NASHVILLE - The Sounds earned the Fourth of July sweep of the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp on Saturday night at First Horizon Park. Nashville used a comeback to earn their fourth walk-off win of the season and first since May 17 in game one. They continued that momentum to lead from start to finish in the night cap, taking control of the series heading into the finale on Sunday afternoon after holding off a late Jacksonville rally in game two.
GAME 1 - Nashville, 4 | Jacksonville, 3 (F/7)
Brewers no. 7-rated prospect Logan Henderson made his second rehab start with Nashville in game one of the twin bill Saturday night. The Jumbo Shrimp strung together a mini two-out rally in the first to build a 2-0 lead with three straight reaching off the Nashville right-hander including an RBI double for Agustin Ramirez. The Sounds answered with a run of their own in the first. Jett Williams led off the game with a triple and scored on an RBI single for Tyler Black. Henderson worked back-to-back 1-2-3 innings while Williams collected his second hit of the game with the second straight two-out single for Nashville in the bottom of the second off former Sounds pitcher Janson Junk.
Henderson's outing came to a close after retiring the first batter he faced in the top of the fourth inning and 68 pitches with Kaleb Bowman taking over in relief. Jacksonville tacked on another run with a solo homer off the bat of Andrew Pintar to push the lead back to two runs. Like they did in the first, the Sounds answered with a run in the bottom of the frame, this time off left-hander Patrick Monteverde. Andrick Nava swatted a two-out solo blast for his second home run in his last three games and his second Triple-A multi-hit performance.
JB Bukauskas inherited a bases-loaded situation in the top of the fifth after Bowman surrendered a two-out single ahead of back-to-back walks. He fell behind in the count 3-0 but battled back to induce a fly out to end the threat and keep it at a one-run game. Luke Adams added his second hit of the game with a double in the fifth and Luis Matos started the home half of the sixth with a single before advancing into scoring position on a wild pitch for Jake Walkinshaw. The next three went down in order as Matos was stranded on second as the potential tying run entering the top of the seventh. Junior Fernandez was back out for his second inning of work on the mound for Nashville and retired the side in order to send the Nashville bats to work in the bottom of the seventh.
Black reached for the second time with a one-out walk and put himself into scoring position with a stolen base before Adams followed him aboard after getting hit by Jacksonville reliever Zach Pop. Jeferson Quero loaded the bases with an infield single and the Sounds put speed on second base as the potential winning run as Eduardo Garcia entered the game as a pinch runner. It wasn't needed as Matos drove a ball over the leftfielder's head for the two-out, walk-off two-RBI hit to give Nashville the game one win.
GAME 2 - Nashville, 5 | Jacksonville, 4 (F/7)
Nashville struck first for the first time this series in game two. Like he did in game one, Black collected a first-inning RBI with his eighth double of the season to score Greg Jones who walked and put himself on second with a swiped bag. Black was left stranded at the end of the frame and the Sounds left two more aboard in the second after the second walk of the game for Karson Milbrandt and a two-out base hit for Garcia in his first plate attempt of the night after scoring the winning run in game one.
Fellow big league rehabber Coleman Crow made his first appearance since June 9 in a start with the Brewers as he began his rehab assignment on Saturday night with the Sounds. The Brewers no. 24-rated prospect worked around a leadoff double and two out walk to work a scoreless first inning and retired the side in order in the second. He saw the leadoff batter of an inning reach for the second time through three with a walk to start the third before sitting down each of the next three in order. Jones started the bottom of the third with a single and added another stolen base. Quero cashed in with the runner in scoring position with a RBI single. Nashville chased Milbrandt after 2.1 IP and six hits and leaving two runners on base for Amos Willingham to deal with and just one out. In total, the Sounds sent all nine to the plate in the inning and built a 5-0 lead with a four-run frame.
Crow's night came to an end after three scoreless innings with Blake Holub taking over pitching duties in the top of the fourth. He surrendered a pair of hits but worked the fourth consecutive scoreless inning of the game and seventh overall dating back to the fourth inning in the matinee. Will Childers kept the streak alive in his first appearance since June 24 as he stranded Matt Etzel who added his second double of the game.
The Jumbo Shrimp found themselves down just two after Deyvison De Los Santos' three-run home run off Easton McGee on the third straight hit McGee allowed to start the top of the sixth. The right-hander retired consecutive batters but followed it with a walk and hit by pitch to keep the inning alive. He struck out his second of the inning to end the threat and maintain the two-run advantage for the Sounds.
