Since the Nashville Sounds Minor League Baseball team was established in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1978, its pitchers have pitched seven no-hitters, which include two perfect games. A no-hit game occurs when a pitcher (or pitchers) allows no hits over the course of a game. [1] A perfect game, a much rarer feat, occurs when no batters reach base by a hit or any other means, such as a walk, hit by pitch, or error. [1]
Nashville's seven no-hitters were accomplished by a total of twelve pitchers. Five were complete games pitched by a lone pitcher, and two were combined no-hitters. One occurred while the team was a member of the Double-A Southern League, two while in the Triple-A American Association, and four in the Triple-A Pacific Coast League. Five were pitched at the Sounds' first home ballpark, Herschel Greer Stadium, where the team played from 1978 to 2014. None have been pitched at First Horizon Park, where they have played since 2015. Two were pitched in road games.
The Sounds' first no-hitter was Jim Deshaies' 5–1 win over the Columbus Astros on May 4, 1984, at Herschel Greer Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee. [2] In the second inning, Deshaies walked three batters and hit another, accounting for the only Astros run of the game, the second game of a seven-inning doubleheader. [3] Deshaies struck out eight batters including Ty Gainey for the final out. [4] Their second no-hitter was thrown by Bryan Kelly on July 17, 1985, against the Oklahoma City 89ers at Greer Stadium. [2] [5] The no-hit bid was nearly broken up in the eighth inning when Nick Capra executed a swinging bunt down the first base line, but first baseman Mike Laga fielded the ball and tossed it to Kelly who rushed to step on first for the out. [5]
Jack Armstrong tossed the club's third no-hitter on August 7, 1988, versus the Indianapolis Indians in Nashville. [2] [6] He finished one base runner shy of perfection after Razor Shines reached on a walk in the fourth inning. [6] Second baseman Lenny Harris backed-up Armstrong in the fifth when he ran down a sharply-hit grounder and made an off-balance throw to get Jack Daugherty out at first. [6] Harris also made significant contributions to the previous night's game in which Indians pitchers Randy Johnson and Pat Pacillo pitched a no-hit game against the Sounds, but lost. [7] That game was won by Nashville when Harris walked to first base, stole second base, stole third base, and then came home, scoring on a groundout. [2]
On April 7, 2003, John Wasdin pitched a perfect game against the Albuquerque Isotopes at Greer. [8] Third baseman Mike Gulan made two critical defensive plays to keep the perfect game bid intact. The first was the barehanded-fielding of Jesus Medrano's bunt in the top of the fourth inning, which he threw to first baseman Adam Hyzdu to get Medrano out by a step. [9] The other came in the top of the ninth as Gulan made a backhanded catch of Matt Treanor's sharply-hit line drive for the inning's first out. [9] Only the next-to-last hitter, Matt Erickson, worked the count full before striking out swinging on a curveball. [10] Wasdin completed the game by striking out the final batter, pinch hitter Rob Stratton. [10] In all, Wasdin threw 100 pitches, striking out 15 batters. [8] This was the second nine-inning complete perfect game in Pacific Coast League history. [11]
The Sounds' first combined no-hitter occurred on July 15, 2006, in Nashville, when pitchers Carlos Villanueva (6 IP), Mike Meyers (2 IP), and Alec Zumwalt (1 IP) no-hit the Memphis Redbirds. [12] Villanueva, working under a limit of 90 pitches in his Triple-A debut, was relieved by Meyers at the start of the seventh inning, and Zumwalt came in for the save in the ninth working a 1-2-3 inning and striking out Jason Conti on a checked swing. [12] [13]
Manny Parra pitched the franchise's second perfect game on June 25, 2007, against the Round Rock Express at the Dell Diamond in Round Rock, Texas, making it the first Sounds no-hitter in a road game. [14] Only two Express players managed to work the count full: Jason Lane and Cody Ransom. [15] Otherwise, Parra experienced little difficulty in retiring hitters. The last batter of the game was pinch hitter Jesse Garcia, who popped out to Brad Nelson at first. [16] Parra threw 107 pitches and struck out 11 hitters to record the third nine-inning complete perfect game in Pacific Coast League history. [14]
