Offensive Onslaught Propels Bats to 10-3 Victory in Iowa

The Louisville Bats offense stole the show once again in its 10-3 victory over the Iowa Cubs on Tuesday night to claim the series opener at Principal Park.

Louisville got the bats rolling early on Tuesday night and never slowed down. JJ Bleday opened the second inning with a four-pitch walk to extend his team-leading on-base streak to 20 games. Michael Toglia doubled, which scored Bleday and gave the Bats an early 1-0 lead. Francisco Urbaez battled through six pitches before he lined a single up the middle, which plated Toglia to increase the Bats' lead to 2-0.

Will Banfield followed with a single of his own to move Urbaez to third before Dominic Pitelli recorded Louisville's fourth consecutive hit, an RBI-double to score Urbaez and make it 3-0. Blake Dunn followed with a deep sac-fly to center fielder Alcántara to score another run, giving Louisville a 4-0 lead. Edwin Arroyo joined the hit parade with an RBI double that scored Pitelli and furthered the Bats to a 5-0 lead at the end of the second inning.

After walking two batters with one out in the first inning, Bats starter Jose Franco settled in nicely. He retired seven of the next eight, including four via strikeout.

With two outs in the top of the fourth, Héctor Rodríguez added to the lead with a smashed solo shot for his fourth home run of the season to extend the Bats' lead to 6-0.

Franco allowed back-to-back singles to open the fourth before Dylan Carlson crushed a three-run homer, his first of the season, to pull the Cubs to 6-3.

Louisville tacked on another run in the top of the fifth when Urbaez reached on a two-out fielding error. Banfield followed with a walk, and Pitelli singled to score Urbaez and boost the Bats to 7-3.

Franco allowed a leadoff double and a subsequent single in the bottom of the fifth before he was pulled for Sam Benschoter. With runners on the corners and one out, Benschoter induced a double-play and struck out Kevin Alcántara to leave the runner stranded at third. Franco finished his night allowing three runs on four hits, two walks, and six strikeouts over four innings of work.

Toglia singled to open the seventh inning, and Pitelli doubled him home with two outs to increase Louisville’s margin to 8-3. In the top of the eighth, Noelvi Marte destroyed a solo-homer 426 feet to center field to improve the lead to 9-3.

Benschoter allowed just four hits and struck out three over three scoreless innings of relief before Zach Maxwell entered in the eighth. Maxwell allowed a leadoff triple but struck out the next two batters and induced a pop-out to get out of the inning unscathed.

The Bats finished their scoring output in the top of the ninth when Pitelli reached on a fielding error from the shortstop, which scored Urbaez to improve Louisville’s lead to 10-3.

Andrew Chafin used just eight pitches to retire the Cubs in order in the ninth inning and finish off the win.

Pitelli went 3-5 with two doubles and three RBIs. He has two multi-hit games through his first three career games with the Louisville Bats. Toglia went 3-5 with a double, two runs scored, and an RBI, continuing his streak of hitting safely in three consecutive games. Arroyo recorded his sixth multi-hit game of the season.

The Louisville Bats (13-9) will face Iowa (11-10) again on Wednesday at 1:08 p.m. EST. Darren McCaughan (2-1, 9.00) will face the Cubs' lefty Charlie Barnes (3-0, 2.31). Nick Curran will be on the call on Talk Radio 1080-AM.