Luis Lara powers Nashville with third three-hit game of the season

Luis Lara was one of four Nashville players with multiple hits in the Sounds’ 9-3 win over the Iowa Cubs on Tuesday night at First Horizon Park. The Brewers’ No. 11 prospect paced the offense with his seventh three-hit game of the season, helping back another strong start from Robert Gasser as Nashville improved to 13-5 at home.

Gasser delivered four solid innings in his second home start of the year. The Brewers’ No. 16 prospect allowed one unearned run in the first, then followed with scoreless second and third innings. He struck out six of the first nine outs he recorded and received plenty of offensive support.

Nashville tied the game in the second after Jeferson Quero led off with a single and later scored on a stretch of three straight two-out walks. The Sounds took a 3-1 lead in the third on Eddys Leonard’s two-run double. Iowa trimmed the deficit to 3-2 in the fourth on a sacrifice fly, but Lara answered in the bottom half with a two-run single to left. Reiss Knehr followed Gasser with two hitless innings to earn his second win of the season.

After scoring twice in both the third and fourth, Nashville broke the game open with a four-run fifth, again doing its damage with two outs. Ethan Murray started the rally with a double and drove in a run, Cooper Pratt added an RBI single, and Brock Wilken capped the inning with a two-run single to make it 9-2.

Junior Fernandez pitched the seventh and gave up two hits. The second led to Iowa’s third run, an unearned score after Greg Jones’ throwing error to third. Fernandez limited the damage with a groundout to leave a runner in scoring position.

Lara picked up his third hit with a single up the middle in the seventh, Nashville’s only hit of the inning. Drew Rom worked around two singles in a scoreless eighth, and Craig Yoho closed the game with a perfect ninth, striking out two.

The series continues Wednesday night, with left-hander Thomas Pannone scheduled to start for Vihuelas de Nashville. First pitch is set for 6:35 p.m. CT.

Postgame Notes

On-Base Master: Brock Wilken extended his on-base streak to 28 games by drawing a first-inning walk in Tuesday’s opener. It is the longest active on-base streak in the International League, the fourth-longest in Triple-A, and tied for the fifth-longest in the minors. It also ranks as the fourth-longest such streak by a Sounds hitter since 2023 and the 10th-longest since 2005. Since April 10, the 25-year-old is batting .239 (22-for-92) with 12 extra-base hits, 21 RBI, and 22 walks.

Double Up: Eddys Leonard extended his doubles streak to five straight games with his 11th double of the season, setting a new career high. He is one of only two Triple-A players with a double in at least five consecutive games this season and owns the longest active doubles streak at the level. Buffalo’s William Simoneit is the only other player to do so. Leonard is tied with Brice Turang for the second-longest doubles streak since 2022 and tied for the second-longest by a Sounds player since 2005. He also recorded his team-leading 14th multi-hit game of the season and now has 156 career multi-hit games since 2018.

Lu-Threes Lara: Luis Lara recorded his 13th multi-hit game of the year in Tuesday’s win, going 3-for-4 with two RBI while extending both his hitting streak and on-base streak to three games. He ranks second on the team in multi-hit games, trailing only Eddys Leonard’s 14, and has six multi-hit performances over his last 19 games. In five professional seasons, Lara has totaled 119 career multi-hit games. He leads Nashville with 47 hits and ranks second on the team in batting average (.329) and home runs (6).

Gass-ed ’Em Up: Robert Gasser made his second career start against Iowa on Tuesday and allowed two runs, one earned, while striking out seven in a no-decision. The outing marked his 50th career appearance for Nashville and his 45th start. Over five seasons with the Sounds, Gasser owns a 14-6 record with a 3.72 ERA in 227.1 innings and 282 strikeouts.

Just the Start: Ethan Murray collected his third multi-hit game of the season, finishing 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI in Tuesday’s win. He now has 73 career multi-hit games in six professional seasons. Murray has two multi-hit performances in his last 11 games and is batting .281 (16-for-57) with two home runs and nine RBI in night games this season.