Longhi hits two home runs in 4-3 loss

BUFFALO, N.Y. - The Louisville Bats (17-25) dropped their fourth game in a row and second straight in one-run fashion to the Buffalo Bisons (16-22) by a 4-3 score Saturday afternoon at Sahlen Field. With the loss, Louisville falls to a season-high eight games below the .500 mark.

For the second straight game, Louisville's offense struggled to produce hits in the early going, with Stuart Turner's single in the fifth inning being the first Louisville hit. Starting pitcher, right-hander Rob Wooten (0-0, 4.50) put up a solid effort in his 2019 Bats debut, allowing two earned runs on three hits in 4.0 innings, walking none and striking out three on 55 pitches, 36 strikes.
The Bats trailed 2-0 after a two-run third inning from the Bisons, until first baseman Nick Longhi hit a game-tying two-run home run off Buffalo reliever Thomas Pannone to tie up the game, 2-2. Buffalo regained the lead in the bottom of the eighth with RBI hits from Ben Revere and Andy Burns, both of which came off Louisville reliever Jackson Stephens, who was tagged with his second loss of the season. Buffalo took a 4-2 lead headed into the ninth with Kirby Snead attempting to lock up his first save.
Longhi striked again in the top of the ninth, leading off the frame with his second home run of the game, his first career multi-homer game and the seventh for the Bats as a team this season, already surpassing their six as a team in 2018. In his return to the lineup from a right shoulder injury, Aristides Aquino followed up with a single, but the Bats were not able to get him in with three outs left to play with, dropping their fourth game in a row.
Louisville and Buffalo finish up the three-game series at Sahlen Field with another 1:05 p.m. first pitch set for Sunday. International League strikeout leader Lucas Sims (2-0, 4.23) will toe the rubber in the series finale for Louisville, with Buffalo set to go with right-hander Andrew Sopko (0-0, 0.00).