Bobby Dalbec Walks Off Knights With Home Run in Extras
NASHVILLE – Nashville took down Charlotte in extra innings on Sunday night to win the series and end the nine-game homestand with a 3-2 walk-off home run off the bat of Bobby Dalbec. The former Charlotte Knight ended the week with his fourth home run of the series, and his
NASHVILLE – Nashville took down Charlotte in extra innings on Sunday night to win the series and end the nine-game homestand with a 3-2 walk-off home run off the bat of Bobby Dalbec. The former Charlotte Knight ended the week with his fourth home run of the series, and his 10th-inning home run was the 200th of his professional career.
Stallings surrendered back-to-back extra-base hits in the top of the first that allowed the Knights to take a 1-0 lead before retiring five straight. Will Robertson ended that stretch with a double after a hitting a triple in the first but was left stranded by Stallings and the Sounds. The Nashville right-hander proceeded to retire seven straight after the double in the third to get through five innings with just the one run and three hits allowed.
The Sounds managed a pair of hits and a walk off Mike Clevinger in the second but left two stranded and left another pair on base in the third. Jared Oliva put a jolt into the offense with a one-out solo homer in the fourth to even the score at 1-1. The Sounds threatened again in the fifth off Charlotte reliever Chase Plymell. Daz Cameron and Tyler Black worked consecutive two-out singles to put runners on the corners before Bobby Dalbec drew a walk to load the bases for Oliver Dunn. After a lengthy at-bat, Dunn grounded out to strand all three and send Stallings back to the mound in a 1-1 tie.
Robertson made it three of the four hits surrendered by Stallings with his second double of the game and ended the eight straight retired by the Nashville starter. Stallings bounced back to get the next two and ended the sixth with his fourth strikeout of the game and his third quality appearance in eight games as a starter.
Blake Holub worked an inning-plus of scoreless relief of Stallings before the Sounds played the matchup game with Josh Maciejewski taking over in the top of the eighth with a runner on first and an out. Maciejewski retired the first man he faced before allowing a walk and a check-swing single before Easton McGee was the third Nashville pitcher used in the frame. McGee inherited a bases-loaded situation of his own to navigate but induced a ground ball to leave all three Knights stranded and the game still knotted up at 1-1.
Oliva reached for the third time and earned his second hit of the game with an opposite field single before stealing second and third base with two outs. A strikeout by Adisyn Coffey sent the game to the ninth with the potential go-ahead run standing on third.
McGee was back to the mound to start the ninth and allowed two straight one-out baserunners with a single and a walk. He stranded the eighth and ninth Charlotte batters of the night with a called third strike to freeze Corey Julks at the plate. A three-up, three-down bottom of the ninth sent the Sounds and Knights to their second extra-innings game of the series.
Justin Yeager made his third appearance of the series. He retired the first two Knights he faced, including keeping Robertson off base for the first time of the night. An error allowed Julks to score before Yeager surrendered his first Triple-A hit with a single to Korey Lee. Yeager struck out Bryan Ramos to keep the Charlotte advantage to just a run and set up the late-game heroics for Dalbec and the Sounds.
Wikelman Gonzalez struck out Black to start the bottom of the 10th to send Dalbec to the plate. Gonzalez began the at-bat against Dalbec with two straight low and away sliders to get into a 2-0 hole. He clipped the inner half of the plate with a third straight slider on a called strike. The Charlotte right-hander went back to the well one too many times and hung a slider over the heart of the plate in that Dalbec turned on at 112 MPH into the left field stands to give the Sounds their second walk-off win of the series.
Nashville now heads to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to face the Yankees' Triple-A affiliate for the start of a six-game series on Tuesday before returning back to First Horizon Park for the first of three home series in August. The International League's first half winners, the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp (Triple-A, Miami Marlins) come to town beginning Tuesday, August 5.
POSTGAME NOTES:
DON'T SLEEP TILL DALBEC: Bobby Dalbec carried the Nashville Sounds to a series victory with a walk-off homer against the Charlotte Knights on Sunday. It was the first walk-off home run for the franchise since Christian Arroyo's bottom of the ninth heroics in a 2-1 win over Jacksonville on August 22, 2024. The two-run blast in the bottom of the 10th was Dalbec's 12th of the season with Nashville and 200th of his professional career. Dalbec's last walk-off hit was back in 2023 for the Worcester Red Sox when the 30-year-old drove in the winning run against the Lehigh Valley IronPigs on May 20. Dalbec crushed the ball against Charlotte this past week, going 8-for-24 (.333) with four home runs. This past week was the first time since 2021 that the Sounds earned two walk-off wins in extra innings in the same series, which they achieved against the Louisville Bats on 6/30 and 7/2.
I THINK HE'S STALLINGS: It has been two weeks since right-hander Garrett Stallings made a start for the Nashville Sounds, but he showed no sign of rust with his start on Sunday night. Stallings tossed his third quality start of the season, letting up just one run over 6.0 innings with four strikeouts. A big part of Stallings' success was his ability to get ahead of hitters and force two strikes in the at-bats. Charlotte hitters were just 2-for-8 against Stallings in two-strike counts. This season, Sounds pitchers are holding hitters to a .119 batting average in 0-2 counts, which ranks No. 3 in the International League.
NICK AT NIGHT: Due to the Brewers No. 5 prospect Jeferson Quero hitting the injured list on July 27, Nick Kahle might have to play a larger role at the catcher position for Nashville. Kahle continued his recent strong play on Sunday with a 1-for-4 performance. The 27-year-old also stepped up defensively by throwing out Bryan Ramos, trying to steal second in the top of the seventh. Kahle has the second-longest hitting streak on the team at five games and the third-longest on-base streak at six games. His current hitting streak is the longest of his professional career.
HE WENT TO JARED: Jared Oliva bounced back on Sunday after a 0-for-5 performance against the Charlotte Knights on Saturday. The veteran outfielder smoked his ninth homer of the season, and his first since he earned a multi-homer game on July 8 against the Durham Bulls. Oliva's series against Charlotte was one of the best from the Nashville hitters, going 8-for-23 (.348) with two extra-base hits, four runs, and two RBI. Oliva's eight hits this week are the second-most hits he has notched in a single series this season, behind the 10 hits he etched against the Norfolk Tides from 5/6-5/11. Overall, the 29-year-old has crushed Knights' pitching this year, earning a .326 batting average with four homers and 10 RBI in 12 games.
THE BLACK MAMBA: The Nashville Sounds received an upgrade offensively when Tyler Black returned to the team Sunday from his three-game stint with the Milwaukee Brewers. Black made his first appearances of the season for Milwaukee from 7/22-7/25, going 2-for-6 with a double and an RBI. For now, he looks to continue his late surge in Nashville, which he did on Sunday against the Charlotte Knights. Black went 1-for-5 to extend his hitting streak with the Sounds to seven games and his on-base streak to a season-long 12 games.