Francisco Mejía Hits Home Runs as Sounds Even Series in Memphis
May 31, 2024 - International League (IL)
Nashville Sounds News Release
Memphis, Tenn. - Three home runs and stellar pitching drove the Nashville Sounds (29-26) to a 7-2 victory against the Memphis Redbirds (29-26), on Friday night at AutoZone Park.
The Sounds opened the scoring in the second inning courtesy of a two-run blast from Chris Roller . Two batters later, Francisco Mejía hit his first home run of the season and the Sounds' pitching staff would take care of the rest.
Aaron Ashby (1-3) excelled in his 10 th outing for the Sounds this season. He went seven innings, allowing just two hits and zero earned runs with five strikeouts. He cruised through most of his outing, with a runner not reaching second base until the sixth inning. He earned his first win of the season, and it was his longest outing in nearly two years.
Mejía added an insurance run in the seventh inning with an opposite-field blast to give the Sounds a 4-0 lead. Entering today's game, Mejía had not hit a home run this season and his last came on September 16, 2023. The Sounds totaled 11 hits compared to just four for the Redbirds, which included the first multi-hit game from Joe Wiemer since returning to Nashville.
The game tightened up in the seventh inning with the Redbirds' first two hitters reaching base. Rob Zastryzny worked through the inning and maintained a 4-2 lead for Nashville.
Nashville answered in the ninth inning by scoring three runs with two outs. Tyler Black roped a two-RBI single to right field and Isaac Collins followed with an RBI single to left field to give the Sounds a 7-2 lead. James Meeker capped off the victory with a scoreless ninth inning to even the series heading into the weekend.
The Sounds and Redbirds play game five tomorrow night with the series knotted at two games apiece. Right-hander Tyler Woessner (1-3, 7.20) will get the ball for Nashville. He will go up against right-hander Gordon Graceffo (4-5, 4.58) for Memphis. The first pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. at AutoZone Park.
Post-Game Notes
Entering today, Francisco Mejía had the most at-bats on the team without a home run (132). He had a 38-game home run drought, and his last multi-homer game came on September 2, 2023, against Nashville while playing for Durham.
Aaron Ashby (7.0, 2 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 5 K) had the longest outing by a Nashville pitcher this season. It was Ashby's longest outing since July 25, 2022, against Colorado (7 IP). It was his first win since July 8, 2022, against Pittsburgh.
Rob Zastryzny allowed an earned run in back-to-back appearances for the first time since August 1 & 4, 2023.
Tyler Black picked up two RBI in the ninth inning. In the series against Memphis, he is 5-for-17 with a home run and six RBI. His 30 RBI trail only Brewer Hicklen's 36 for the most on the team.
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