Bats Fall Short 11-10 In Offensive Battle With Iowa

The Louisville Bats suffered the loss in a back-and-forth offensive barrage, falling to the Iowa Cubs 11-10 Thursday night at Louisville Slugger Field.

Julian Aguiar made his second start of the season against the I-Cubs, but showed early signs of struggle after going scoreless in his first outing. With one out in the first inning, Aguiar gave up a walk to Jonathan Long, followed by a single by Pedro Ramirez. The Bats had a chance to escape clean after a flyout, but Iowa capitalized with back-to-back home runs with a 3-run homer by Chas McCormick, followed by a solo shot by James Triantos to take a 4-0 lead out of the inning.

The Bats’ offense went scoreless in their first chance at the plate, but cut into the early deficit in the second. JJ Bleday led off the inning with a double off of Iowa starter Javier Assad, then Michael Chavis cracked a 2-run home run over the center field wall for his first of the season. Louisville would load the bases later in the inning, and a Hector Rodriguez walk would plate another run. Rece Hinds would come to the plate with two outs, but flew out to keep the score at 4-3 in favor of the I-Cubs.

Aguiar responded well after Iowa’s initial scoring effort by retiring three straight batters in the second. However, the Cubs got a run back quickly in the third after a solo home run by Pedro Ramirez to begin the inning. The Bats recorded two quick outs to help Aguiar, but two consecutive walks brought up Christian Bethancourt, who took Aguiar deep to take an 8-3 lead.

Little by little, Louisville inched its way back into the game with some offensive fireworks of its own. Chavis helped the Bats get a run back in the third by muscling the first pitch of his at-bat over the left field wall for his second homer of the game. The Bats would continue their momentum into the fourth with a Rece Hinds RBI double, followed by Bleday’s own two-bagger to plate Hinds. Christian Encarnacion-Strand knocked in Bleday on a single to right, then Chavis created more magic, reaching base on an error after a hard grounder to third base to knot up the score 8-8 after just four innings.

Yunior Marte helped relieve some of the offensive pressure from Iowa while replacing Aguiar in the fourth, but Iowa threatened once again in the fifth. After loading the bases due to a single and two walks, Marte would exit for Tejay Antone, who gave up a run on a wild pitch to give the Cubs a 9-8 lead. That lead didn’t last long, with Garrett Hampson reaching base on a walk, then coming around to score on a wild pitch from Charlie Barnes to tie things up 9-9 heading into the sixth.

Hagen Danner relieved Antone in the seventh, but Iowa wasted no time tacking on more runs by way of the long ball, with Bethancourt slugging a go-ahead homer over the right field wall for his second of the game and to take an 11-9 lead.

The Bats would get a few opportunities in an attempt to cut the lead, getting runners in scoring position in the seventh and eighth innings. Those efforts ended to no avail, but Louisville made it come down to the wire in the ninth.

Dunn reached base on a walk to begin the inning, then Edwin Arroyo knocked him home with a triple. However, Iowa’s Gavin Hollowell was unfazed by the Bats’ attempt at another comeback and struck out the next three batters to hand Louisville the crushing loss.

Barnes (W, 1-0) earned the win for the I-Cubs, with Hollowell (S, 1) earning his first save of the season. Antone, Trevor Kuncl, and Zach Maxwell all tossed scoreless outings for the Bats, while Danner (L, 0-1) suffered his first loss from the bullpen this season. Chavis led the Louisville offense with a 2-4 night on two homers and three RBI, while Dunn and Bleday each had three hits on the night.

The Bats (4-2) continue their six-game series at home against Iowa (3-3) on Friday night. First pitch is set for 7:15 p.m. at Louisville Slugger Field. Nick Curran and Jim Kelch will be on the call for Talk Radio 1080-AM.