Zeuch Dazzles but Louisville Loses Series Opener to Indy 5-4 in Ten Innings

INDIANAPOLIS, IN- The Louisville Bats (41-58) lost an extra-inning heart-breaker to the Indianapolis Indians (47-50) on Tuesday night at Victory Field to kick off their 13-game road trip.

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The Indianapolis offense wasted little time to make a splash as shortstop Rodolfo Castro sent the first pitch from Louisville starter T.J. Zeuch (0-5, 7.34) into Victory Field’s deep, left-center alley for a triple. Diego Castillo grounded to short on the following at-bat to bring home Castro, giving Indy a 1-0 lead.

Louisville returned the favor in the top of the third inning when outfielder Lorenzo Cedrola roped a line drive into the same spot as Castro and glided into third base with no throw for a triple of his own. Cedrola would score with two outs on a wild pitch from Nick Mears to even the score at 1-1.

Louisville starter T.J. Zeuch quickly settled in after the leadoff triple. In fact, he did not allow another hit until the first hitter of the seventh inning when Travis Swaggerty singled to end a streak of 10 straight retired by the Louisville starter. A pair of throwing errors moved Swaggerty into scoring position and allowed him to score to give Indy a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the seventh.

Zeuch’s effort on the mound earned him his first quality start of the season, tossing seven innings, surrendering just three hits and two runs (one earned), and striking out a Louisville season-high 12 without issuing a free pass. The performance not only included the streak of 10 straight hitters retired, but also included a stretch where he struck out six straight Indians.

In the top of the eighth, Louisville had help from defensive miscues and tallied three infield singles from TJ Friedl, Lorenzo Cedrola, and Cristian Santana to tie the game at 2-2.

After Colin Moran drew a two-out walk, Juniel Querecuto gave Louisville its first lead of the night, when he grounded an RBI-single under the diving glove of Indy second baseman Mike Jarvis to give the Bats a 3-2 advantage.

A one-out double from Travis Swaggerty and a ground out to move him to third put Carter Bins in position for a base hit that would tie the game at 3-3, sending the contest to extra innings to kick off the 13-game road trip for the Bats.

After TJ Freidl was caught stealing as the automatic runner to start the 10th, Jose Barrero launched his ninth home run of the season over the left field grassy berm to give Louisville a 4-3 lead.

Louisville reliever Pedro Payano entered in the bottom of the tenth and struck out each of the first two batters he faced before Rodolfo Castro doubled into the right field corner to score the automatic runner and tie the game at 4-4. On the following at-bat, Diego Castillo lined a single just above and out of reach of Louisville second baseman Alejo Lopez to bring home the winning run.

Games two and three of the seven game series are scheduled for tomorrow afternoon (August 3) with first pitch of game one scheduled for 1:05p.m. Game one of the doubleheader will feature righty Justin Dunn (0-3, 7.29) on the hill for the Bats with fellow right-hander Miguel Yajure (2-2, 7.34) getting the ball for Indy. Game two will see right-hander Deck McGuire (2-2, 6.95) get the start for Louisville, with Indianapolis’s starter yet to be named.