Bats hand Mud Hens 5-2 loss in series opener

TOLEDO, Oh. - The Louisville Bats (24-39) used an early offensive surge to hand the Toledo Mud Hens (39-27) a 5-2 loss on Friday night at Fifth Third Field. The Bats were leading 5-0 going into the ninth and just narrowly missed handing Toledo their first shutout loss of the season.

José López (3-6, 3.84) was spectacular in his third win on the mound, pitching the longest scoreless start for a Bats pitcher so far this season. He went seven innings, allowing four hits and one walk while tossing two strikeouts.
Toledo's Josh Turley took the loss, falling to 5-3 on the season. He went five innings, surrendering four earned runs from five hits while walking five and striking out two.
The Louisville hitters wasted no time at all to get runs on the board. Nick Senzel opened by hammering his 11^th double of the season into center field. Gabriel Guerrero then followed up with his ninth RBI single of the year to score Senzel. The attack continued as D.J. Peterson stepped up to the plate and smacked another double to score Guerrero to make it 2-0 in the opening inning.
The third inning produced similar results. Following two walks, D.J. Peterson connected again for a single to load the bases. A passed ball to Steve Selsky then scored Dilson Herrera. Phillip Ervin then came up to hit a sacrifice fly ball to score Guerrero to make it 4-0 Louisville.
The top of the sixth inning brought in yet another double from Nick Senzel, making tonight his sixth consecutive multi-hit game.
D.J. Peterson was equally as stellar at the plate. He had a three-hit night, recording a single in the top of the ninth to bring Blake Trahan home to make it a 5-0 Bats lead.
Despite trailing the entire game, the Mud Hens put up a fight in the bottom of the ninth. Two singles followed by a groundout resulted in two Toledo runs to make it a final score of 5-2.
The teams will return to Fifth Third Field on Saturday night for game two of the series. Louisville left-hander Brandon Finnegan (2-4, 4.36) will start against Toledo righty, Jacob Turner (0-0, 5.57). First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m.