Nashville scores six in first, clinches series over Gwinnett

Nashville needed one inning to turn Friday night into a formality. Six runs in the first at First Horizon Park put Gwinnett in a hole it never escaped, and the Sounds rolled to an 8-3 win that locked up the series with one game still left to play.

The opening frame was a chain reaction. JR Ritchie got only one out before the inning unraveled, beginning with back-to-back bases-loaded walks to Jett Williams and Luis Matos. Javy Guerra came in to stop the bleeding and inherited a mess, then immediately watched Jeferson Quero drive a two-run double and Freddy Zamora add a two-run single. By the time the dust settled, Nashville had a 6-0 lead and the Stripers were already playing from behind the count.

Thomas Pannone made sure that cushion mattered. He worked 6.0 innings of two-run baseball and earned the win, giving Nashville the kind of starter’s line that can disappear in a game this lopsided but should not. The club said it was Pannone’s first quality start in 616 days, and he backed it up by settling in after the early fireworks. He retired the first three hitters in order and kept the Stripers quiet for most of the night, allowing Nashville to control every inning after the first.

Gwinnett did get a little life from Ben Gamel’s RBI double in the second and Cal Conley’s sacrifice fly in the fifth, but each time the Sounds answered with enough offense to keep the margin comfortable. Zamora delivered the biggest blow of the late innings, launching a two-run homer in the fifth to push the lead right back to six. He finished with a Triple-A single-game career-high four RBIs, while Quero matched him as a run producer with his two-run double in the first.

That first inning mattered even more because Ritchie had already shown he could handle Nashville. In his first two starts against the Sounds this season, he had worked 12.2 innings, allowed only three hits and one run, and struck out 12 while walking three. This time, Nashville forced him out after one out and never gave him a chance to settle in.

Hayden Harris added 1.1 scoreless innings out of the bullpen and extended his scoreless streak to seven games and 7.0 innings. The win pushed Nashville to 34-22, sealed the series at 4-1, and gave the Sounds a chance to finish May with their 19th victory in 27 games. Gwinnett dropped to 29-27 and has now lost three straight series after opening the year 4-1-2 in series play.