Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp vs Nashville Sounds

Jacksonville struck in the first inning. Cam Cannarella led off with a walk and De Los Santos followed two batters later with a two-run homer — his 19th of the season — to give the Jumbo Shrimp a 2-0 lead.

The home team added two more in the second. Taylor led off with a solo home run (his first of the year). Matthew Etzel followed with a double, stole third, and scored on a Maximo Acosta RBI single to stretch the lead to 4-0.

Jacksonville padded the lead in the fourth. Taylor doubled, and Etzel walloped a two-run homer — his 15th of the season — extending the advantage to 6-0.

Nashville got on the board in the fifth. Eric Brown Jr. walked and advanced to third on a Brandon Lockridge infield single. Bo Naylor followed with an RBI double, cutting the deficit to 6-1. That was all the Sounds could muster.

Etzel's two-run homer in the fourth inning effectively ended the contest. After Taylor's leadoff double put a runner in scoring position, Etzel's blast to right-centre pushed the lead to six runs and removed any doubt. Nashville's offence, generating only three hits all night, never threatened to mount a rally of that magnitude.

• Matthew Etzel, Jacksonville: 2-for-3, HR (15), 2 RBI, double, stolen base. His fourth-inning homer was the decisive blow.
• Deyvison De Los Santos, Jacksonville: 2-run HR (19) in the first inning set the tone for the night.
• Brayden Taylor, Jacksonville: Solo HR (1) and a double, scored two runs.
• Justin King, Jacksonville (W, 3-0): 1.1 scoreless innings with 2 strikeouts, earned the win in relief.

The Jumbo Shrimp bullpen was outstanding. Matt Pushard threw three scoreless innings with two strikeouts. Wikelman González struck out three in 1.2 innings. Zach Pop, Jake Walkinshaw and Stephen Jones combined for five strikeouts across three scoreless innings to close it out.

Jacksonville out-hit Nashville 8-3, and the three home runs accounted for five of their six runs — a power-dependent offence that worked decisively in their favour. Nashville's only extra-base hit was Bo Naylor's RBI double. The Sounds committed two errors to Jacksonville's one, but with only three hits overall, defensive miscues were secondary to an offence that simply could not solve Jacksonville's pitching. The six Jumbo Shrimp pitchers combined for 12 strikeouts against a Nashville lineup averaging well over five runs per game.

Jacksonville improved to 64-62 (22-30 in the second half). Nashville dropped to 69-58 (26-26). The series continues Thursday at 7:05 p.m. ET from VyStar Ballpark, with RHP Jace Beck (7-3, 3.36) scheduled for Jacksonville against Nashville RHP Colman Crow (8-1, 3.31).

A complete performance from Jacksonville: timely power from the middle of the order and relentless relief pitching that shut down a Nashville lineup that had scored 14 runs the night before. The Sounds, who had won four of their previous five, could not replicate that output against a deep Jumbo Shrimp bullpen.