Frustrations Mount For Bats In 8-1 Loss

For the second straight, the Louisville Bats found themselves down eight runs early in the game, never getting their way back into it in an 8-1 Independence Day loss to the Indianapolis Indians on Friday night at Victory Field.

Looking to break through, Louisville put runners on first and second against the No. 5 prospect in all of all of baseball, Indians starter Bubba Chandler, in the top of the first. But Chandler induced a fly out to end the first and strand the runners.

In the bottom of the inning, Bats right Brian Van Belle got off to an inauspicious start. A leadoff double from Billy Cook was quickly turned into a run by Ji Hwan Bae, who grounded an RBI single to right. Van Belle struck out the next two hitters, limiting the damage to one run in the first.

The Bats again threatened in the second. Jack Rogers got the inning started with a single. But P.J. Higgins grounded into a double play to erase the leadoff hit. Trey Faltine kept the inning going by crushing a triple off the center field wall, missing a home run by just a couple feet, for his first Triple-A triple. Blake Dunn walked to put runners on the corners. Chandler (W, 3-2) escaped by striking out Bryson Brigman to hold the 1-0 lead.

In the bottom of the frame, defensive miscues and a tough call on a close play led the game unraveling for the Bats. With a runner on first and nobody out, Matt Fraizer hit a ground ball up the middle. Levi Jordan fielded and flipped to Brigman covering second. Brigman appeared to touch the second base bag just before the Indianapolis baserunner, which would have been a key first out of the inning. However, umpire Pete Talkington called the runner safe. Arguing the call at second base, Brigman was promptly ejected by Talkington, necessitating defensive changes for the Bats.

With two on and nobody out instead of a runner at first and one out, the Indians capitalized. Two hitters after Brigman was ejected, Tsung-Che Cheng’s line-drive single deflected off Van Belle’s leg, allowing two runners to score. After Van Belle got the second out of the inning, a throwing error from Jordan at short allowed a run to score. Nick Solak then hit a ground ball to P.J. Higgins at third base. Higgins, who began the inning at catcher but moved to third after Brigman’s ejection, made an errant throw to first for another error, allowing the fifth Indians run to score. Nick Yorke capped the inning’s scoring with an RBI triple.

Van Belle’s (L, 6-3) night came to an end after giving up two more runs in the third. Over three innings, he allowed eight runs, five earned, on eight hits with four strikeouts over three innings to suffer his third loss of the season and second as a member of the Bats.

Pitching with the big lead, Chandler cruised from there. He finished his start with six scoreless innings, allowing five hits and walking two while striking out six to earn the win.

Louisville broke the Indianapolis shutout bid in the top of the seventh against reliever Colin Holderman. Faltine reached with a two-out double, his second extra-base hit of the game. Two hitters later, Will Banfield got the Bats on the board with an RBI single to left.

In relief for the Bats, Yosver Zulueta pitched a season-high 2.2 scoreless innings, striking out three. Zach Maxwell pitched a clean inning, and Joe La Sorsa got the final four outs on the mound for the Bats.

For the Indians, Holderman got two outs in relief. Burch Smith retired all four hitters he faced. Eddy Yean ended the game with a scoreless ninth to send the home crowd of 13,971 home happy.

Faltine and Banfield each recorded a pair of hits in the loss for the Bats, who dropped their third straight game to the Indians.

The Bats (36-49, 4-6 second half) continue the series with the Indians (49-35, 7-3 second half) on Saturday night at Victory Field. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. ET. Nick Curran and Jim Kelch will be on the call for Sports Talk 790.