Bats drop series opener to Knights, 7-4

LOUISVILLE, KY - The Louisville Bats (12-21) dropped game one of a four-game set to the Charlotte Knights (15-17) by a score of 7-4 on Thursday night at Louisville Slugger Field.
The Bats quickly got on the board in the bottom of the first inning courtesy of a Rob Brantly RBI single that plated Hernan Iribarren.
That lead vanished in the top of the third after a solo home run by Jacob May, his first of the season, evening the score at one apiece.
The Knights added four more runs in the inning highlighted by a Danny Hayes three-run homer, which chased starting pitcher Rob Wooten (1-3) out of the ball game. The right-hander allowed four runs on six hits and two walks with three strikeouts on the evening.
Louisville chipped away at the lead in the bottom of the fifth thanks to RBI groundouts from Iribarren and Tony Renda, cutting the deficit to two runs.
The Knights added to their lead in the top half of the sixth inning, as Nicky Delmonico knocked in a pair of runs to make it 7-3. Delmonico was a home run shy of the cycle.
Brandon Dixon produced the game's only run after that, hitting a team-leading fifth home run in the bottom of the eighth.
The Bats will look to right the ship in game two of the series tomorrow at 7:05 p.m. Left-hander Amir Garrett will make his first start for Louisville with right-hander Carson Fulmer (4-1, 2.88 ERA) taking the hill for Charlotte.