Louisville Bats Notes: 9-2-19

Game 140, Home 70
Indianapolis Indians (65-74) at Louisville Bats (59-80)
LHP Eric Stout (2-1, 6.63) vs. RHP James Marvel (6-0, 2.91)
1:00 PM | Monday, September 2, 2019 | Louisville Slugger Field
LISTEN: Nick Curran & Jim Kelch, 790 KRD; iHeartRadio.com; iHeart app

FINAL GAME OF THE SEASON: The Louisville Bats and Indianapolis Indians meet in the final game of the International League's 140-game regular season schedule. It's the 13th time in the past 14 seasons that the division rivals will meet to close out the season. With a win today, Louisville will have its first victory in a final game since 2016, and its first three-game winning streak to finish a season since 2013.
AGAINST INDIANAPOLIS: Sunday night's 8-2 win over Indianapolis marked the Bats' fourth consecutive home victory against them. In fact, the home team has won each of the last 6 matchups in the series. A win in Monday afternoon's season finale would secure the Bats a .500 record against the Indians at home this season, and an advantage in the all-time series at LSF, coming into play with an even 98-98 record in 196 all-time matchups since the ballpark opened in 2000.
DOUBLE-DOUBLE: Starting pitchers Vladimir Gutierrez and Tejay Antone have set or tied personal career-highs for Louisville on back-to-back nights, with 13 and 10 strikeouts, respectively. Gutierrez surpassed his previous career-high 10 K's with ease, while Antone tied his career-high. It's the first time LOU pitchers have struck out 10+ in consecutive games since Cody Reed (10 K's) and Robert Stephenson (13 K's) on August 2-3, 2018 at Columbus.
STRIKEOUT RECORD: Last night, Bats pitching broke their single-season strikeout record, when Antone recorded his ninth strikeout of the night. The 1,130th strikeout broke the previous record of 1,129 strikeouts set by the 2017 Bats. Since July 1, Louisville pitching owns the second-lowest ERA (3.93) in the International League, with the Syracuse Mets (3.87) the only other IL club with an ERA below 4.00.
FINISHING STRONG: Louisville owns a 6-2 record in its last 8 games, and secured itself an above-.500 post All-Star break record, owning a 26-24 record in 50 games since the break. It's the first time LOU has gone above-.500 after the AS break since 2016 (27-26), and a win today would secure LOU's best post-AS break winning percentage since 2010, when the Bats went 35-16.
DOUBLE BEEF: Louisville's Brian O'Grady went 2-for-4 last night, recording his 30th double for Louisville this season. With 30 doubles, 28 home runs and 20 stolen bases this season, he and Luis Robert in the White Sox organization are the only minor leaguers this season with at least 30 doubles, 28 homers and 20 steals. There have not been any players to reach those numbers in the MLB this season.
PLEASE C.C. ME ON IT: Infielder Christian Colón has been spectacular for Louisville this season, batting .300 (149-for-496) with 37 doubles, 10 homers, 70 RBI and 24 stolen bases. If he records a hit today, he'll become the first Bat to reach the 150-mark since Jason Bourgeois (153) in 2014. Colon also broke an obscure franchise record last night with his league-leading 12th sacrifice fly of the season. He had previously been tied with Wladimir Balentien, who had 11 sacrifice flies in 2010.
68 PLAYERS: Coming into play Monday, the Bats have had 68 individuals appear in a game for them this season. The 68 players match the 2018 total, and are 3 away from the 71 players Louisville used in 2017.