Left-hander Robert Gasser tossed a fifth consecutive quality and continued to move up the franchise single-season strikeout list, but the Nashville Sounds dropped a heartbreaker on Friday night against the Durham Bulls, with an unearned run in the bottom of the ninth inning becoming the difference in a 2-1 loss at Durham Bulls Athletic Park. The loss puts the Sounds 3.5 games out of a playoff spot with 20 games remaining in the season, and they’re 5-5 on their two-week road trip with two games left.
The Sounds trailed 1-0 after seven innings despite several scoring chances and having outhit the Bulls. Jesse Winker started a rally in the eighth with a leadoff single against Trevor Kelley, and Keston Hiura got hit by a pitch, advancing his on-base streak to 26 consecutive games. That set up Abraham Toro, who singled to left field to score Winker and make it 1-1.
Ethan Small, who’d stranded the bases loaded in the previous inning on behalf of Darrell Thompson, tossed a perfect bottom of the eighth to keep it tied, but Durham found a way in the ninth against Fernando Abad (3-3). With two outs and a runner third, Yohan Lopez reached on a throwing error by shortstop Patrick Dorrian, who ranged to his right on a bouncer before throwing offline to first and pulling Hiura off the bag for the game-deciding run. Kelley (1-0) got the win for Durham.
The Sounds’ rally in the eighth took Gasser off the hook for loss. The southpaw gave up one run on three hits over six innings, walking three and punching out eight in another quality start. He had won each of the previous four quality starts, and his streak of five straight is the longest active one among all minor leaguers. Gasser’s eight strikeouts moved his league-leading total to 155 on the year, good for eighth-most in Sounds single-season history.
The six-game series continues Saturday night at 5:35 CT. Left-hander Eric Lauer (1-3, 5.47) is scheduled to start for the Sounds (29-25, 69-59), and right-hander Cooper Criswell (4-3, 4.13) is expected to start for Durham (32-23, 73-57).
Post-Game Notes
- Robert Gasser’s quality start was his 10th of the season, tied with two others for the most among Triple-A pitchers.
- Keston Hiura went 0-for-3 with a hit-by-pitch, advancing an on-base streak to 26 games but snapping a 15-game hitting streak that is the longest by a Sounds player this season.
- Infielder Cam Devanney went 1-for-4 and owns a 10-game hitting streak and 17-game on-base streak.
- Infielder Abraham Toro went 2-for-4 with a stolen base and RBI and owns a 21-game on-base streak…he’s the first Sounds player since at least 2010 to have multiple on-base streaks of 20+ games in the same season.
- Reliever Ethan Small retired all five batters he faced on Friday…in his last 10 appearances, he’s allowed just two earned runs over 12 innings with no walks and 11 strikeouts.
- Outfielder Chris Roller, acquired by the Brewers from Cleveland on Thursday, went 1-for-3 with a stolen base and a walk in his Sounds debut.
The Nashville Sounds are the Triple-A affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers and play at First Horizon Park. For more information call 615-690-4487 or e-mail tickets@nashvillesounds.com.
