The Memphis Redbirds and Nashville Sounds traded shutouts in a doubleheader on Thursday night at AutoZone Park.
In the Redbirds’ 2-0 game two victory, starting pitcher Matthew Liberatore dominated the Nashville lineup. The left-handed pitcher struck out seven batters in five shutout innings, allowed three base hits and walked two. Right-handed reliever Guillermo Zuñiga recorded his first save of the season with a 1-2-3 ninth inning.
Offensively, Memphis (3-3) recorded seven hits across 13 innings at the plate, stranding a total of 13 runners on base. The team’s lone tallies came in the bottom of the fifth inning of game two, an inning in which Memphis did not record a hit.
After three Redbirds walked to load the bases with one out in the frame, catcher Ivan Herrera grounded a ball to second baseman Keston Hiura. The Nashville defense attempted to turn a double play, but Herrera beat out the ground ball. In a display of tremendous effort and baseball IQ, Redbirds shortstop Masyn Winn scored from second base on the play to make it 2-0 Memphis.
Right-handed starting pitcher Gordon Graceffo made his Triple-A debut in game one and faced the minimum through two innings. Graceffo then allowed three runs in the next two frames and was credited with the loss in Memphis’ 4-0 game one defeat.
The brightest star offensively for Memphis was leftfielder Moises Gomez. The right-handed hitter was the lone Redbird to record multiple hits on the night, going 3-for-5 with a double and a hit-by-pitch.
Memphis returns to AutoZone Park on Friday, April 7 to take on the Nashville Sounds (3-3) at 7:05 p.m. Right-handed pitcher Dakota Hudson is scheduled to start for Memphis.
