Hispanic Heritage Night for the Nashville Sounds

NASHVILLE, TN – Even with the hype surrounding the Savannah Bananas (I’m still not even sure what that is—like the Harlem Globetrotters for baseball, maybe?) playing down the street at Nissan Stadium, the Sounds still saw their highest attendance of the week at 8,993. Despite the lively crowd, the home team wasn’t able to get much going, ultimately losing 4–1 in the fifth game of the series.

It was Vihuela Night in Nashville, part of the Copa de la Diversión (Fun Cup) series, where the team temporarily changes its identity and logo to the Vihuelas de Nashville—a celebration of Hispanic and Latino culture. Don’t worry, I’ll save you the Googling: “Vihuelas” doesn’t mean “Sounds.” A vihuela is actually a small Spanish guitar. Considering the original Sounds logo featured a player using a guitar as a bat—and the scoreboard at First Horizon Park is shaped like a guitar—it’s a fitting name for Hispanic Heritage Night.

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Vinny Nittoli got the start for the Sounds, but he didn’t stay long. Even though he struck out three of the four batters he faced, Aaron Ashby came in at the top of the second. Ashby was making his Nashville debut this year after a recent rehab assignment. Management wanted to get him some reps and see how he was progressing. The answer? Eh... not bad. It wasn’t a terrible outing for someone stepping back onto the mound after some time off.

While Nashville’s pitching staff was sorting things out, the offense tried to make early moves. Infielder Reynal Delgado dropped a bloop into center field—a gimmie single, for sure. But a miscommunication in the Tides' outfield left the ball untouched, and Delgado made it safely to second. Freddy Zamora followed, sending a hit down the third-base line that hugged the chalk perfectly, bringing Delgado home. Unfortunately, that would be the lone run for the Sounds.

In the top of the third, with a man on second, Tides catcher Samuel Basallo ripped one down the first-base line and into the outfield, easily scoring the runner and tying things up. Ashby got the Sounds out of the inning without any further damage, but management had seen enough. Carlos Rodriguez was brought in to start the fourth inning—he was the scheduled starter anyway, so I’m sure his first thought was, “Finally!”

Rodriguez might’ve been excited at first—but that feeling probably shifted to “Get me out of here!” pretty quickly. (Spoiler: they didn’t.)

In the top of the sixth, the Tides began to press. Basallo, on second, scored off a double by infielder Vimael Machín. If Nashville learned anything, it’s that a one-run lead just won’t cut it. TT Bowens came up next and... well... he cranked one deep to center and over the fence. The home run and RBI gave the visitors a 4–1 lead that they’d hold onto for the rest of the game.

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Just one more game left in the series—and it’s on Mother’s Day. Unfortunately, only one team will get to make their moms proud!