Louisville Bats Notes: 4-21-19

Game 18, Away 10
Louisville Bats (8-9) at Indianapolis Indians (9-6)
1:35 PM | Sunday, April 21, 2019 | Victory Field
LISTEN: Nick Curran, 790 KRD; iHeartRadio.com; iHeart app
BATS GO FOR SERIES SWEEP: The Louisville Bats go for their first series sweep of the 2019 season on Easter Sunday against the Indianapolis Indians, taking the first 2 games of the series on Friday and Saturday to draw within one game of .500 on the year. Louisville looks to sweep its first series of 3 or more games since July 19-22 last season, when the Bats swept Syracuse in a four-game series at NBT Bank Stadium.

AGAINST INDIANAPOLIS: Louisville has not won 3 consecutive games at Victory Field since 2014-15, when the Bats won their final matchup of the 2014 season at Indianapolis on August 27, and their first 2 matchups of 2015 on April 15-16. Louisville has not won 3 consecutive games at Victory Field in the same series since August 3-5, 2013, when the Bats swept a 3-game series at Indianapolis.
EXTRA RUN IN EXTRAS: The Bats won 3-1 in 10 innings last night, their first extra innings win of 2019. Louisville is now 1-2 in extras on the season, and 8-8 overall since the current International League tiebreaker rules, which starts the extra frame with a runner on second base, came into effect beginning in 2018. Yesterday's win was the first time Louisville won in extras by more than one run since the new rule started.
HE SHOULD SPELL IT 'LUKAS': Bats starting pitcher Lucas Sims was spectacular in Saturday's 3-1 win, striking out 13 Indianapolis Indians in 5.2 innings of work, giving up just one run while walking none. Sims' 13 punchouts, 8 of which were called strike threes, set a new career-high that surpassed his previous high of 11 strikeouts. The 13 strikeouts were the most for a Bats pitcher since fellow right-hander Robert Stephenson struck out 13 on August 3 last season at Columbus.
- Sims struck out 10 in his previous start before yesterday on April 15 vs. Columbus, making him the first Bat with back-to-back games of double-digit strikeouts since Edinson Vólquez did it in 2011, when he struck out 11 and 12 batters, respectively, on August 27 and September 2.
22 K GOLD: Louisville pitchers combined for 22 strikeouts of the Indians on Saturday, the most strikeouts the Bats have recorded as a pitching staff since May 19, 2017 in a 6-5 loss at Columbus, although that game went into 18 innings. Factoring in Louisville's 13 strikeouts as an offense, the 35 total strikeouts in last night's game were the most in a Bats game since that same May 2017 contest, with 37 total strikeouts that night.
HITS DON'T LIE: After going 8 straight games without out-hitting their opponent, the Bats have out-hit the Indians in each of the first 2 games of the series, improving to 5-0 on the season when registering more hits than the opposition. Last season, the Bats finished 43-14 (.754) in the 57 games when they out-hit their opponent.
DON'T BE SUCH A HOMER: The Bats improved to 3-4 when failing to hit a home run this year, winning back-to-back games without the aid of the home run. It's the first time Louisville has won consecutive games without homering since winning 3 straight from July 18-20, 2018, going homerless in those 3 contests in the midst of a season-long 9-game winning streak that lasted from July 17-25.
STOLEN BASES: The Bats matched their team-high with 4 stolen bases last night, with Christian Colón and Josh VanMeter each swiping 2 bases apiece, and the former doing it for the second time so far in 2019. It's the first time that multiple Bats had 2+ stolen bases in the same game since August 27, 2014 at Indianapolis, when current Indianapolis Indian Jake Elmore and Jason Bourgeois each had 2 steals for Louisville in an 8-3 win.
TRANSACTIONS: The Bats added catcher Stuart Turner to their roster on Saturday, and transferred to Rookie A Greeneville catcher Chris Okey. Turner, who was signed by the Reds on April 18 after being released on March 27, appeared in 22 games with the Bats last season. Okey, who made his Triple-A debut this season, was batting .121 (4-for-33) in 9 games with Louisville this season.