Bats take series opener, 3-1

Toledo, OH - The Louisville Bats (52-79) rode eight strong innings from right-hander Rookie Davies for a 3-1 win over the Toledo Mud Hens (63-68) in the series opener Friday night.
Louisville jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the third inning on an RBI-single from catcher Jose Duarte, plating Zach Vincej. Duarte went 3-for-4 with two-RBI in his Triple-A debut after being transferred from Single-A Daytona earlier in the day.
Rookie Davis (4-2, 4.47) retired the first 13 Mud Hens batters of the evening. A one-out double from Tyler Collins in the fifth inning was the first Toledo batter to reach against Davis. In the sixth inning, Toledo's Omar Infante tied the game 1-1 with an rbi-single.
The Bats came right back in the seventh inning to recapture the lead. First, it was Jose Duarte driving in Alex Blandino after he led off the frame with a double. Tyler Goeddel followed that up with an RBI-single of his own to make it 3-1 Louisville.
Davis worked his way through eight innings on 110 pitches, allowing an unearned run on four hits, one walk, and six strikeouts. Over his last four starts, Davis has struck out 26 batters and walked only one.
Right-hander Jimmy Herget allowed the first two batters to reach in the ninth inning. A sacrifice bunt from Bryan Holaday moved runners to second and third with one out. Herget picked up back-to-back strikeouts against Jason Krizan and Dominic Ficociello to secure the 3-1 win. It was his eighth save of the season.
Along with Duarte's three-hit night, Tyler Goeddel went 3-for-5 and Zach Vincej finished 2-for-3 and scored two-runs.
The Bats will go for the series victory tomorrow night in game two of the three-game set at 7:05 p.m. Right-hander Tyler Mahle (3-4, 2.73 ERA) will toe the rubber for Louisville, while left-hander Daniel Norris (0-3, 10.00 ERA) will take the mound for Toledo.