Bases Loaded Walk Costs Bats in Nashville

NASHVILLE, TN – Mark Mathias drew a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the seventh inning that scored the eventual winning run in a 4-3 victory for the Nashville Sounds over the Louisville Bats on Tuesday night at First Horizon Park.

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Mathias drew the game-deciding walk on a 3-1 pitch from Louisville reliever Buck Farmer, who had allowed two singles and a walk to load up the bases in the inning.

The Bats got off to a quick start in the top of the first inning when Lorenzo Cedrola led off the game with a triple. He scored one batter later when Juniel Querecuto tripled him home. The two triples were the first of the season for Louisville, which entered the game as the only team in all of affiliated professional baseball without a triple. JT Riddle added another triple later in the game.

With Querecuto at third and still no outs in the first inning, Cristian Santana hit a soft line drive to second base that was mishandled by Andruw Monasterio, allowing Querecuto to score and give the Bats a 2-0 lead.

Louisville starter Ben Lively held Nashville off the scoreboard until the bottom of the fourth inning when Mario Feliciano drove home David Dahl with a single to cut the deficit to 2-1.

In the bottom of the fifth, Jonathan Davis tied the game with his first home run of the season. Later in the inning, Dahl doubled home Brice Turang to give the Sounds their first lead of the night.

Taylor Motter tied the game with a solo home run in the top of the seventh, but Mathias’ RBI walk in the bottom of the inning gave Nashville a lead it would never relinquish. The Bats did put runners at second and third with one out in the top of the eighth, but back-to-back strikeouts ended the threat.

Louisville and Nashville will play game two of their six-game series on Wednesday night, with first pitch scheduled for 7:35 p.m. ET at First Horizon Park.