Louisville Bats Notes: June 14

THURSDAY'S FINALE: Louisville and Columbus wrap up a four-game series at Louisville Slugger Field with left-hander Justin Nicolino on the mound. The Bats won 7-1 Wednesday night on 3 home runs and a strong starting pitching performance from right-hander Robert Stephenson . The Bats look to salvage a series tie against Columbus tonight before heading to Toledo for a three-game weekend series.

AGAINST COLUMBUS: The Bats and Clippers meet for the third of seven series this season, and third of four at Louisville Slugger Field. Each of the clubs' first 3 series this season have taken place in the Bats' home ballpark. In 9 matchups so far this season, COL has gone 5-4 while LOU has outscored COL 45-41, with LOU batting .270 and COL batting .226. With last night's win, the Bats captured their 200th win all-time against Columbus.
THREE IN THE TOP FIVE: The trio of Dilson Herrera, Gabriel Guerrero and Nick Senzel have been excellent at the plate for Louisville in the month of June. Guerrero and Senzel each recorded multi-hit games last night, their seventh and fifth multi-hit performances of the month, respectively. In the month of June, LOU has 3 of the top 5 batters in the month by batting average:
International League Batting Leaders (June)
Player (min. 30 PA)                             AVG            H-AB           More Stats
DILSON HERRERA   .429             12-28          1hr, 9rbi, 8bb
Michael Reed (GWN)      .400             12-30            1hr, 3rbi, 4bb
GABRIEL GUERRERO   .395 17-43          2hr, 4rbi, 8r
Eddy Alvarez (CHA)   .387             12-31            6 2b, 7bb
NICK SENZEL                                   .386              17-44          6 2b, 9rbi, 5bb
THE G.L.O.A.T.: Infielder Nick Senzel is making a case for "greatest leadoff-hitter of all time" with his fourth straight multi-hit game from the top spot in the batting order. In his first 4 career games batting leadoff, Senzel is now batting .526 (10-for-19) with 3 runs, 3 doubles, 5 RBI and a stolen base, raising his batting average to .293 coming into play Thursday, the highest it's been since he was batting .308 after April 8.
D.J. P & MASE GO BACK-TO-BACK: Louisville hit its first back-to-back home runs Wednedsay night in the eighth inning, with D.J. Peterson hitting a two-run bomb and Mason Williams driving a solo shot off Columbus reliever Robert Zarate . The back-to-back home runs were the first for Louisville since August 20, 2017 when Alex Blandino and Brandon Dixon (1 of 3 HR that day) both went yard in the first inning in a 13-6 win over Rochester.
20 K's IN 2 GAMES: Tuesday's starting pitcher LHP Cody Reed and last night's starter RHP Robert Stephenson have combined to strike out 20 Columbus Clippers in Louisville's last 2 games. Reed went 7.2 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 4 ER, HR, BB, 11 K on 100 pitches (75 strikes) in a 6-2 loss, and Stephenson went 7.0 IP, 4 H, ER, HR, 0 BB, 9 K on 85 pitches (57 strikes) in the 7-1 win. Last Time It Was Occurran': The dynamic duo of starting pitching are the first to whiff a combined 20+ batters in 2 games since LHP Tony Cingrani (14 K) and RHP Armando Galarraga (6 K) combined to strike out 20 Toledo Mud Hens in the first two games of the 2013 season on April 4-5 at Louisville Slugger Field.
SCORING FIRST IS OVERRATED: The Bats fell down 1-0 after Todd Hankins' solo home run in the first inning, scoring 7 unanswered runs to capture the 7-1 victory. It was the Bats' 11th come-from-behind win this season, just 2 wins fewer than wins when scoring first in a ballgame (13), a category which LOU ranks last in the league in with a .464 winning percentage (13-15)