two innings on Friday night, extending their scoreless drought to seven straight innings including Thursday's five-inning shutout loss. Nashville ended that and hopped out to a 4-0 lead in the top of the third inning. Greg Jones led off the inning with an infield base hit. Akil Baddoo and Cooper Pratt followed with back-to-back walks to load the bases ahead of Luis Lara, who grounded into a force out but still scored Jones for the first run of the game. A wild pitch by Durham's Brody Hopkins scored Baddoo from third while Lara stole his 18th bag of the season. After Brock Wilken drew his second walk of the night, Quero crushed a two-run single off the left field wall and scored Lara and Wilken for the 4-0 lead. The Bulls tacked on a run with a solo shot from Tony Santa Maria and cut the Nashville lead to 4-1 through four innings.
In the top of the fifth inning, Nashville extended its lead back to four runs with Wilken ripping an RBI-double to left field, his 10th double and 28th RBI of the season, and scored Lara after he drew a leadoff walk. Two at-bats later, Luis Matos hit a bloop single just over the second basemen and scored Wilken for the largest Sounds lead of the night 6-1. The Bulls cut into Nashville's lead again in the bottom of the fifth with three singles and a hit by pitch to make it 6-3. Starting pitcher Coleman Crow was charged with three runs in the game, allowing two runs in the fifth. Reiss Knehr replaced Crow and inherited two runners allowing one to score and but ultimately stranded two to get out of the inning.
The Bulls continued to cut into the Sounds lead with two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning, including an effective triple to right center off Garrett Stallings. In the bottom of the eighth with Stallings still on the mound, Durham threatened by loading the bases off of two singles and a hit by pitch. Nashville's defense stepped up as a forceout at home and a popout, both to Pratt, shut down the bases-loaded threat heading into the ninth. Junior Fernández took the reins in the bottom of the ninth inning and earned his first save of the season, tossing a 1-2-3 ninth for a 6-5 Sounds win.
The Sounds continue their road series against the Durham Bulls on Saturday, May 23. First pitch is scheduled for 5:45 p.m. CT
POSTGAME NOTES:
BOUNCE BACK: The Sounds improved to 12-8 in games following a loss with their 6-5 win on Friday night. Nashville's 3.41 ERA in bounce back games is tied for the best in the International League with Omaha. The win on Friday night also secured Nashville at worst a series split this week in Durham, ensuring that the last series loss for Nashville was dropping 4-of-7 to Charlotte April 21-26 on the road. The team was 0-for-4 in one-run games on the road entering the start of the series but have now won two such games this week after also winning the series opener 6-5 on Tuesday.
BROCK MARKET: Brewers no. 20-rated prospect Brock Wilken reached double digit doubles on the season with an RBI two-bagger in the top of the fifth inning on Friday night. Wilken's 10 doubles are second-most on the team behind Eddys Leonard (12) and tied for the third-most in the Brewers farm system behind Leonard and Damon Keith (Biloxi). Wilken continues to put barrel to ball, having 14 of his 27 hits (52%) go for extra bases.
MAH TOES: Luis Matos extended his hitting streak to five straight games dating back to May 7 and owns a seven-game on-base streak, having reached base in every game he has played in with Nashville since joining the team on April 29. Matos has a hit in 6-of-7 of the games and hitting .381 (8-for-21) with a home run, double, three RBI, four walks, and three runs scored. Matos was activated from the injured list on Thursday after missing 10 games since going on the Injured List on May 9.
SEE IT TO BULLIEVE IT: Brewers no. 7-rated prospect Jeferson Quero continued to give the Bulls problems at the plate after finishing Friday night with his 10th multi-hit game of the season. Quero went 2-for-4 with two RBI for his eighth multi-RBI performance as well. Quero ranks second on the team with his 29 RBI through 40 games this season. For his career against Durham, Quero is hitting .340 (16-for-53) with four home runs, three doubles, a triple, and 16 RBI in 12 games played. All 12 games have come at Durham Bulls Athletic Park.