NASHVILLE, Tennessee – Kolten Wong had his second two-homer game in six contests, and the Memphis bullpen locked down at the end of a 7-4 Redbird win over the Nashville Sounds (Triple-A Athletics) Tuesday night.
The win was Memphis’ (28-34) fourth-in-a-row, which is a new season long. The Redbird bullpen stranded six runners in the final three Nashville (39-26) at bats to secure the win, including the go-ahead runner on third in the seventh and the winning run on third in the ninth.
Wong hit a three-run homer in the fifth to tie the game at three, and he launched a go-ahead shot to start a three-run Memphis 10th inning. Alberto Rosario had three hits in the game, and Charlie Tilson and Matt Williams joined Wong with two hits. Tommy Pham walked four times.
Before doing it this week, Wong had never had a pair of two-homer games in the same season in his professional career.
The game was filled with clutch plays from both teams all night long, starting when Wong homered with two on and one out in the fifth to erase a 3-0 Nashville lead. But the tie game lasted just one pitch, as Chad Pinder went deep on the first pitch Mike Mayers threw in the bottom of the fifth to give the Sounds a 4-3 lead.
Corey Littrell relieved Mayers and threw a 1-2-3 sixth, and the Redbirds tied the game at four with a run in the seventh inning. Littrell ran into trouble in the bottom of the seventh, however, before John Church came on to put out the fire. With runners on second and third with no outs, Church struck out Pinder, induced a foul pop-out and got a strikeout looking to keep the game tied at four.
Wong showed off his defense in the bottom of the eighth in his second professional game at center field, when he erased the potential go-ahead run at the plate with a one-hopper on the line to Rosario at the dish.
Memphis went down in order in the top of the ninth, and Miguel Socolovich came on to pitch the bottom-half. Socolovich gave up a one-out triple and a walk, and after a strikeout and an intentional walk, he struck out Colin Walsh to leave the bases loaded and send the game to extra innings.
Less than one week after a walk-off grand slam against Colorado Springs in the bottom of the ninth, Wong hit a go-ahead home run to begin a three-run Memphis 10th inning. Tilson tripled and scored on a groundout, and Pham walked and scored on a throwing error on a force attempt.
Sam Tuivailala picked up his second save in two days with a scoreless bottom of the 10th. He struck out two in the inning.
Mayers went 5.0 innings and allowed four runs, two earned, on five hits to go along with six strikeouts. He was also the starting pitcher when Wong hit the walk-off grand slam against the Sky Sox last week.
The Redbirds and the Sounds play tomorrow at 12:05 p.m. (CT) and Thursday night at 7:05, before the Redbirds are back at AutoZone Park Friday through Monday to host the Iowa Cubs (Triple-A Cubs). The upcoming homestand features an Adult Performance T-Shirt giveaway on Friday, a Redbirds Beach Towel giveaway on Saturday along with a Kolten Wong Hawaiian Jersey theme ticket and postgame fireworks, and a Father’s Day celebration and Cardinals adult socks giveaway on Sunday.
For tickets or for more information on the 2016 Redbirds season, contact the Redbirds front office at (901) 721-6000 or visit www.memphisredbirds.com.
