Louisville Mashers Notes: 9-1-19

Game 139, Home 69
Indianapolis Indians (65-73) at Louisville Bats (58-80)
RHP Tejay Antone (3-8, 4.87) vs. RHP Alex McRae (7-7, 5.00)
6:00 PM | Sunday, September 1, 2019 | Louisville Slugger Field
LISTEN: Nick Curran & Jim Kelch, 790 KRD; iHeartRadio.com; iHeart app

LET'S MASH: The Louisville Mashers return to Louisville Slugger Field to face the Indianapolis Indians, in the penultimate game of the 2019 season. Right-hander Tejay Antone, who brings a 1.13 ERA (2er/16.0ip) over his last 3 starts, takes the mound for the Bats as they try to win their fourth consecutive home game against the Indians.
AGAINST INDIANAPOLIS: Louisville is 8-13 against Indianapolis this season, but have a chance to finish the season with a .500 home record against them, coming into play Sunday 4-6 against the Indians at LSF. For the 13th time in the past 14 seasons, Louisville and Indianapolis close out the regular season against each other, with 2017 being the lone exception.
WE HAD A PUNISHER, HOW ABOUT AN IMPALER?: Right-hander Vladimir Gutierrez struck out 13 Toledo Mud Hens on Saturday evening at Fifth Third Field, setting a new career-high and tying a 2019 Bats team-high (Lucas Sims, April 20 at Indianapolis). Two of the 5 individual performances of 13+ strikeouts in the International League this season have come from Louisville pitching.
PITCHING EXCELLENCE: Since July 1, Louisville pitching owns the second-lowest ERA (3.96) in the International League, with the Syracuse Mets (3.88) the only other IL club with an ERA below 4.00. In that time span, 6 clubs have a team ERA above the 5.00 mark.
68 PLAYERS: Right-hander Junichi Tazawa tossed 2.0 scoreless innings out of the Louisville bullpen last night, becoming the 68th different Bats player in 2019. The 68 players this season match the 2018 total, and are 3 away from the 71 players Louisville used in 2017.
DANCING IN SEPTEMBER: The Reds recalled 5 players on Sunday: RHP Matt Bowman, RHP Tyler Mahle, LHP Wandy Peralta, RHP Sal Romano and IF Alex Blandino. All have appeared in games with Cincinnati this season, with the exception of Blandino, who will make his first MLB appearance since July 20, 2018 when he appears.
- The Bats added RHP Aaron Fossas from Class AA Chattanooga and activated C Cassidy Brown off the injured list. Fossas is 4-3 with a 6.70 ERA (34er/45.2ip) in 28 games out of the Lookouts' bullpen this season.
2,000 TOTAL BASES: Louisville tallied its 2,000th total base as a team last night with José Peraza's go-ahead RBI single in the fifth. Louisville is the ninth IL club to reach 2,000 total bases this season. Over the past 5 seasons (2014-18) combined, only 2 IL clubs reached the 2,000 mark (Scranton/WB in 2017 and Charlotte in 2014). For the Bats, it's the first time they've reached 2,000 TB since 2011, when they led the IL with 2,093 total bases.
25 COMEBACK WINS: The Bats trailed 1-0 in last night's game, before coming back to win by a 2-1 score. The offense was led by Peraza, who went 3-for-4 and is now batting .625 (5-for-8) in his first 2 games for LOU this season. The win marked Louisville's 25th come-from-behind victory of the season, matching their 2018 total.
ONE-RUN KINGS MEET: Louisville and Indianapolis are tied for the league lead with 46 one-run games played, with LOU 17-29 (.370) and IND 24-22 (.522) in games decided by one run.