NASHVILLE - Nashville dropped their second straight game with a 6-4 loss to Durham on Saturday night. The two teams traded runs through seven before the Bulls took a one-run lead into the ninth and added a late insurance run in the final inning to hold off Nashville's comeback bid.
Garrett Stallings racked up a season-high nine strikeouts on the mound for Nashville over 5.0 IP while scattering three runs on five hits and a walk. All nine of the strikeouts for the right-hander were swinging as he tossed 59 strikeouts out of his 85 total pitches. Stallings allowed a solo homer to former Sound Oliver Dunn for the night's first run in the top of the third and saw two more cross in the fifth after allowing a pair of triples to Cooper Kinney and Carson Williams.
Brock Wilken led off the bottom of the third with the first of consecutive singles with Brewers no. 3-rated prospect Jett Williams evening the score at 1-1 with a sacrifice fly. Tyler Black drew the first of his two walks for the game in the bottom of the fifth. Two batters later, Greg Jones connected on his first home run of the season with an opposite field shot over the left field wall to bring Nashville back to even at 3-3. After two quiet innings for both offenses, the Bulls sent eight batters to the plate and scored two runs despite just adding one hit of left-hander Mark Manfredi. Jake Woodford inherited a bases-loaded situation and walked in the second run of the frame to give Durham a two-run cushion.
Williams reached via the third Bulls error to start the home half of the eighth inning. Back-to-back walks issued by Luis Guerrero loaded the bases and Akil Baddoo was able score Williams on a fielder's choice that kept him aboard as the potential go-ahead run before stealing second to get into scoring position along with Luis Lara. A fly out to the right fielder for Jeferson Quero sent the game to the ninth with Nashville down by a run.
Durham played more small ball in the top of the ninth after a leadoff hit by pitch. Back-to-back bunt singles loaded the bases before Woodford was able to record the first out of the inning with his only strikeout. Reiss Knehr inherited a bases-loaded situation of his own and surrendered the second run of the inning on a long sacrifice fly off the bat of Logan Davidson to put Durham back up by two. Black's second walk of the night to lead off the inning was quickly erased as Nashville hit into the second double play of the night in a 1-2-3 final half inning.
Nashville will look to close out the series and earn the win in the finale on Sunday. Brewers no. 16-rated prospect Tyson Hardin (2-1, 1.59 ERA) will get his second start of the series and third overall against Durham. Each of his first two Triple-A wins have come against the Bulls as he makes his sixth Triple-A start. First pitch is scheduled for 1:05 p.m.
POSTGAME NOTES:
G-SHARP: Garrett Stallings tossed yet another efficient outing as he allowed three runs on five hits and punched out a season-high nine in five innings of work. The nine strikeouts marks the fourth time he has posted nine or more strikeouts in his six-year career and fell one shy of tying his career-high in strikeouts (10). He punched out 10 batters twice in his career with the last one coming on September 7, 2023, against the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp when he was with Norfolk. Stallings currently ranks seventh in games started (10) and in innings pitched (52.2) and ties for eighth in strikeouts (50) among full season Milwaukee Brewers minor league pitchers.
FIRST OF MANY: Greg Jones clubbed his first homer of the season for the Sounds with a two-run shot to left field, tying the game up 3-3 in the bottom of the fifth inning and went 2-for-3 with two RBI and a walk. The homer marked his first career blast at First Horizon Park and has posted a .270 AVG (10-for-37), added five XBH and eight RBI in 12 games played in the park. Jones has posted a .309 AVG (25-for-81), six XBH, 12 RBI and ties for third with Cooper Pratt in stolen bases (13) in his first season with the Sounds. The two-hit night marked his eighth total of the season, sixth 2-hit game and the fourth overall multi-RBI game.
BASE MAGNET: Luke Adams extended his on-base streak to 17 consecutive games in Saturday night's game against the Bulls, earning a walk in the bottom of the eighth inning. Adams is hitting .263 (15-for-57) with eight XBH and 16 RBI during the on-base streak. The 17 straight games marks the longest-active on-base streak on the team and ties for the fifth-longest on-base streak overall, with Brock Wilken leading all Sounds hitters with 30.
BAGS TO RICHES: Nashville recorded a new season-high in stolen bases (5) in Saturday's game. Two came from Greg Jones and Akil Baddoo, while the fifth came from Tyler Black. As a team, the Sounds rank fourth at the Triple-A level with 111 stolen bases through 68 games. During the 2025 season, the Sounds recorded a franchise-record 316 stolen bases which was a Triple-A best and had the third-best among full-season minor league teams. Nashville has led the league in stolen bases four different times since 2005, twice when the team was in the Pacific Coast League (2005 - 175, 2006 - 196) and twice in the International League.