Louisville Bats Notes: May 23

BATS LEAN ON STEPHENSON IN GAME 3: The Louisville Bats and Indianapolis Indians meet Wednesday for the third game of a four-game series at Victory Field. For the Bats, they are in the final stretch of their longest road trip of the season, a 10-gamer that started on May 15 in Durham. LOU is 1-7 so far on the road trip after Tuesday's 5-3 loss, with its longest homestand (10 games) of the season starting this Friday, May 25 against the Durham Bulls (5/25-5/28), Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (5/29-5/31) and Gwinnett Stripers (6/1-6/3). Today's starting pitcher, right-hander Robert Stephenson , has won his last 2 starts, which have also accounted for each of Louisville's last 2 wins as a team.

AGAINST INDIANAPOLIS: Last season, the Bats went just 8-15 against the Indians, 4-7 in their home ballpark. The defending IL West Champions outscored Louisville 117-64 in the 23 contests. In an interesting International League scheduling quirk, Louisville and Indianapolis did not have their first scheduled game against each other until June 22, playing all 23 of their matchups from that point on. After the clubs' first series of the season concluded at Louisville Slugger Field on May 10, the Bats are just 2-9 since with no series ties or wins.
MOST HITS IN A LOSS: The Bats' offense mustered up 13 hits yesterday, with 5 different players registering 2-hit games in the 5-3 loss. The 13 hits are tied for the most hits by a LOU offense in a loss this season with May 12's 8-4 loss vs. Toledo. On 5/12, the 13 hits were the most by the Bats in a loss since July 17, 2017, when LOU out-hit Syracuse at Louisville Slugger Field 16-14, but lost the game by an 11-8 score.
I GUESS THAT'S WHY THEY CALL IT THE TWOS: After Tuesday's 5-3 loss, the Bats fell to 2-7 in games decided by exactly 2 runs this season, with their .222 winning percentage ranking worst in the International League. Last season, the Bats finished 13-18 (.419, 10th) in 2-run games.
STEVE AUSTIN ON THE ROAD: The Bats are just 3-16 away from their home ballpark Louisville Slugger Field on the season, fewest road wins in the IL. Last season after 20 road games, LOU was 8-12. In 2016, the Bats held an impressive 13-7 record after their first 20 road contests, including three game sweeps of Norfolk and Durham in back-to-back April series.
ROSELL, ROSELL: Outfielder Rosell Herrera was optioned to Class AAA Louisville by the Cincinnati Reds following Cincinnati's game this past Sunday, May 20. He went 0-for-1 in a pinch-hit appearance for Louisville yesterday, his first game with the Bats since April 25. Prior to being called up to Cincinnati and making his Major League debut on April 26, he was leading the International League with a .649 slugging percentage, 10 extra-base hits and 37 total bases. Herrera also appeared at 6 different positions for the Bats this season: CF, RF, LF, 3B, SS and 2B.
SEASON-HIGH L.O.B.: Louisville left 13 runners on base in yesterday's loss, most this season. Its previous season-high of 11 left on base was done on two occasions this season, most recently May 3 at Norfolk. The 13 runners left on-base included a pair of innings the Bats left the bases loaded (2nd, 4th innings).
CURSED BY SCORING FIRST: The Bats scored first in yesterday's game after back-to-back singles by Phillip Ervin and Josh VanMeter proceeded by a Hernan Iribarren batted ball that resulted in a double play. They also led 3-2 in the fourth. The Bats fell to 7-15 on the season when scoring first in games this season, with their .318 winning percentage ranking last in the IL.