Late Game Rally Falls Short for Sounds in 6-5 Loss to Tides
IL Nashville Sounds

Late Game Rally Falls Short for Sounds in 6-5 Loss to Tides

Published on May 1, 2026 under International League (IL)
Nashville Sounds News Release


NASHVILLE - The Nashville Sounds dropped game four to the Norfolk Tides as a late-game rally fell short with a 6-5 final in Friday night's nail-biter. Brock Wilken extended his on-base streak to 20 consecutive games which leads the team this season.

The Tides immediately jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the opening frame of the game off of rehabber Quinn Priester as a two-run homer by Creed Willems led the charge to the early Norfolk lead. The Sounds answered right back in the bottom half of the first inning as back-to-back one-out singles by Luis Lara and Jett Williams got the first two runners on base. Two at-bats later, Eddys Leonard lined a single into center field and scored Williams for the two-run deficit, while Ramón Rodríguez hit a two-out infield single and set up Ethan Murray to follow with his own RBI-single towards the Tides first basemen in which the exchange was not successful, scoring Wilken to make it a one-run deficit.

Norfolk grew its lead back up to three runs as three singles and a double scored two more runs in the top of the second inning including Willems' third RBI of the game. The Tides tacked on another run for their largest lead of the game with a solo shot from Christian Encarnacion-Strand off of reliever Kaleb Bowman for a 6-2 game. After scoring a pair of runs in the bottom of the first, the Sounds offense was held scoreless for the next four innings and leaving four runners on base. Bowman was relieved for Jacob Waguespack in the top of the sixth inning but not before the Nashville resident wrapped up his night allowing one run on five hits and striking out one batter in three innings of work.

Waguespack tossed a quick 1-2-3 inning in the sixth including striking out the first two batters, while the Sounds made some noise in the bottom half of the frame as Jordyn Adams led off getting hit by pitch, then Jacob Hurtubise drew the team's second walk of the night. After Cooper Pratt grounded out and advanced Adams and Hurtubise into scoring position, Lara knocked in Adams for an RBI-single as the deficit was cut down to two runs. Williams followed with his third hit of the game, a two-RBI double into left field to score Hurtubise and Lara and bring the Sounds back within a run at 6-5.

The right-hander Waguespack was tremendous on the mound as he struck out a season-high six in three scoreless innings of work, he punctuated his outing with three straight strikeouts to strand the bases loaded in the top of the eighth after allowing the first three batters to reach and keep the Sounds within a run. The Sounds offense had one last opportunity in the bottom of the ninth inning as Williams led off with a deep popout to shortstop, then Wilken struck out on a foul tip. After Leonard drew the third walk for the Sounds, Rodríguez grounded out to second base as the game ended in a 6-5 final.

With the series even through the first four games, the Sounds and Tides return to action on Saturday, May 2, with the winner of Saturday's game taking control of the series. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m.

POSTGAME NOTES:

LU-THREES LARA: Luis Lara added his 11th overall multi-hit game and his sixth 3-hit game after finishing Friday night 3-for-5 with a RBI and run scored. The Brewers no. 11-rated prospect posted eight 3+ hit games during the 2025 season with Double-A Biloxi but did not record his first until May 24 and Friday night against the Tides was the 29th 3+ hit game of his professional career. The 21-year-old currently ranks top 10 in the International League in hits (1st, 38), runs (1st, 29), total bases (T-3rd, 59), stolen bases (T-3rd, 12), and AVG (9th, .336). Lara has as more 3-hit games then six of his current teammates have overall multi-hit games.

WAGS TO PITCHES: Jacob Waguespack set new season-highs in IP (3.0) and strikeouts (6) and worked out of serious trouble in his third and final inning of work Friday night to keep his consecutive scoreless innings streak without an earned run alive. After seeing the Tides load the bases with no outs, Waguespack struck out three straight batters to keep it at a 6-5 ballgame and give the Sounds a fighting chance heading into the ninth inning. The 3.0 IP was the longest in a relief appearance for him since also going 3.0 IP on April 8, 2024, against the Los Angeles Angels as a member of the Tampa Bay Rays. The six strikeouts are tied for the second-most in any of his 160 career relief appearances. He also had six on July 15, 2016, with the then Lakewood Blue Claws (PHI) also over three innings of relief. He set a career-high with seven strikeouts out of the bullpen on May 27, 2019, with the Toronto Blue Jays against the Rays. Waguespack extended his steak without an earned run allowed to 8.1 IP and five games. The 8.1 IP without an earned run is the third-longest by a Nashville pitcher this season behind Brian Fitzpatrick (10.1) and Will Childers (10.0). With his six from Friday night, Waguespack has 14 strikeouts during his streak and has allowed just four hits.

MAGIC EIGHT BALL: Brewers no. 4-rated prospect Cooper Pratt extended his current hitting streak to eight games after going 1-for-5 on Friday night. Pratt's current eight-game streak is four more games than the next closest active streak by a current Nashville player (Ramon Rodriguez). Pratt's eight-game streak is the third longest overall on the early season for Nashville behind Tyler Black (9) and Eddys Leonard (9). He is hitting .424 (11-for-26) with four total extra-base hits, five RBI, seven walks, six runs, and carries a 1.260 OPS since April 24th. It's the seventh overall hitting streak of his professional career of at least eight games. He posted a career-long 12 game hitting streak from July 20-August 2, 2024, that started with Low-A Carolina and continued into his first few games with High-A Wisconsin. It was one of three 10+ game hitting streaks Pratt put together between June 1 and August 2 of that season. His last hitting streak of 8+ games came with Double-A Biloxi last year from August 12-22 when he hit safely in nine straight games.

STILL STREAKIN: Brock Wilken extended his on-base streak to 20 games after drawing a walk in the bottom of the fifth inning. The 20-game on-base streak is the fourth-longest active streak in the International League and tied for the eighth-longest overall in Triple-A this season. It's already a career-long for the Brewers no. 21-ranked prospect one of just 16 20+ game on-base streaks Nashville has had since the start of the 2021 season.

GOTTA JETT: Jett Williams tied his single-game career-high with his three-hit performance on Friday night. The Brewers no. 3-rated prospect (MLB Pipeline) has now produced two three-hit games with Nashville this season. His last came on Tuesday, April 14 in the series opener against Worcester. He has recorded a multi-hit game in four of his last eight games played and has reached base in each of his last seven games. Williams was the lone Nashville player to record a multi-RBI game on Friday night, his fifth of the season. He is tied for the second-most multi-RBI games on the team along with Jeferson Quero and Eddys Leonard.

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International League Stories from May 1, 2026


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