Jacksonville, FL – The Nashville Sounds earned an 8-3 win on Thursday night to get their first win of the series in Jacksonville and snap an 11-game losing streak to the Jumbo Shrimp. Brett Wichrowski picked up the win in his Triple-A debut backed by a six-run top of the third inning for Nashville.
Wichrowski pitched around two Nashville errors in the bottom of the first inning, including one of his own doing, to strand two Jumbo Shrimp on base despite not allowing a hit. Nashville was held to singles from Jett Williams in the first and Luke Adams in the second before breaking the game open in the top of the third.
Ethan Murray started a barrage of hits with the first of three straight singles with Cooper Pratt collecting the games first RBI to extend his on-base streak to 24 consecutive games. Williams made it 3-0 with a two-RBI triple and the first out of the inning was still productive with Akil Baddoo bringing home Williams to make it a four-run lead.
Nashville added three more singles over the next four at-bats to make it a five-run game, and Murray capped the big inning with his second hit of the frame to bring home Luis Matos to make it 6-0. After being held to nine hits through the first two games of the series, Nashville used eight hits in the third inning alone to build their lead.
Wichrowski held the Jumbo Shrimp off the scoreboard through his first three Triple-A innings and just one hit allowed. He worked around a leadoff single in the bottom of the second and back-to-back runners reaching in the third on a hit by pitch and walk to strand his fourth runner of the game. Consecutive walks and a double steal in the bottom of the fourth set up former Sound Brian Navarreto to plate the first Jacksonville run on a sacrifice fly.
The Nashville right-hander stranded his sixth of the game after allowing a two-out double in the bottom of the fifth on his third and final strikeout of the night to set himself up for the win by making it through the fifth inning. He started the inning on the mound in the bottom of the sixth but saw another two runs come across after putting both aboard via a walk and second hit batter of the game. Navarreto cashed in with his second and third RBI of the night and chased Wichrowski after 5.2 IP and a career-high 96 pitches.
Reiss Kneher cleaned up the bottom of the sixth before pitching a scoreless seventh with a pair of strikeouts to negate a one-out single. Murray began a mini two-out rally in the top of the eighth with his second walk of the night as he reached base in all four plate appearances. Tyler Black doubled to put runners on second and third for Pratt. The Brewers no. 4-rated prospect added his second hit of the night, and another two RBI with a triple of his own to push the lead back to five runs at 8-3.
Jacob Waguespack closed out the game with two perfect innings that included four strikeouts as he extended his current streak to nine games and 12.1 IP without allowing an earned run.
The Nashville Sounds look to even the series and keep pace in the race for the International League first half crown on Friday night. LHP Thomas Pannone (1-1, 3.03 ERA) is scheduled to get the start for Nashville against RHP Bradley Blalock (1-5, 6.70 ERA) and the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp.