Sounds Fall to Jumbo Shrimp for the Series Split

JACKSONVILLE, FL – A ninth-inning rally fell just short as the Nashville Sounds dropped Sunday's series finale to the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp 4-3, settling for a series split at VyStar Ballpark. The Sounds offense was held scoreless through the last 5.1 innings of the game, coming just inches short of scoring the tying run.

The Sounds got on the board first for the third straight game this week as Tyler Black ripped a leadoff double into right center field. Ethan Murray followed with an infield base hit to the third baseman and advanced Black to third base. Brock Wilken hit a warning tack sacrifice fly to score Black from third, but Murray was doubled off at first base as a promising start resulted in just a one-run lead for the Sounds.

Jacob Hurtubise added the second run for Nashville in the top of the second inning as he drew a two-out walk in the frame. He stole his 13th bag of the season with Christian MacLeod attempting to pick him off at first and threw it away, allowing Hurtubise to score from first base on the play to make it 2-0. In the bottom of the third inning, the Jumbo Shrimp finally got to Colton Gordon as he allowed a one-out solo homer to left field by Garret Forrester and cut Nashville's lead in half. The Sounds answered Jacksonville's run in the top of the fourth frame with a Jeferson Quero solo blast to left field, his third straight game with a homer.

In the bottom of the sixth inning, the Jumbo Shrimp jumped ahead for a 4-3 lead as Gordon allowed a single to lead off the frame. Matthew Etzel hammered his fourth home run of the series to tie the game at three. Three at-bats later, Graham Pauley hit a no-doubter into right field and gave Jacksonville its first lead since Thursday night's game in the bottom of the seventh. Gordon ended his day allowing four runs on five hits, including three homers and a season-high nine strikeouts in six innings of work. Cameron Wagoner and Brett Wichrowski tossed a scoreless inning each allowing a combined three hits and a strikeout heading into the final inning for the Sounds.

Nashville began its last threat in the top of the ninth inning with a Hurtubise one-out walk. Daniel Guilarte lined a base hit into center field, his third straight game with a hit, and advanced Hurtubise to third. After Guilarte stole second and put both runners in scoring position, Eduardo Garcia flew out to left field. With one out and the tying run at third, Guilarte ran into the final out, getting tagged out at third before Hurtubise could cross the plate and even the score as the Jumbo Shrimp hung on for the win and a series split.

After two weeks on the road, the Sounds will finally return home to First Horizon Park to take on the Louisville Bats (Triple-A, Cincinnati Reds) on Tuesday, September 1. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 pm.

POSTGAME NOTES:

JUMBO BLAST: Jeferson Quero became the first Sounds player to homer in three straight games this season, and tie the team lead with his 15th home run this year. It is the second time in his career he has posted a homer in three or more straight games since 2021 with the first coming from May 27-30 with the ACL Brewers on a minor league rehab assignment during the 2025 season. Quero is one of three players in Triple-A, six overall in the minors, with an active home run streak of at least three games. The last time a Sounds hitter recorded a homer in 3+ straight games was last season when Anthony Seigler did so from May 14-15 against the Memphis Redbirds. He is now one home run away from tying his single-season career high when he tallied 16 homers with Double-A Biloxi in 2023. He is hitting a .257 (98-for-381), adding 32 XBH, 64 RBI and 51 runs this season for the Sounds.

MURRAY-VATED: Ethan Murray extended his on-base streak to 15 consecutive games in Sunday's finale against the Jumbo Shrimp, going 1-for-4. The 15 consecutive games is the second longest-active on-base streak behind Darrien Miller (17) and is the 12th longest on-base streak this season for the Sounds. Murray has a .255 batting average (14-for-55), four XBH, 12 RBI and 10 runs since the start of his streak on August 13. The 15 games surpassed the second-longest on-base streak of his career when he got on base in 14 consecutive games with Double-A Biloxi during the 2023 season. His career-long on-base streak sits at 17 consecutive games with Single-A Carolina in his first professional season. Murray has recorded a hit in 17-of-the-last-21 games since August 5.

STREAKY: Daniel Guilarte has now recorded a hit in all three games since he joined the Sounds earlier this week and went 2-for-3 with a walk and posted three steals against the Jumbo Shrimp, which is tied for the team-high this season. He is the third different Sound to record 3+ steals this season and is the first since Greg Jones stole three bags on July 4 against the Jumbo Shrimp as well. Guilarte posted his first career Triple-A multi-hit game and has a .333 batting average (4-for-12) with two walks and two runs for the Sounds. He has 73 multi-hit games during the regular season since the start of his career in 2022.

A KITCHEN NIGHTMARE: Colton Gordon ended his day allowing four runs on five hits and adding a season-high nine strikeouts against Jacksonville in Sunday's series finale. All four of the runs he allowed came via home runs as he allowed three homers on the day, the third time this season allowing three long balls. It was the second time in eight starts with Nashville, also allowing three against Indianapolis on August 12 with his first of the season coming on June at El Paso when he was with Sugar Land. Gordon is the fourth different pitcher to allow 3+ home runs this season and is one of two pitchers (Thomas Pannone) that has allowed 3+ homers two times this season. Sounds pitchers have individually allowed 3+ HR in a game six times this season, the second most in any season since joining the International League behind the seven times it happened last season. Sunday was just the 28th time a Nashville pitcher has allowed 3+ HR in a game in 850 games since 2021.