Charlotte, NC – The Nashville Sounds dropped their first game in the series on Friday night in Charlotte. Two outs away from extending their winning streak to four games, the Knights rallied to score two runs in the ninth inning for a 2-1 win.
Making his third start of his current rehab assignment, Tobias Myers did not allow a run over five innings with five strikeouts and held Charlotte to just two hits.
For the Knights, Justin Dunn had a quality start against the Sounds, limiting Nashville to three hits over six scoreless frames of his own. With Dunn on the mound, Nashville managed five baserunners and left three stranded as neither team was able to crack the scoreboard until the seventh.
The Sounds finally broke through in part to three straight one-out walks to load the bases and allowed Jorge Alfaro to score on Jimmy Herron’s sac fly. A groundout ended the inning and kept the Sounds from adding to the lead.
Elvis Peguero, Garrett Stallings, and Craig Yoho combined to work three scoreless innings for Nashville as the trio allowed just two hits without a walk or strikeout. Nashville came away empty on another bases-loaded opportunity in the ninth and clung to a 1-0 advantage.
Ryan Middendorf replaced Yoho and quickly got the first out in the bottom of the ninth. Following a hit batter, a game-tying RBI double ensued. Two batters later, the Knights walked off the Sounds with a RBI single and snapped their nine-game losing streak.
LHP Bruce Zimmermann (0-1, 4.91 ERA) will take the ball for the Sounds on Saturday night against the Knights and RHP Owen White (0-1, 1.76 ERA). First pitch is scheduled for 5:05pm CT.
Postgame Notes
MAGIC MYERS: Tobias Myers worked five scoreless on 76 pitches in his third rehab start for the Sounds on Friday night. Through his three starts, Myers has allowed 10 hits over 13.1 IP with eight strikeouts and four walks after holding the Knights to two hits with five strikeouts. All three of the runs he has allowed came against Memphis last Sunday with the Redbirds getting six hits off the right-hander compared to the four total he has allowed in his other two appearances. Myers velocity was up again on Friday night, touching 96 MPH as he nears the end of his rehab assignment.
STREAKY GOOD: Ernesto Martinez Jr. extended his current hitting streak to eight games after finishing Friday night 1-for-4. His eight-game streak is already the longest by a Nashville player this year and at the end of the game, ranks tied for the third-longest active streak in the International League. During his current stretch that dates back to the start of the Memphis series on April 8, Martinez Jr. is hitting .419 (13-for-31) with two homers, a double, nine RBI, five walks, and five runs scored. Raynel Delgado also extended his current hitting streak to four games after ending Friday night 1-for-2 with a pair of walks mixed in for good measure. Jimmy Herron has hit safely in each of his last three games after a hit on Friday against the Knights.
