Bats Fall To Indians In Finale, 9-5

The Louisville Bats fell behind early and were never able to mount a comeback, dropping the finale of their six-game series to the Indianapolis Indians 9-5 at Victory Field on Sunday afternoon.

In a rematch from Tuesday night’s series opener, Louisville’s Chase Petty opposed Indianapolis’ Wilber Dotel on the mound. Following a scoreless first, the Bats were the ones to open the scoring in the second.

Michael Chavis and Michael Toglia got the inning started with back-to-back singles before a sacrifice bunt from Will Banfield moved the runners to second and third. Two hitters later, Blake Dunn looped a single into shallow right field, allowing both runners to score.

The Indians were quick to respond in the bottom half. A double, a single, and a stolen base put runners on second and third with one out. RBI singles from Nick Cimillo and Mike Jarvis tied the game. Then with two outs, Alika Williams connected on a three-run homer to deep left-center field, his first homer of the season, to give the Indians the 5-2 lead.

Petty and Dotel both didn’t give up a run from there, with neither offense mounting much of a threat against the starters after the second. Petty (L, 1-2) would suffer the loss after giving up the five runs on eight hits with one walk and three strikeouts over 4.0 innings. Dotel (W, 1-2) earned the win for the Indians, surrendering two earned runs on six hits with three walks and five strikeouts in 5.2 frames of work.

Indianapolis added an unearned run against Bats reliever Lyon Richardson in the sixth on a throwing error from Louisville second baseman Francisco Urbaez, increasing the lead to four runs.

Justin Meis held the lead for the home team with 1.1 clean innings. In the eighth, the Bats threatened against Beau Burrows, loading the bases with a pair of singles and a walk. But with the tying run at the plate, Edwin Arroyo grounded out to end the frame with the Indians up 6-2.

Luis Mey tossed a scoreless bottom of the seventh for the Bats and Zach Maxwell nearly got through the eighth unscathed. However, with the bases loaded and two outs, the Indians got the big hit off Maxwell that the Bats failed to get in the top half of the inning as Ronny Simon connected on a bases-clearing triple off the center field fence, putting the game out of reach at 9-2.

Louisville got a little closer in the ninth on a towering three-run home run from JJ Bleday, his second with the Bats. It proved to be too little, too late as the Indians wrapped up the win to salvage the series finale.

Hector Rodriguez extended his season-opening on-base streak to 15 games by going 1-for-2 with three walks. Chavis set a season-high with three hits, all singles in the loss. Eight of the nine Louisville starters recorded a hit.

The Bats (8-7) return home to begin a six-game series against the Toledo Mud Hens on Tuesday night, April 14. First pitch is set for 6:05 p.m. at Louisville Slugger Field. Nick Curran and Jim Kelch will be on the call for Sports Talk 790.