San Antonio center fielder Trent Grisham hit a solo home run in the bottom of the eighth inning to lift the Missions to a 6-5 win over the Nashville Sounds Tuesday night at Nelson Wolff Stadium.
Grisham’s blast was off Nashville reliever Miguel Del Pozo and came with one out in the frame. It snapped a 5-5 tie in what was a back-and-forth game all night.
Neither team got length from their starting pitcher as Pedro Payano threw 79 pitches in 2 2/3 innings for the Sounds and Drew Smyly threw 83 pitches in 3 2/3 innings for the Missions. Payano allowed five earned runs and Smyly yielded four.
The scoring started immediately in the first when San Antonio’s Nate Orf knocked in a pair of runs with a single to center field.
Patrick Wisdom’s first hit of the night trimmed the deficit to 2-1 in the top of the second, but the Missions came back with a run of their own to extend the lead to 3-1. The same happened in the third when Matt Davidson’s RBI fielder’s choice netted Nashville a run, but San Antonio’s Lucas Erceg drilled a two-run homer off Payano to make it a 5-2 game.
In the fourth, Juremi Profar had an RBI double and Eli White came through with a run-scoring single to cut the deficit to one run at 5-4.
Relievers Tim Dillard and Kyle Dowdy kept the Sounds in it while the offense chipped away. The two bullpen arms tossed 3 1/3 scoreless innings to keep the game close. Zack Granite’s RBI double plated Jett Bandy in the sixth inning to tie the game at 6-6.
It stayed that way until Grisham’s homer off a 3-2 pitch in the bottom of the eighth gave San Antonio the lead.
Game three of the four-game series is scheduled for Wednesday night in San Antonio. Right-hander Austin Bibens-Dirkx (0-1, 3.68) starts for Nashville against right-hander Aaron Wilkerson (6-1, 2.72) for San Antonio. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.
Post-Game Notes
– With tonight’s 6-5 loss, the Sounds dropped to 40-55 on the season.
– Patrick Wisdom had two more hits for Nashville and is hitting .306 (11-for-36) in nine games in the month of July.
– Zack Granite swiped his 17th base of the season and is now tied for seventh-most in the Pacific Coast League.
– Eli White went 1-for-4 and extended his hitting streak to six games.
The 2019 season is the 42nd in Nashville Sounds franchise history and first as the Triple-A affiliate of the Texas Rangers. Single-game tickets are available now by calling (615) 690-4487 or by visiting www.nashvillesounds.com.
