Pitching Costs Hot Chickens Against the Bulls on Saturday Night

NASHVILLE – The Nashville Hot Chickens (37-37) were battered by the Durham Bulls (36-38), 14-4, on Saturday night at First Horizon Park.

The game started with what appeared to be a duel between the starting pitchers. Aaron Ashby (1-5) had three strikeouts through the first two innings and Jacob Lopez retired the Sounds in order in the first three innings.

After the Bulls scored two in the third, the game went off the rails in the fourth inning with eight Bulls crossing the plate. Ashby finished his outing with 3 2/3 innings, four hits, seven earned runs, four walks and five strikeouts. James Meeker replaced him and allowed another seven earned runs in his 1 1/3 inning appearance.

The Sounds mustered just four hits with two of them coming in the ninth inning. They had traffic in the fourth inning when Jacob Lopez loaded the bases on three walks, but Brewer Hicklen struck out to end the frame.

The first hit for Nashville came in the top of the fifth on a triple by Francisco Mejía that was misplayed by the center fielder. He would come around to score on a Yonny Hernández groundout for the first run of the game for the Sounds. Mejía was the lone bright spot on offense with three of the four Nashville hits and two of the four runs scored. His triple was the only extra-base hit for the Sounds.

The back end of the bullpen was excellent with Tyler Woessner (1 1/3 IP), Joel Kuhnel (1 2/3 IP), and Hernández (1 IP) throwing scoreless outings with five strikeouts combined. Though Hernández allowed two hits, he managed to hold the Bulls scoreless in the ninth and added a strikeout on a 68-mph pitch along the way.

The Bulls and Sounds will play the series finale tomorrow afternoon. In a rematch of the series opener, right-hander Garrett Stallings (0-1, 5.65) will be on the bump for Nashville and go up against left-hander Jeffrey Springs (0-0, 0.00) for Durham. The first pitch is set for 2:05 p.m. in Hit City.

Post-Game Notes

• The 14 runs allowed ties April 23 for the most runs allowed in a game for the Sounds this season (14-9 loss at Louisville).
• Yonny Hernández pitched for the third time in his career. All three are scoreless outings with his first taking place on July 2, 2023, with Los Angeles-NL at Kansas City and the second on July 30, 2023, with Oklahoma City at Reno.
• Tonight was Francisco Mejía’s third three-hit game of the season. He is tied with Owen Miller for the third most three-hit games for Nashville, trailing Isaac Collins with four and Tyler Black with five. In June, Mejía is hitting .383 (18-for-47) with 10 RBI and a 1.040 OPS.

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