Louisville Bats Notes: 7-24-19

Game 102, Home 50
Gwinnett Stripers (59-42) at Louisville Bats (40-61)
RHP Vladimir Gutierrez (2-8, 6.80) vs. RHP Mike Foltynewicz (4-1, 4.57)
12:00 PM | Wednesday, July 24, 2019 | Louisville Slugger Field
LISTEN: Nick Curran & Jim Kelch, 790 KRD; iHeartRadio.com; iHeart app

HIGH NOON: The Bats will try to match their season-high winning streak for the sixth time this season as they go for a third consecutive victory. Louisville was victorious in the season opener Tuesday night after Alex Blandino delivered the team's first walk-off home run in nearly two years. Right-hander Vladimir Gutierrez takes the ball for Louisville in its final scheduled noon game of the 2019 season.
AGAINST GWINNETT: The Bats evened the season series 4-4 with yesterday's win, with 7 of the 8 matchups being decided by 3 or fewer runs. In each of the past 2 series openers, the game has ended with a walk-off homer: Adam Duvall for Gwinnett on June 18 in a 5-3, 10-inning Stripers win, and Alex Blandino's solo bomb on Tuesday. With the win, LOU has taken a one-game advantage in the all-time series at 43-42.
WALK-OFF HOME RUN: Shortstop Alex Blandino walked it off last night, hammering a leadoff home run in the bottom of the ninth off Gwinnett reliever Corbin Clouse. It was Blandino's first walk-off hit since May 10, 2017, when he hit a walk-off solo homer for the Class AA Pensacola Blue Wahoos in a 2-1 win in the bottom of the ninth vs. Birmingham. In that game, Pensacola starting pitcher Luis Castillo struck out 10.
- It was the first walk-off homer for Louisville since Adam Brett Walker hit a solo shot in a 4-3 win in the bottom of the eighth of a scheduled seven-inning game vs. Indianapolis, in game 2 of a doubleheader.
- Blandino's was the first to occur in a game of at least 9 innings since Seth Mejias-Brean's 2-run walk-off HR on May 21, 2016 in the bottom of the 11th in a 2-0 win vs. Columbus, and the first to occur in precisely the ninth inning since Kyle Waldrop's solo walk-off HR on May 2, 2016 in a 1-0 win vs. Norfolk.
BLAKED GOODS: Infielder Blake Trahan homered in his third straight game Tuesday night, his first time homering in consecutive games in his career. In just a 3-game span, Trahan is already one homer away from his season-high 4 homers he hit with Advanced A Daytona back in 2016.
MAKING EARL WEAVER PROUD: The Bats have now homered in 7 straight games, their third longest streak of 2019 (longest: 10 straight from June 29-July 11). Each of Louisville's last 11 runs have come via the home run, spanning parts of 3 games. The Bats have hit 16 home runs over their past 5 games, their most since hitting 16 over a 5-game span from July 19-23, 2010.
UPWARDS: Louisville is going for its third straight win, which would tie a season-high set 6 times already. The Bats are 7-5 since the All-Star Break, and 10-9 in the month of July. With a win today, LOU would clinch its second straight series win, an accomplishment they have achieved once this season, when they took 2 of 3 vs. Columbus and vs. Indianapolis, respectively, from June 28-July 3.
NO EXTRA BASES: For just the fourth time this season, Louisville pitching prevented its opponent from recording an extra-base hit, improving to 4-0 in those games. It's happened on 5/10 vs. CHA, 5/15 at SYR G1, 7/4 at COL and 7/23 vs. GWN. Combined with last season, the Bats are 16-1 when keeping their opponents to only singles.
SCORING FIRST & ONE-RUN BALLGAMES: The Bats got to the .500 mark in games which they have scored first, now 24-24 on the season in the 48 times they've been the first team to score. With the 2-1 win, LOU also increased its league-leading participation in one-run games (36 games; 13-23), 4 more than next-closest Indianapolis (32).