TOLEDO, Ohio - Nick Senzel played his first professional game at shortstop and went 2-for-5 with a home run for the Louisville Bats (24-40) in a 7-4 loss to the Toledo Mud Hens (40-27) on Saturday night at Fifth Third Field.
TOLEDO, Ohio - Nick Senzel played his first professional game at shortstop and went 2-for-5 with a home run for the Louisville Bats (24-40) in a 7-4 loss to the Toledo Mud Hens (40-27) on Saturday night at Fifth Third Field.
Senzel's dinger came in the fifth inning when he lined a 2-2 pitch from Toledo reliever Kevin Comer over the left-field wall. The three-run shot, which was Senzel's fourth the 2018 campaign and gave him his seventh straight game with multiple hits, scored catcher Joe Hudson and second baseman Blake Trahan to pull the Bats within a run at 4-3.
The Mud Hens used the long ball to their advantage in the bottom half of the fifth inning to extend the lead to 7-3. Edwin Espinal went yard with a solo homer before Jarrod Saltalamacchia sent a 2-1 pitch out of the yard to plate himself and Jason Krizan. The Saltalamacchia home run ended the night for Louisville starter Brandon Finnegan (2-5, 5.50) who tossed four and two-thirds innings. Finnegan, who entered the night with back-to-back wins in his previous two starts, gave up seven hits, seven runs, and walked four while striking out five Toledo batters.
Finnegan was relieved by Jackson Stephens (1-1, 4.75) who gave up just two hits while striking out five in three and one-third inning of scoreless work from the bump
The Bats put some pressure on the Mud Hens by scoring a run in the eighth frame. Phillip Ervin laced a one-out double to left field and then came around to score when Trahan's grounder to third was errantly thrown by the Toledo third baseman, making the score 7-4 which held as the final count.
Mud Hens' reliever Victor Alcántara (4-0,3.02) was the winning pitcher after just one inning of work in the seventh. Alcántara gave up two hits but collected three strikeouts to hold the Bats scoreless in the frame. Right hander Johnny Barbato (0-0, 1.23) recorded the final three outs for Toledo and collected his sixth save of the season.
Jacob Turner (2-0, 1.23) started the game for the Mud Hens and lasted four and one-third inning before being relieved. Turner allowed three hits and one run while striking out five.
The Louisville offense produced nine hits in the game with left fielder Josh VanMeter joining Senzel in the muti-hit category. VanMeter, who went 2-for-4 with a pair of doubles, now has 14 multi-hit games.
At shortstop, Senzel finished with one putout and one assist on two total chances.
The Bats will attempt to take the series against Toledo in a rubber match on Sunday evening at 6:05 p.m. Right hander Cody Reed (0-5, 4.69) is scheduled to square off with Kyle Dowdy (2-3, 5.60). Reed struck out a season-high 11 batters in his last start, a tough-luck 6-2 loss, against Columbus on June 12.
