Bats Fall Short in Sunday Afternoon Slugfest, Lose 11-8

INDIANAPOLIS, IN- The Louisville Bats (43-62) fell to the Indianapolis Indians (51-52) and lost their fifth of the seven game series at Victory Field on Sunday afternoon.

[BOX SCORE]

Each club displayed hot bats in the day game, combining for 19 runs and 22 hits in the game.

Indianapolis struck first in the bottom of the second inning. After Mason Martin drew a one-out walk and advanced to second via a bunt ground out, Indy backstop Jamie Ritchie delivered a two-out, RBI single to give the Indians a 1-0 lead. Ritchie was promptly caught in a run-down and tagged out to end the inning while attempting to advance to second base on the throw toward home.

Louisville answered immediately in the top half of the third, when Miguel Hernandez and Lorenzo Cedrola each singled to start the inning. Following a pair of strikeouts, Colin Moran came through with a two-out double to clear the bases and give Louisville a 2-1 advantage.

The Bats tacked on three more in the fourth thanks to four singles and a walk, all coming with two outs, to give Louisville a 5-1 lead. The string of hits continued a two-out hitting trend for the Bats, as they entered today’s game hitting .255 in two-out situations, a mark that ranks 4th in the International League.

Indianapolis returned the favor in the home half of the fourth when third baseman Drew Maggi tallied a two-out, two-RBI double of his own to narrow the Louisville lead to 5-3.

The scoring barrage continued over the course of the next couple of innings, with each club scratching at least one run in the fourth, fifth, and sixth inning.

The scoring in the middle innings was headlined by an RBI-single by Diego Castillo for Indy and a two-RBI double from Ronnie Dawson in the sixth. At the end of six innings it was a brand new ball game, tied at 8-8.

The tied game would survive the top half of the seventh, but Indy took their first lead since the second inning in the home half of the seventh. Jamie Ritchie and left fielder Hoy Park each tallied RBIs thanks to a base hit and sacrifice fly, respectively.

Indianapolis would add an insurance run in the eighth to reach the final score of 11-8.

Following the scheduled off day tomorrow, Louisville will head to Des Moines to take on the Iowa Cubs on Tuesday for game one of a six game series at Principal Park. First pitch is scheduled for 7:38 p.m.