After a quiet bottom of the sixth that saw Jones reach for a third time and steal his third base, Reiss Knehr was tasked with closing the door on Jacksonville in the top of the seventh. The Sounds' right-hander saw each of the first three reach via singles, drawing the Jumbo Shrimp within one. He earned his first out of the inning with a fly ball to deep center field that saw both Jumbo Shrimp runners move into scoring position and put the potential go-ahead run on second. He was able to retire three in a row overall with a infield pop up and ground ball that secured the doubleheader sweep for the Sounds and a series lead heading into the finale on Sunday.
POSTGAME NOTES:
NAVA A DOUBT: Andrick Nava clubbed his second career homer at First Horizon Park Saturday night on a solo moon shot to left field, cutting the Jumbo Shrimp lead to one in the bottom of the fourth inning. He finished game one of the doubleheader going 2-for-3, recording his second multi-hit for the Sounds as well. The solo shot marks his first of the season and the first off of a left-hander. The switch hitter has posted a .326 AVG (14-for-43), added six XBH and 10 RBI since May 16 for High-A Wisconsin and Nashville. The 24-year-old has a single-season career-high of four homers in the Florida State League with Single-A Clearwater.
STACK ON BLACK: Tyler Black extended his on-base streak to 16 consecutive games in Saturday night's doubleheader against the Jumbo Shrimp, going 1-for-3 with an RBI and a walk in game one and went 1-for-2 with a double and two walks in game two. In the 16-game on-base streak, Black is hitting a .259 AVG (14-for-54), adding 7 XBH and 14 RBI. The 16 consecutive games surpassed last season's high when he got on base in 14 consecutive games from July 3-30 and recorded a .268 AVG (15-for-56), 4 XBH and 14 RBI. Black has recorded 12 RBI in the two-week homestand with nine RBI coming against the Gwinnett Stripers on June 23 (5 RBI) and June 28 (4 RBI). The 12 RBI is the most on the team since the start of the two-week homestand on June 23. The 25-year-old got on base in 18 straight games for the Sounds during the 2023 season which sits as the most games he has reached base for Nashville. Black's career-high of reaching on-base in consecutive games sits at 35 straight games back in 2023 with Double-A Biloxi.
INDEPENDENCE WALK-OFF: The Nashville Sounds walked off the Jumbo Shrimp in game one of the doubleheader Saturday night with a 4-3 victory off a Luis Matos two-run two-out walk off double that shot over the left fielder as two runs came in to score. The win marked the Sounds' fourth walk-off win of the season and the first since May 17 vs. Iowa. This is the third Sounds' walk-off win against the Jumbo Shrimp since they faced each other for the first time in franchise history during the 2021 season. Nashville tallied its 75th walk-off win at First Horizon Park since 2015 and the 137th walk-off win since 2005. The Sounds are tied for second in the International League and tied for third at the Triple-A level in walk-off wins (44) since 2021.
LU-THREES MAT-DOS: Luis Matos recorded three RBI on the night in Saturday night's doubleheader as he finished game one going 2-for-4 with a two-run walk-off double to give the Sounds a 4-3 win in game one. He went 0-for-2 with an RBI in game two. Before going hitless in game two, Matos extended his hit streak and on-base streak to three consecutive games. He also added his seventh multi-hit and sixth multi-RBI game for the Sounds this season. He has posted five RBI in his last six games. Matos has a .288 AVG (558-for-1939), 203 XBH and 323 RBI in his eight-year minor league regular season career.
YO QUERO: Jeferson Quero tallied his 48th RBI of the season for the Sounds with an RBI-single in the bottom of the third to left field in game two of Saturday night's doubleheader and scored Greg Jones from third base, extending the Sounds lead to 2-0 before adding three more runs by the offense. Quero finished the night going 1-for-3 in both games of the doubleheader and extended his current hit streak to two. Quero leads the team in RBI (48) and ranks seventh among Milwaukee Brewers' minor league hitters. The no. 9-rated prospect has posted a .333 AVG (11-for-33), four XBH and six RBI during the two-week homestand, including a season-high four-hit night against Gwinnett on June 23.
TWIN-SWEEP: The Nashville Sounds completed the doubleheader sweep against the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp Saturday night at First Horizon Park. The Sounds stole the first game of the twin bill with a 4-3 walk-off win by Luis Matos two-run walk-off double, while the offense put up four runs in the bottom of the third inning, pulling away to get the doubleheader sweep. It marked the Sounds' fourth doubleheader of the season and the second doubleheader sweep as they took two from Louisville on May 7.