Ninth-inning rally drops Louisville, 8-6
The Bats (21-47) dropped their third straight game while the Red Wings (30-36) snapped a three game losing streak with the victory.
The game was tied at six entering the ninth with Jordan Smith on the mound for the Bats. Smith started the inning by striking out Pedro Florimon, but then gave up a double to Danny Valencia. Matt Carson broke the tie with a RBI single that scored Valencia, then he scored on a single by Clete Thomas.
Louisville twice got runners on in the bottom of the ninth, but Mike Costanzo grounded into a double play and Bill Rhinehart couldn't capitalize after a walk to Dioner Navarro.
Smith took the loss, surrendering two runs on three hits while striking out two and walking one in two innings of work, dropping to 1-3 on the season.
Casey Fien picked up the win for Rochester, working the final two innings and allowing two hits and two walks. Fien improves his record to 1-5.
Valencia powered the Red Wing offense, going 3-for-3 with a pair of walks, three RBI and a run scored. Carson finished 3-for-5 with two RBI and a run scored while Thomas added a home run and a pair of RBI.
The Bats collected 10 hits on the night, but they came from just four players. Danny Dorn went 3-for-3 with three runs scored and an RBI while Navarro also finished with three hits. Felix Perez went 2-for-5 with three RBI and Corky Miller had a pair of hits, including a home run, to pace the Bats offense.
Neither starting pitcher factored into the decision. Ryan Feierabend (0-1, 9.35) allowed two runs on eight hits with two walks and two strikeouts for the Bats, while Luke French (1-1, 4.57) gave up four runs on four hits with four walks and three strikeouts in 3.1 innings, his shortest outing of the season.
On a major-league rehab assignment, Bill Bray struck out the side in the seventh on just 12 pitches.
Control was an issue for French in the second as he issued back-to-back walks to Navarro and Rhinehart to start the inning. Two batters later, Dorn made him pay with a double down the right field line to score Navarro. French then walked Miller to load the bases, and Perez smacked a two-run double, bringing in Rhinehart and Dorn to give Louisville a 3-0 lead after two.
The Red Wings got on the board in the fourth thanks to a home run by Thomas, cutting the Bats lead to 3-1. The homer was the third of the season for Thomas, and ended a 27 inning scoreless streak for Rochester that spanned four games.
French exited with one out in the fourth after allowing a single to Dorn and walking Miller. His replacement, Kyle Waldrop, gave up an RBI single to Perez that crossed Dorn for a 4-1 Bats lead.
Feierabend ran into trouble in the fifth, loading the bases and giving up a RBI single to Carson that scored Tsuyoshi Nishioka. Wirfin Obispo came on to pitch for the Bats with one out, striking out Sean Burroughs and getting Wilkin Ramirez to fly out, ending the inning.
Obispo didn't last much longer after running into trouble in the sixth, allowing a double to J.R. Towles and issuing three straight walks, including one to Florimon that brought in Towles. Nick Christiani came on with the bases loaded, and promptly surrendered a three-run double to Valencia that scored Florimon, Nishioka and Brian Dinkelman, putting Rochester on top 6-4.
Louisville bounced back in the bottom half of the inning, getting a leadoff single by Dorn and a two-run homer by Miller to tie the game at six, but the Bats were held in check from this point on.
A slight altercation occurred in the sixth, as Perez and Towles, the Red Wing catcher, briefly came face-to-face during the at-bat. Players from both teams rushed onto the field, but no one was ejected.
The Bats and Red Wings will be back at Louisville Slugger Field for game two of the four-game series at 7:05 p.m. Scheduled to take the mound for the Bats is Chad Reineke (2-4, 4.30) opposing Cole De Vries (1-5, 5.18).