Destin Hood launched a solo homer in the 10th inning to give the New Orleans Zephyrs a 4-3 win over the Nashville Sounds Monday night in front of a sellout crowd of 10,338 at First Tennessee Park.
The home run was the second of the series for Hood who has driven in six runs in the first three games of the four-game set.
Nashville had a great opportunity to even the game in the home half of the inning when Chad Pinder and Max Muncy singled to put runners at the corners with one out.
New Orleans lefty Eric Jokisch buckled down and struck out Renato Nunez for the second out before retiring Jake Smolinski on a fly out to end the game.
Henderson Alvarez started for the Sounds on a major league rehab assignment start and went the first two innings. He allowed an unearned run on one hit with one strikeout.
The right-hander did his job in the first but the defense faltered behind him. Isaac Galloway led off the game with a bouncer to third that Muncy threw away. Two batters later, Alvarez got Xavier Scruggs to hit a ground ball to short, but Pinder threw it away allowing Galloway to score from second.
Nashville jumped in front in the fourth when the first three batters reached. Muncy started the inning with a sharp single to right field. Renato Nunez followed with a ground-rule double to left-center to put Muncy at third.
Smolinski cut into New Orleans’ lead with a run-scoring single to make it 1-1, and Andrew Lambo knocked in Nunez with a 4-6-3 double play.
They added a run in the next inning as Joey Wendle sliced a single down the left field line and Pinder lined a triple down the right field line.
It remained 3-1 until the Zephyrs battled back with a pair of runs in the seventh.
Dillon Overton had retired 11 consecutive batters before four straight reached. Robert Andino started the rally with a two-out double and came around to score on Austin Nola’s RBI single.
The next batter, Elliot Soto, lined a base hit to right to even the game at 3-3. It stayed that way until Hood’s shot in the top of the tenth.
The four-game series concludes Tuesday night at First Tennessee Park. Right-hander Zach Neal (2-1, 3.52) starts for Nashville against right-hander Dylan Axelrod (0-0, 0.00) for New Orleans. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m.
