Louisville Bats Notes: 7-17-19

Game 96, Away 48
Louisville Bats (35-60) at Pawtucket Red Sox (39-55)
LHP Alex Wood (0-1, 8.10, MLB Rehab) vs. RHP Erasmo Ramírez (2-6, 4.90)
6:05 PM | Wednesday, July 17, 2019 | McCoy Stadium
LISTEN: Nick Curran, 790 KRD; iHeartRadio.com; iHeart app

WOOD WEDNESDAY: Louisville and Pawtucket continue their four-game series on Wednesday night, with left-hander Alex Wood starting for the Bats in his third Major League rehab start of 2019. The 2017 NL All-Star went 2.0-plus innings and threw 51 pitches his last time out on July 12, after tossing 1.1 innings and 31 pitches in his season debut on July 6.
AGAINST PAWTUCKET: After the PawSox have taken the first 2 games of the set, Louisville's best hope is a series tie, need back-to-back wins to do so. Pawtucket pitching has kept the Bats to just 2 runs on 11 hits across the first pair of games, holding LOU to 0-for-12 with runners in scoring position.
TRANSACTIONS: On Wednesday, the Cincinnati Reds selected the contract of C Juan Graterol. In 58 games as Louisville's primary catcher this season, Graterol is batting .249 (52-for-209) with 19 runs, 8 doubles, one triple, 2 home runs, 26 RBI and 14 walks. Behind the plate, he's nabbed 22 of 63 potential base stealers (35%). The 30-year-old backstop has 61 games of MLB experience with the Los Angeles Angels (58 G, 2016-18) and Minnesota Twins (3 G, 2018).
- On June 3 vs. Indianapolis, Graterol threw out 3 would-be base stealers, becoming the first Bats catcher to record 3 CS in a game since Dioner Navarro on June 19, 2012.
- In other transactions, OF Scott Schebler batted sixth and played left field last night in his first game back since June 28 after landing on the 7-day IL with a right calf strain. In a corresponding move, IF Alberti Chavez was transferred to the 7-day IL.
RUN SUPPORT IN QUALITY STARTS: Right-hander Keury Mella tossed a quality start for the Bats on Tuesday, the second straight for Louisville after Tejay Antone did it Monday. It was LOU's 24th start of at least 6.0 innings and 3 or fewer earned runs this season.
- The Bats fell to 11-13 when getting a quality start this season, already topping their 2018 loss total in that scenario, when they finished 36-12 in quality starts.
- In the 24 QS this season, LOU's offense has scored a total of 91 runs, 3.8 runs per game. In LOU's 71 games without a quality start, the offense has scored 370 runs, 5.2 runs per game.
TWO IN TWO: Coming off back-to-back 2-1 and 5-1 losses, Louisville's tied a season-low with 2 combined runs in a two-game span, previously occurring in a doubleheader at Syracuse on May 15 in a 2-0 win and 5-0 loss. The 2 runs over LOU's last 2 games are the fewest in back-to-back nine-inning games since being shut out in back-to-back contests on August 12-13, 2018.
RISP-Y BUSINESS: Louisville did not record a hit with runners in scoring position for the second straight game against Pawtucket, falling to 1-15 this season when not recording at least one hit with RISP. Eight of those games have come within Louisville's past 20 games since June 24.
SOMEBODY'S CLOSER: With 111 home runs as a team this season, Louisville is just 2 away from the 113 they hit in 2018. LOU is averaging 1.17 homers per game (111 HR in 95 G) this season, compared to 0.80 homers per game (113 HR in 137 G) last season. The Bats are currently on pace to hit approximately 164 home runs on the season, which would come close to their franchise-record 166 set by the 1999 Redbirds.