Bats' Win Streak Ends Despite Hinds’ Two-Homer game

The Louisville Bats' defense and bullpen couldn’t back Chase Petty’s shaky outing as they fell 12-7 to the Iowa Cubs for the first loss of the 2026 season on Wednesday afternoon at Louisville Slugger Field.

After Petty’s perfect top of the first inning, Blake Dunn worked a five-pitch leadoff walk off I-Cubs starter Connor Noland. The walk extended his on-base streak to 34 games dating back to last season. Edwin Arroyo singled, and Hector Rodriguez walked to load the bases for Rece Hinds.

Fresh off Tuesday night’s heroic walk-off homer, Hinds smashed the first-pitch fastball 390 feet to left center field to give the Bats a 4-0 lead. It was Hinds’ first grand slam since July 12, 2024, when he hit a third-inning grand slam against the Miami Marlins during a stint with the Cincinnati Reds.

Petty (L, 0-1) struck out Kevin Alcantara to begin the second inning, then allowed seven of the next eight batters to reach base. I-Cubs first baseman Jonathan Long highlighted the inning with a grand slam off a high slider. Former Bat Eric Yang joined the hit parade with an RBI single. Petty allowed six runs on five hits in the second before giving way to Julian Garcia. Garcia gave up an RBI double, then struck out B.J. Murray to end the inning.

Petty’s final line was seven earned runs on five hits, two walks, and two strikeouts in his second start of the season. The 22-year-old has a 7.29 ERA over 19 career innings and five games against the I-Cubs since the end of 2024.

Dunn singled in the bottom of the second to extend his hitting streak to 17 consecutive games dating back to 2025.

Southpaw Anthony Misiewicz entered in the third and allowed just one hit and struck out two over two scoreless innings of work. Misiewicz has now thrown three scoreless innings with four strikeouts to begin his Bats tenure.

Down 7-4 in the fifth, Edwin Arroyo singled and stole second base before Rodriguez grounded out to end Noland’s day. Luke Little came on in relief and immediately walked Hinds and JJ Bleday. With the bases loaded and one out, Michael Chavis grounded into an inning-ending double play as the I-Cubs held the lead.

Lyon Richardson allowed a leadoff double in the top of the sixth before striking out two and inducing a pop-up to end the inning. Richardson allowed just one hit and a walk over two scoreless innings.

The Bats got a run back in the sixth on Dunn’s RBI ground out, which scored Will Banfield. The run pulled Louisville to a 7-5 deficit.

An inning later, Hinds crushed a home run to right field, his second homer of the day and third of the year. Wednesday was his first two-homer effort since August 2, 2025, at Omaha. His five RBI effort is his most in a single game since August 5, 2024, for Double-A Chattanooga.

Newly acquired veteran lefty Andrew Chafin recorded two outs before a walk, a fielding error from Arroyo, and two more consecutive walks scored a run for the I-Cubs in the eighth. Luis May came in and allowed a two-run double and a two-run single to blow the game wide open at 12-6.

Hinds reached on a throwing error in the ninth inning and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Toglia knocked a single scoring Hinds to create the 12-7 final score.

Arroyo recorded his first three-hit game at the Triple-A level with a trio of singles. Hinds leads the Bats in virtually every offensive category, highlighted by his 1.705 OPS.

The Bats (4-1) will face the I-Cubs (2-3) on Thursday night at 6:35 p.m. in the third game of the six-game set at Slugger Field. RHP Julian Aguiar will make his second start of the season after missing all of the 2025 season recovering from Tommy John surgery. Louisville will face Iowa starter RHP Javier Assad. Nick Curran and Jim Kelch will be on the call on Sports Talk 790.