Corey Ray's Catch Delivers Fifth Straight Win

Jace Peterson hit a go-ahead two-run home run and Corey Ray made a home run-robbing catch in the top of the seventh inning to lift the Nashville Sounds to a 2-1 win over the Gwinnett Stripers in front of a sellout crowd of 10,716 Saturday night at First Horizon Park.

Trailing 1-0 in the bottom of the second, Jace Peterson followed a Zach Green single with a two-run homer into The Band Box to give the Sounds a 2-1 lead.

The slim margin held up as the pitching and defense did the rest. Zack Godley was sharp in his first start of the year with Nashville. The right-hander worked five innings and limited the Stripers to one run on three hits. He walked one and struck out six in the winning effort.

Four Nashville relievers kept the Stripers off the board the rest of the way. Southpaw Clayton Andrews got it to the seventh in a 2-1 game with a zero in the top of the sixth.

Bobby Wahl, pitching on a Major League rehab assignment for Nashville, started the seventh by facing Jonathan Lucroy who homered in the second. Lucroy hit a 1-0 pitch from Wahl into deep left-center field and nearly onto the berm. The center fielder Ray had other plans and robbed Lucroy of a game-tying home run with a leaping catch at the wall.

Wahl retired the next two hitters in order and Quintin Torres-Costa followed suit with a 1-2-3 top of the eighth. R.J. Alvarez was summoned for the ninth with a one-run lead and worked around a two-out single by Johan Camargo to pick up his first save of the season.

The series finale is scheduled for Sunday afternoon at First Horizon Park. Left-hander Aaron Ashby (0-0, 6.30) starts for Nashville against left-hander Tucker Davidson (2-0, 0.64) for Gwinnett. The first pitch is scheduled for 2:05 p.m.

Post-Game Notes

• Tonight’s crowd of 10,716 was the fourth sellout of the season at First Horizon Park.
• Nashville has won a season-best five straight games and 11 of their last 14.
• R.J. Alvarez earned the save tonight, his first of the season. He is one of four Sounds to record a save in 2021 (Patrick Weigel – 2, Luke Barker – 1, Hoby Milner – 1).
• The Sounds are now 6-1 in one-run games.

The Nashville Sounds are the Triple-A affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers and play at First Horizon Park. Single-game tickets are on sale now for all remaining 2021 home games. For more information call 615-690-4487 or e-mail [email protected].