Sounds Late Rally Not Enough as Saints Even Series

NASHVILLE – After threatening to tie or take the lead, the Nashville Sounds (2-3) came up just short as their ninth inning rally ran out of steam in a 6-5 loss to the St. Paul Saints (3-1) on Wednesday night at First Horizon Park.

The Sounds trailed by two runs entering the bottom of the ninth but cut the deficit in half with two outs. Brewer Hicklen scored on a wild pitch by Saints closer Diego Castillo. The trifecta of Isaac Collins, Chavez Young and Yonny Hernández managed two-out walks each, putting the go-ahead run in scoring position. However, Michael Boyle (S, 1) entered and retired Nick Kahle with an infield popup to give St. Paul the one-run win.

Nashville played from behind out of the gates but drew even in the third inning after Kahle’s RBI single to right that scored Young and made it a 1-1 game. St. Paul answered with a four-spot in the fourth inning, but it became a one-run game in the seventh after Collins’ three-run blast that stayed fair down the left field line, making it 5-4. St. Paul scored what proved to be the winning run in the ninth on an RBI double with two outs.

Caleb Boushley’s (1-0) first start as a Saint came against the team he spent two full seasons with. He performed as he typically did in 2022 and 2023 at First Horizon Park, working 5.2 innings of one-run baseball. The Sounds 2022 Pitcher of the Year did not allow a free pass and stifled Nashville batters, holding the home side to two hits with five strikeouts.

Nashville’s bullpen continued to dominate for a fifth-straight game, this time not allowing an earned run over 5.1 innings of work. Kevin Herget retired each of his four batters faced and Harold Chirino followed with 1.1 scoreless. Jared Koenig struck out four while retiring all five in the seventh and eighth innings before Blake Holub gave up an unearned run in the ninth. Janson Junk (0-1) took the loss in his first start of the season, giving up five runs (all earned) in 3.2 innings of work.

Young led the Sounds with two hits in his first appearance in the lineup this season. Collins’ three RBI homer was the biggest hit, while Hicklen doubled and scored two runs.

Right-hander Evan McKendry (0-1, 5.79) gets the ball for Nashville in game three of the series. He’ll square off on the mound against St. Paul’s Randy Dobnak (1-0, 2.25). First pitch is at 6:35 p.m. on Throwback Thursday in Hit City.

Post-Game Notes

• Tyler Black’s 20-game on-base streak came to an end after going 0-for-4 with two strikeouts.
• Isaac Collins’ homer was his first at the Triple-A level in his fifth career game with Nashville. The Minnesota native is 3-for-7 with 3 runs, 2 doubles, a home run and 5 RBI in two games this season.
• The Sounds bullpen lowered their ERA from 1.56 to 1.19 (22.2 IP/3 ER) and still hold the second-lowest ERA in the league, trailing only Gwinnett’s mark of 1.00.

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