Late Homers Lead Hot Chickens to Eight Inning Win

Clayton Andrews escapes jam in eighth, Nashville takes series over Columbus

July 9, 2023

NASHVILLE – The Nashville Hot Chickens (48-37, 8-3) took the lead with two solo shots in the sixth and held on to take a weather-shortened 7-6 victory over the Columbus Clippers (39-46, 6-5) in seven and a half innings on Sunday afternoon at First Horizon Park. Play was stopped in

NASHVILLE – The Nashville Hot Chickens (48-37, 8-3) took the lead with two solo shots in the sixth and held on to take a weather-shortened 7-6 victory over the Columbus Clippers (39-46, 6-5) in seven and a half innings on Sunday afternoon at First Horizon Park. Play was stopped in the middle of the eighth inning due to wet grounds and did not restart due to unplayable field conditions and incoming weather.

Entering the bottom of the sixth down a run, Skye Bolt lead off the frame with a monster homer to the roof of The Band Box that evened the contest up at 6-6. Cam Devanney then followed with a moon shot of a homer that just stayed fair down the left field line to give the Hot Chickens the lead.

Clayton Andrews (S, 2) miraculously kept Nashville ahead in what turned out to be the final inning. After Columbus got back-to-back hits to start the eighth inning, then had a walk. Andrews responded by striking out Bryan Rocchio and Daniel Schneemann to get out of the bases-loaded jam.

Columbus scored first with a couple of tallies in the first inning off Hot Chickens starter Caleb Boushley. However, four consecutive hits in the second inning put Nashville ahead. Sal Frelick then had the go-ahead double that plated Bolt and Brian Navarreto, making it 3-2. Luis Urías and Josh VanMeter added RBI with sacrifice flies for the next two runs.

After a rough stretch, the Nashville bullpen did their part in the win. On rehab assignment, Justin Wilson (1-0) pitched a scoreless sixth, and Trevor Megill added a quiet seventh inning. Hunter Gaddis (1-6) took the loss, giving up the two runs in relief for Columbus.

Bolt and Devanney contributed multi-knock contests with their homers, respectively. Keston Hiura had a RBI double and walked twice to reach three times in the win.

The Sounds will have the next four days off as part of the All-Star break. They will return to action on Friday, July 14 at Louisville. Right-hander Jason Alexander (1-0, 1.80) will go for Nashville. Left-hander Levi Stoudt (2-3, 5.23) gets the ball for Louisville. First pitch is scheduled for 6:15 p.m. CDT at Louisville Slugger Field.

Post-Game Notes

Nashville is 48-37 before the All-Star break. It is the team’s sixth-best winning percentage going into the break since 2005. It’s also the third-consecutive season the Sounds have a winning record going into the MLB All-Star game.
Justin Wilson tossed another scoreless inning during his rehab assignment with Nashville. In 2.0 IP, he’s given up just one hit with two strikeouts since being added on July 6, recovering from Tommy John surgery.
In seven July games, Skye Bolt is batting .321 (9-for-28) with four runs, four doubles, a triple, a homer and 10 RBI. He has three multi-hit games and five games with RBI this month.

The Nashville Sounds are the Triple-A affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers and play at First Horizon Park. Single-game tickets for the rest of the 2023 season are on sale now. For more information call 615-690-4487 or e-mail [email protected].