Sounds storm past WooSox 9-4 in first-ever Nashville series

Nashville did not need one loud swing to make its first-ever series against Worcester count. The Sounds turned singles, walks and a hit-by-pitch into a 9-4 win Tuesday night at First Horizon Park, piling on early against a WooSox club that had arrived in town with an early-season edge in the standings.

Jett Williams and Luis Lara each finished with three hits, but the damage started before either of their nights could feel routine. Williams singled to open the game, Cooper Pratt walked, Lara was hit by a pitch and Jeferson Quero forced in the first run with a bases-loaded walk. Brock Wilken and Eddys Leonard followed with back-to-back sacrifice flies, and Nashville was up 3-0 before Worcester had settled into the game. The Sounds kept the pressure on in the second, when Williams and Lara helped load the bases again and the free passes kept coming on the way to a 5-0 lead.

Worcester finally answered on Jason Delay’s homer in the third, but Nashville never lost control. Freddy Zamora doubled into left-center and scored on another Williams RBI single in the third, then Quero came through again with a two-run single later to push the lead to 8-2. The WooSox scratched across two more runs late, yet the gap was too wide for a late push to matter. Shane Drohan at least gave Worcester a chance to hang around, working 5.1 innings, allowing two runs on five hits and striking out eight, but Nashville kept putting the ball in play and kept turning traffic into runs.

For Milwaukee, Quero was the night that carried real weight. The 23-year-old catcher from Barquisimeto, Venezuela, listed at 6-foot-0 and 203 pounds, had already made his MLB debut on March 29, and a four-RBI night only strengthened the case that his bat can move the roster conversation beyond a good Triple-A line. Williams and Lara were the spark, but the more durable takeaway was how Quero kept cashing in runners when the Sounds needed an answer, exactly the sort of pressure that can travel if he keeps doing it.