Bats Fall in Extra Innings For Second Straight Night

For the second consecutive night, the Louisville Bats mounted a comeback late and found themselves in an extra-inning game on the road. Unfortunately for the Bats, however, Tuesday night's game in Durham ended in similar fashion to Monday's contest, as Louisville lost 5-4 to the Bulls in 10 innings.

After storming back from a five-run deficit last night in Norfolk, only to fall 6-5 to the Tides, Louisville came from behind on three different occasions in this contest, even grabbing the first lead for a brief time in the eighth inning.

Mike Costanzo's timely, two-out single in the eighth scored Denis Phipps and put the Bats on top 3-2, but the lead was short lived, as reliever Josh Judy (1-1, 2.92) was greeted by a walk, followed by a go-ahead, two-run double from Jesus Feliciano to put Durham on top 4-3.

With two outs in the ninth and still trailing, things were looking bleak for Louisville, but Kris Negron delivered another clutch two-out hit, blasting his first home run of the season to tie the game at four. Negron also tripled earlier in the night from his leadoff spot in the order. After the Bats couldn't mount a rally in the top of the 10th, Durham again took the lead from the Feliciano-Judy matchup, as Feliciano sent a walk-off RBI single into left to drop Louisville to 2-5 on their current road trip. Judy, who pitched the last two innings, was hit with his first blown save of 2012.

Heading into the sixth inning, Louisville trailed Durham 2-1 in a game that was the first between these two clubs in 2012. Danny Dorn, however, quickly knotted the game up with a solo blast to right that was his team-leading fifth of the year. The round tripper was also Dorn's 50th for his career in a Bats' uniform.

After the tying the game at two, the Bats were able to keep the game at a stalemate thanks to some stellar relief work from Jordan Smith, who threw two-and-two-third innings of scoreless relief.

Louisville starter Brett Tomko got a no-decision in five innings of work, allowing two earned runs and striking out four. Although Tomko gave up seven hits and five walks, he was able to escape with minimal damage, as the Bulls loaded the bases on three separate occasions, but were unable to push any runs across the plate. Tomko has allowed three or fewer runs in all five of his 2012 starts with Louisville. Negron, Costanzo, Neftali Soto, and Corky Miller all had two hits for the Bats, who managed 11 hits in all on the night.

Game two of the series on Wednesday will be a morning tilt, starting at 11:05AM. Southpaw Jeff Francis (2-2, 3.30), who has been steady for the Bats in 2012, will be on the bump for Louisville, while the Bulls will counter with Jim Paduch (0-0, 3.00).