Most recently, Chris Smith (6 IP), Sean Doolittle (1 IP), Tucker Healy (1 IP), and Simón Castro (1 IP) pitched a combined no-hitter on June 7, 2017, versus the Omaha Storm Chasers at Werner Park in Papillion, Nebraska. [17] The 36-year-old Smith pitched six scoreless innings before being relieved by a trio of pitchers including Doolittle, who was with the team on a major league rehab assignment. [17]
Score | Game score with Sounds runs listed first |
---|---|
BR | Number of base runners by the opposing team |
(#) | Number of innings in a game that was shorter or longer than 9 innings |
£ | Pitcher was left-handed |
![]() | Perfect game |
No. | Date | Pitcher(s) | Score | BR | Opponent | Location | Catcher | Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | May 4, 1984 | Jim Deshaies £ | 5–1 (7) | 5 | Columbus Astros | Herschel Greer Stadium | Bill Lindsey |
| [18] |
2 | July 17, 1985 | Bryan Kelly | 6–0 | 6 | Oklahoma City 89ers | Herschel Greer Stadium | Dwight Lowry |
| [19] |
3 | August 7, 1988 | Jack Armstrong | 4–0 | 1 | Indianapolis Indians | Herschel Greer Stadium | Terry McGriff |
| [20] |
4 | April 7, 2003 | John Wasdin ![]() | 4–0 | 0 | Albuquerque Isotopes | Herschel Greer Stadium | Humberto Cota |
| [21] |
5 | July 15, 2006 | Carlos Villanueva (6 IP) Mike Meyers (2 IP) Alec Zumwalt (1 IP) | 2–0 | 3 | Memphis Redbirds | Herschel Greer Stadium | Chad Moeller |
| [22] |
6 | June 25, 2007 | Manny Parra £![]() | 3–0 | 0 | Round Rock Express | Dell Diamond | Mike Rivera |
| [23] |
7 | June 7, 2017 | Chris Smith (6 IP) Sean Doolittle £(1 IP) Tucker Healy (1 IP) Simón Castro (1 IP) | 4–0 | 3 | Omaha Storm Chasers | Werner Park | Matt McBride |
| [24] |
The Nashville Sounds are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers. They are located in Nashville, Tennessee, and are named for the city's association with the music industry. The team plays their home games at First Horizon Park, which opened in 2015 on the site of the historic Sulphur Dell ballpark. The Sounds previously played at Herschel Greer Stadium from its opening in 1978 until the end of the 2014 season. They are the oldest active professional sports franchise in Nashville.
Herschel Greer Stadium was a Minor League Baseball park in Nashville, Tennessee, on the grounds of Fort Negley, an American Civil War fortification, approximately two mi (3.2 km) south of the city's downtown district. The facility closed at the end of the 2014 baseball season and remained deserted for over four years until its demolition in 2019. Following an archaeological survey, the land is expected to be reincorporated into Fort Negley Park.
Ricky Allen Helling is an American former Major League Baseball pitcher.
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Thomas Andrew "Shotgun" Rogers was a Major League Baseball pitcher from 1917 to 1921 for the St. Louis Browns, Philadelphia Athletics, and New York Yankees.
First Horizon Park, formerly known as First Tennessee Park, is a baseball park in downtown Nashville, Tennessee, United States. The home of the Triple-A Nashville Sounds of the International League, it opened on April 17, 2015, and can seat up to 10,000 people. It replaced the Sounds' former home, Herschel Greer Stadium, where the team played from its founding in 1978 until 2014.
The Redbirds–Sounds rivalry is a Minor League Baseball rivalry between Tennessee's two Triple-A baseball teams, the Memphis Redbirds and the Nashville Sounds. The teams compete in the West Division of the International League. Their games are played at Memphis' AutoZone Park and Nashville's First Horizon Park. From 2012 to 2015, the rivalry was incorporated into a promotion called the I-40 Cup Series.
The Nashville Sounds Minor League Baseball team was established in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1978, after Larry Schmittou and a group of investors purchased the rights to operate an expansion franchise of the Double-A Southern League. The Sounds played their home games at Herschel Greer Stadium from its opening in 1978 until the end of the 2014 season. In 2015, the Sounds left Greer for First Tennessee Park, now known as First Horizon Park, a new facility located on the site of the historic Sulphur Dell ballpark, home to Nashville's minor league teams from 1885 to 1963.
The 1908 Nashville Vols season was the 15th season of minor league baseball in Nashville, Tennessee, and the Nashville Vols' 8th season in the Southern Association. The Vols finished the previous season in last place, but this year won the league pennant, by defeating he New Orleans Pelicans 1-0 on the last day of the season in a game dubbed by Grantland Rice "The Greatest Game Ever Played In Dixie."