NASHVILLE – The Nashville Sounds walked off the Louisville Bats in a thrilling 3-2 victory Tuesday night at First Horizon Park. Tyler Black's two-run walk-off double was the sixth walk-off win for the Sounds this season, while Jared Koenig earned his third win of the year.
The Sounds and the Bats remained scoreless through five innings, with all six hits coming from the Louisville side. Thomas Pannone allowed 5-of-the-6 hits and struck out five hitters through four scoreless innings of work. Lyon Richardson entered the game in the top of the fifth and worked around a one-out base hit to keep the game tied at zero. Louisville's Chase Solesky worked four perfect innings with a strikeout.
Kevin Abel came into the bottom of the fifth and shut down the Sounds in his first inning of work. He came out for the bottom of the sixth and issued a two-out walk to Eduardo Garcia, ending the Bats' perfect game bid. After Garcia stole second, Brandon Lockridge ripped the team's first hit of the game down the right field line and scored Garcia for the 1-0 Sounds lead. Richardson ended his night tossing two scoreless innings, allowing a hit and striking out two hitters as Brett Wichrowski took the reins in the top of the seventh. Wichrowski faced just three batters and allowed a leadoff single and hit a batter before the turning the ball over to Gerson Garabito after recording one out during his appearance**.** Garabito retired the final two hitters on a fly out and strikeout to end the frame, stranding two.
After Nashville was shut down in 1-2-3 fashion for the sixth time, Louisville took its first lead of the game in the top of the eighth as a leadoff single by Noelvi Marte got the inning started. Two at-bats later, Leo Balcazar crushed a two-run homer to left field and gave the Bats a one-run lead. Garabito ended his night allowing two runs on two hits with a strikeout. Koenig tossed a scoreless ninth and gave the Sounds one last opportunity in the bottom half of the frame.
In the bottom of the ninth, Brock Wilken ripped a leadoff base hit to right center field to get a rally started. Blake Burke drew a walk to serve as the potential winning run and was pinch ran for as Jacob Hurtubise took over on first base. Jeferson Quero grounded out and advanced Wilken and Hurtubise into scoring position. Black became the hero in the series opener as he crushed a two-run walk-off double into right center field and gave the Sounds the 3-2 win.
The Sounds continue this week's series against the Louisville Bats (Triple-A, Cincinnati Reds) on Wednesday, September 2 as RHP Coleman Crow (8-1, 3.48 ERA) will take the mound for Nashville. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 pm.
POSTGAME NOTES:
WALK IT OFF: Tyler Black delivered the sixth walk-off win of the season for Nashville with his two-out, two-RBI double in the bottom of the ninth inning. It was the third career walk-off hit for Black and his first since 2022. Black delivered his first two career walk-offs over an 11-game span with the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers. His first was a 2-RBI single in the bottom of the seventh inning in game two of a doubleheader against Peoria on April 10 to give the T-Rats a 3-2 win. He then walked off Quad Cities for a 6-5 win with an RBI single in the bottom of the ninth on April 22. Black went 473 career games between walk-offs. All six of Nashville's walk-offs this season have come from a different player. The last was an RBI single for Akil Baddoo on August 11 vs. Indianapolis.
STILL STREAKING: Ethan Murray extended his on-base streak to 16 straight games, drawing a walk on Tuesday night. The 16-game on-base streak is now one shy of tying his career-best, a mark he set in 2021 with Low-A Carolina during his first professional season. Murray's 16-game streak is tied for the 16th-longest active on-base streak in the International League and tied for the ninth-longest on-base streak for a Nashville player this year.
A WIN BY THE NUMBERS: Tuesday's series opening win was number 2,510 of Rick Sweet's managerial career. With 17 games remaining in the 2026 season, Sweet sits 20 wins shy of tying Stan Wasiak for the most wins by a manager in Minor League Baseball History. The Sounds improved to 13-11 in series openers, and 41-22 at First Horizon Park this year. Nashville's 41 home wins are tied for the most in the minors this year along with Low-A Hickory (TEX) and Rancho Cucamonga (LAA), and Triple-A Rochester (WSH). Tuesday was just the fourth win of the season for the Sounds when trailing after the eighth inning, improving to 4-48 on the year and was just the 10th win of the season when being held to three or fewer runs. The Sounds were held to fewer than five hits for the 33rd time this season (16 at home).