Bats Fight Back In Ninth, Rally For 3-1 Victory

The Louisville Bats stormed back to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, rallying for three runs while down to their final three outs to defeat the Indianapolis Indians 3-1 in a thriller on Saturday night at Victory Field.

Trailing 1-0 in the ninth, the Bats offense finally came to life, using their eyes to slowly turn the game around against Indians reliever Kyle Nicolas (L, 2-1). Levi Jordan began the inning with a sharp single to left and moved to second on a wild pitch. Walks to Davis Wendzel and Will Banfield loaded the bases with nobody out. Pinch-hitter Jack Rogers stepped to the plate took a walk of his own, laying off a 99 mile per hour fastball off the plate inside to force home the tying run.

Indianapolis turned to Tanner Rainey to try and get out of the jam. He was unsuccessful. On the second pitch Rainey threw, Francisco Urbaez connected on a sacrifice fly to right, bringing Wendzel home with the go-ahead run. Two hitters later, pinch-hitter Bryson Brigman walked to reload the bases and Blake Dunn earned a walk, the Bats’ fifth free pass of the ninth inning, scoring Banfield to make it a 3-1 game.

Returning to the mound for his second inning of work, Bats righty Luis Mey (W, 2-3) quickly dispatched the Indians to earn the win and wrap up the wild comeback win for the Bats.

The Indians’ struggles in the ninth were in stark contrast to how the game began.

Making his second start against the Bats this season, Indianapolis southpaw Hunter Barco began the game with a one, two, three frame. Unlike the previous four games in which the Indians struck in their first turn at the plate, Bats righty Aaron Wilkerson got off to a strong start on the mound. He worked around a leadoff single in the first for a scoreless frame.

From there, Barco and Wilkerson matched each other zero for zero in an old-fashioned pitcher’s duel. For the Indians, Barco did not allow a hit until Edwin Rios’ two-out double in the fourth. Barco continued to navigate around runners, never letting a Bats runner reach third base during his outing.

On the other end, Wilkerson allowed a runner to reach in each of the first four innings but never let a runner get past first base. Indianapolis’ biggest early threat was in the third. Ronny Simon began the inning by singing and trying to steal second and was caught trying to swipe the base on a strong throw by Banfield.

Following Wilkerson’s first one, two, three inning in the fifth, he retired the first two hitters he faced in the sixth. Looking to get out of the jam, Wilkerson had Jack Suwinski in a 2-2 count. Wilkerson then left a cutter over the middle of the plate and Suwinski hit it over the right field fence for his 11^th home run of the season, a solo shot to put the Indians up 1-0. Wilkerson was unable to complete the sixth, giving up a run on five hits with two walks and four strikeouts over 5.2 innings.

Sam Benschoter was called on for relief and got the final out of the inning. The sixth was also Barco’s final inning. He finished with six scoreless innings, allowing one hit while walking three and striking out seven. Barco left in line for the win and Wilkerson was on the wrong end of the decision. However, neither starter would factor in the final decision.

Indians reliever Cam Sanders and Benschoter matched each other with scoreless sevenths. The Bats mounted another threat in the eighth. With two outs, Ryan Vilade kept the inning alive with a walk, ending Sanders’ outing. Rios singled off Nicolas to put runners on the corners with one out. Higgins looked to tie the game with a hard ground ball to short but was thrown out on a close play by Indians shortstop Liover Peguero.

Mey held the deficit at one run with a scoreless bottom of the eighth, aided by another strong throw by Banfield to catch a runner trying to steal. That set the stage for the Bats’ epic comeback in the ninth, just their second win all season when trailing after eight innings.

Rios recorded two of Louisville’s four hits in the win while Banfield walked twice and threw out a pair of runners trying to steal. As a team, Louisville took nine walks in the come-from-behind victory.

The Bats (37-49, 5-6 second half) wrap up the series with the Indians (49-36, 7-4 second half) on Sunday afternoon at Victory Field. First pitch is scheduled for 1:35 p.m. ET. Nick Curran and Jim Kelch will be on the call for Sports Talk 790.