Scrappy Offense Drives Sounds to Series Split With Stripers

Lawrenceville, Ga. – The Nashville Sounds (56-51, 18-14) retook the lead in the sixth inning and the bullpen closed it out over the Gwinnett Stripers (51-57, 16-17) for a 6-4 win on Sunday afternoon at Coolray Field.

Tied at two in the sixth inning, Owen Miller scored on a sacrifice fly by Patrick Dorrian to regain and tacked on another run in the seventh inning on a Brewer Hicklen single to go ahead 4-2. Two more crossed the plate on a two-out single by Isaac Collins and subsequent error by the catcher on the throw home to take a 6-3 advantage in the eighth inning. The insurance runs in the latter innings were vital as Gwinnett scored a run in the seventh and ninth innings.

Carlos Rodriguez (6-7) had a superb outing with five innings pitched, two earned runs allowed and six strikeouts. After he walked a batter in the first inning, he retired eight-straight Stripers. His only blemish came in the fourth inning with a Yuri Gurriel double that tied the game up at 2.

The Sounds struck first when Francisco Mejía drove a 0-0 changeup over the right-field bullpen to give the Sounds a 2-0 lead in the second inning. Mejía had two hits, two RBI and two runs scored in today’s game.

Rodriguez was replaced in the top of the sixth inning at 95 pitches with Kevin Herget (H, 5) who allowed an unearned run. Tyler Jay (H, 4) tossed a scoreless seventh inning and Bryan Hudson (H, 1) followed with his own scoreless inning in his Sounds debut on rehab assignment. It was Hudson’s first outing since July 23 at Chicago-NL. Blake Houb (S, 1) allowed one run in the ninth but escaped a jam with a 5-4-3 double play to end the game and split the series.

Nashville has their schedule Monday day off and returns home to First Horizon Park on Tuesday night against Indianapolis. Left-hander DL Hall (0-1, 2.96) will be on the bump in a rehab start for the Sounds. The starter for the Indians is to be announced. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. on Tuesday.

Post-Game Notes

• With the series split, the Sounds now have a 6-5-8 series record this season. Overall, against Gwinnett, Nashville is 4-8 after they dropped five of the six games when the teams met in June. The Sounds and Stripers play one more series back in Nashville starting on September 3.
• Francisco Mejía hit his sixth home run of the season and his first since July 5. In his last two games versus Gwinnett, Mejía was 4-for-8 with two runs scored, a double and a home run.
• Brewer Hicklen (2-for-2, RBI, 2 BB, HBP, 2 SB) reached on all five of his plate appearances. It is the fifth time this season that he has had multiple stolen bases in a game. With 36 on the season, he is now in sole possession of the stolen base lead in the International League.
• Carlos Rodriguez (5.0 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 6 K) was the starter for two of the Nashville wins in the series. Combined between the two starts, he went nine innings with two earned runs and nine strikeouts.

The Nashville Sounds are the Triple-A affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers and play at First Horizon Park. Single-game tickets for the remainder of the 2024 season are on sale now. For more information call 615-690-4487 or e-mail [email protected].