Nashville, TN – Payton Henry crushed a pair of home runs and drove in five, but the Nashville Sounds (55-47, 15-13) could not keep the Durham Bulls (56-48, 16-13) in the yard, surrendering four homers in a 9-6 loss on Wednesday night at First Horizon Park.
It became apparent very quickly that the night would be defined by the long ball. In his first at-bat since being traded from Nashville, Durham catcher Alex Jackson ripped a solo home run off his former batterymate Caleb Boushley (L, 6-5), kicking off scoring in the second inning.
Payton Henry responded with a go-ahead two-run blast, his first clout of the night. Austin Shenton’s two-out blast in the fourth brought the score back to even.
The Bulls drew a comfortable lead with two runs in both the fifth and sixth innings. But Henry struck again, depositing an Anthony Molina (W, 1-1) slider onto the left-field berm for a three-run homer and cutting the deficit back to one. Ruben Cardenas’ second homer of the night, a two-run clout in the eighth, gave the Bulls some more breathing room with an 8-5 lead. Cam Devanney led off the ninth with his ninth homer of the season, but it wasn’t enough to close the gap.
Devanney and Henry each picked up a pair of hits. Skye Bolt reached three times (1-for-2, 2 BB), scored twice, and stole a base in the loss.
The clubs fight for the upper hand in the series in game three tomorrow night. Right-hander Evan McKendry (8-3, 4.00) is set to start for the Sounds against his former team. Right-hander Cooper Criswell (3-3, 4.63) gets the nod for the Bulls. The first pitch is scheduled for 6:35pm CT from First Horizon Park.
Post-Game Notes
- Payton Henry’s two-homer night was the third of his career and the team’s 10th of the season. Both of Henry’s previous two-homer performances came in 2019 with High-A Carolina, one on April 27th vs. Potomac and the other on August 8th at Down East.
- With Durham’s Ruben Cardenas also posting a two-homer night, it’s the second time this season that both the Sounds and their opponent featured a player with two homers in a game. Tyler Naquin and Jacksonville’s Dane Myers accomplished the feat on June 11th. But before then, the last time it happened was April 12th, 2015, when Joey Wendle and Colorado Springs’ Elian Herrera each whacked a pair of homers.
- Patrick Dorrian extended his hitting streak to nine games with a base knock in the eighth. He’s batting .313 (10-for-32) with six extra-base hits, 10 RBI, seven walks, and five runs in that span.
- Rehabbing Milwaukee infielder Brian Anderson served as the club’s designated hitter tonight and went 1-for-4 with a walk.
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 tickets@nashvillesounds.com.