The Norfolk Tides (27-28) defeated the Nashville Sounds (34-20), 8-3, on Wednesday at First Horizon Park. Gunnar Henderson and Jordan Westburg both excelled in their Triple-A debut.
In his first plate appearance at Triple-A, Henderson launched a home run to right center field. He did so in front of family, who drove up from four hours away from his hometown of Selma, Alabama. Nashville tied the game in the second on an RBI groundout, putting the game at 1-1.
Norfolk stormed ahead with six runs in the top of the third. Richie Martin scored the go-ahead run by scoring on a wild pitch. Westburg knocked in his first run of his Triple-A career with a single to right. Kyle Stowers followed with an RBI double. One more scored on a sacrifice fly by Jacob Nottingham. The final two runs of the inning were knocked in on RBI singles by Rylan Bannon and Anthony Bemboom, making the score 7-1, Tides.
The Sounds answered with two runs in the bottom of the third. Tyler White singled to score the first run, then Mark Mathias had an RBI ground out to put the game at 7-3. But the final run of the game scored in the top of the fourth when Westburg knocked in his second RBI on a double to left, putting the game at the eventual final score, 8-3.
The Tides bullpen combined for 6.0 scoreless innings, with Marcos Diplán earning his first win of the season with Norfolk with 2.0 innings pitched following starter Zac Lowther. Michael Baumann tossed a 1-2-3 sixth inning, then Rico Garcia came in to toss 2.0 innings himself. Morgan McSweeney finished the game, striking out one batter in his Triple-A debut.
With the rainout on Tuesday, the Tides will play the Sounds in a doubleheader tomorrow, with the first game starting at 5:35 p.m. RHP Denyi Reyes (0-2, 7.58) starting for the Tides in game one, and will face RHP Josh Lindblom (1-3, 3.83) of the Sounds. For game two, LHP Kevin Smith (3.08) will start game two for Norfolk, while RHP Tyler Herb (0-1, 6.17) is slated to take the mound for the Sounds.
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