Nashville, TN – The Nashville Sounds dropped game four to the Norfolk Tides as a late-game rally fell short with a 6-5 final in Friday night’s nail-biter. Brock Wilken extended his on-base streak to 20 consecutive games which leads the team this season.The Tides immediately jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the opening frame of the game off of rehabber Quinn Priester as a two-run homer by Creed Willems led the charge to the early Norfolk lead. The Sounds answered right back in the bottom half of the first inning as back-to-back one-out singles by Luis Lara and Jett Williams got the first two runners on base.
Two at-bats later, Eddys Leonard lined a single into center field and scored Williams for the two-run deficit, while Ramón RodrÃguez hit a two-out infield single and set up Ethan Murray to follow with his own RBI-single towards the Tides first basemen in which the exchange was not successful, scoring Wilken to make it a one-run deficit.
Norfolk grew its lead back up to three runs as three singles and a double scored two more runs in the top of the second inning including Willems’ third RBI of the game. The Tides tacked on another run for their largest lead of the game with a solo shot from Christian Encarnacion-Strand off of reliever Kaleb Bowman for a 6-2 game.
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After scoring a pair of runs in the bottom of the first, the Sounds offense was held scoreless for the next four innings and leaving four runners on base. Bowman was relieved for Jacob Waguespack in the top of the sixth inning but not before the Nashville resident wrapped up his night allowing one run on five hits and striking out one batter in three innings of work.
Waguespack tossed a quick 1-2-3 inning in the sixth including striking out the first two batters, while the Sounds made some noise in the bottom half of the frame as Jordyn Adams led off getting hit by pitch, then Jacob Hurtubise drew the team’s second walk of the night.
After Cooper Pratt grounded out and advanced Adams and Hurtubise into scoring position, Lara knocked in Adams for an RBI-single as the deficit was cut down to two runs. Williams followed with his third hit of the game, a two-RBI double into left field to score Hurtubise and Lara and bring the Sounds back within a run at 6-5.
The right-hander Waguespack was tremendous on the mound as he struck out a season-high six in three scoreless innings of work, he punctuated his outing with three straight strikeouts to strand the bases loaded in the top of the eighth after allowing the first three batters to reach and keep the Sounds within a run.
The Sounds offense had one last opportunity in the bottom of the ninth inning as Williams led off with a deep popout to shortstop, then Wilken struck out on a foul tip. After Leonard drew the third walk for the Sounds, RodrÃguez grounded out to second base as the game ended in a 6-5 final.
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With the series even through the first four games, the Nashville Sounds and Norfolk Tides return to action on Saturday, May 2nd, with the winner of Saturday’s game taking control of the series. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35pm.
