Lara's RBI triple lifts Nashville to 2-0 shutout over Gwinnett

Luis Lara ended a tight, low-hit night with one swing in the seventh, and Nashville rode that breakthrough to a 2-0 shutout of Gwinnett on Thursday at First Horizon Park. The Sounds needed only five hits to back Tyson Hardin, Reiss Knehr and Craig Yoho, and the whole nine-inning game was over in just under two hours, the shortest nine-inning Sounds game since 2022.

The win gave Nashville its third shutout of the season and shifted the series after Gwinnett had won 5-3 on Wednesday and Nashville had taken the opener 5-4 on Tuesday. It also left the Sounds at 32-22 and dropped the Stripers to 29-25, with the series now tilted in Nashville’s favor.

Hardin, the Brewers’ No. 17-rated prospect, delivered his second career Triple-A start and looked every bit the part of a pitcher controlling the pace. He worked six innings, allowed two hits, struck out five and walked one without taking a decision. He retired the side in order in four of his six innings and kept Gwinnett from ever stringing together sustained pressure.

Elieser Hernandez matched him for most of the night and earned his first quality start of the season, blanking Nashville for six innings before the game unraveled in the seventh. Gwinnett’s offense managed only three hits, with Luke Williams going 2-for-4 with a double and Brewer Hicklen adding the Stripers’ other hit. Gwinnett left runners on base in the first, third and ninth innings and was shut out for the second time this season, the other coming on Opening Night against Memphis on March 27.

Lara supplied the difference. He finished with two of Nashville’s five hits and drove in the go-ahead run with an RBI triple in the bottom of the seventh, clearing the scoreless deadlock and giving the Sounds a lead they never gave back. He later added another extra-base hit, giving Nashville just enough offense to cash in the pitching work behind him.

Knehr followed with two scoreless innings, striking out three while retiring all six batters he faced. Yoho handled the ninth by striking out the side around a one-out single for his third save of the season, and Nashville’s trio of Hardin, Knehr and Yoho retired 19 of the final 20 batters they faced. Reiss Knehr, 29, brought a veteran edge to the back end, with a major-league debut already behind him after being drafted by San Diego in 2018 out of Fordham.

The result was more than a 2-0 line score. Nashville won a game built on efficiency, one timely swing and a bullpen that never let Gwinnett get a second crack at it.