Bats Rally in the Ninth Again, Top Columbus 8-5

COLUMBUS, OH -- Brett Kennedy strikes out eight and a four-run rally in the ninth lifts the Louisville Bats (32-26) 8-5 over the Columbus Clippers (30-28) on Wednesday night.

[Box Score]

After Christian Encarnacion-Strand drew a two out walk in the top of the first, Matt Reynolds put the Bats on the board first with a two-run homer, his eighth of the season.

Columbus cut the Louisville lead in half in the bottom of the first, plating a run on two base hits to make the score 2-1.

Louisville struck again in the third inning as Henry Ramos drew a leadoff walk, and Joey Votto singled to open up the frame. Encarnacion-Strand grounded into a fielder's choice to score Ramos and extend the Bats lead to 3-1.

The Clippers scratched away at the lead again in the bottom of the fifth, hitting a solo home run to cut into the deficit, still down 3-2.

Bats righty Brett Kennedy (2-1, 2.53) delivered his best start of the season, covering 6.0 innings while surrendering two runs on four hits with a lone walk and eight strikeouts. The outing marked Kennedy’s first quality start of the season.

Jhonny Pereda extended his hit streak to 16 games in the top of the seventh with a solo home run, his second of the year, to push the Louisville lead to 4-2.

Columbus was able to tie the game at 4-4 in the bottom of the eighth, scoring two runs on two base hits and a sacrifice fly.

In the ninth inning, a walk and a stolen base from defensive replacement Jacob Hurtubise got the Bats started and allowed them to retake a 5-4 lead after Christian Encarnacion-Strand followed with a two out RBI double. A walk to Matt Reynolds followed by consecutive RBI singles from Nick Martini and Chuckie Robinson grew the lead to 7-4. After another walk to Michael Siani, Louisville added one more insurance run behind an RBI single from Jhonny Pereda to make the score 8-4 entering the bottom of the ninth.

The Clippers threatened with a run on two hits in the bottom of the ninth, but Bats reliever Daniel Duarte (3-0, 3.62) avoided any further damage to secure the 8-5 victory.

The series will continue with game three from Huntington Park scheduled for Thursday, June 8th at 12:05 pm E.T. Right-hander Teddy Stankiewicz (0-0, 12.00) will take the hill for the Bats while fellow righty Gavin Williams (3-1, 2.43) is set to go for the Clippers.