Charlotte hits two early grand slams, hands Nashville 9-4 loss

Charlotte decided this one early, and Nashville never fully recovered. LaMonte Wade Jr. crushed a first-inning grand slam and Jarred Kelenic followed with another in the second, turning the Sounds’ pitching problems into a 9-4 loss at Truist Field.

Quinn Priester could not get through the first inning cleanly. He walked three of the first six hitters he faced and hit Oliver Dunn, forcing Nashville to go to Peter Strzelecki with two outs still remaining in the frame. By then, the damage had already started. Wade’s slam to right field broke the game open and sent Charlotte to a 5-0 lead. One inning later, Kelenic delivered the second four-run swing, and the Knights were suddenly in command at 9-1.

The game never stopped being about those two swings. Priester took the loss after allowing four runs in two-thirds of an inning, and Strzelecki absorbed the brunt of the night from there, giving up five runs in 1 1/3 innings, including both grand slams. Charlotte scored five times in the first and four more in the second, built a cushion it did not need to stress, and spent the rest of the night protecting it.

Nashville did show some life against a game that was already tilting hard. Brock Wilken walked, Eddys Leonard and Freddy Zamora followed with free passes, and Jacob Hurtubise lined an infield single to cut the deficit to 5-1 in the second. Tyler Black kept his streak alive as well, extending it to nine games, and he later scored when Jeferson Quero and Leonard strung together back-to-back RBI singles in the fifth. Black’s streak matched his season-long run from last year, and his longest Triple-A hit streak remains the 16-game stretch he put together from Sept. 7, 2023, through March 30, 2024.

That rally, though, only trimmed the margin after the board had already been set. Thomas Pannone gave Nashville two clean innings in relief, Roddery Muñoz finished the game, and the Sounds did not seriously threaten again after the early hole. Charlotte and Nashville had split the first two games of the series, including Nashville’s 5-1 win on April 21, but the Knights answered with a night that gave them, in their own words, “plenty of cushion” and evened the set at one game apiece. The game drew 4,186 and lasted 2 hours, 35 minutes, a short night defined by two long swings.