Bats Bullpen Struggles In 15-5 Loss To Saints

The Louisville Bats could not keep pace with the St. Paul Saints on Tuesday evening, falling 15-5 in the series opener at CHS Field.

Johnathan Harmon made his third start of the season for the Bats after being called up from Double-A Chattanooga and debuting at the Triple-A level on July 24.

In the top of the first, Edwin Arroyo singled to right, bringing Leo Balcazar to the plate for his first Triple-A at-bat. Batting third in the Bats lineup, Balcazar grounded into an inning-ending double play.

St. Paul jumped out to a first-inning lead after Harmon permitted a leadoff single and walk, allowing Matt Wallner to take advantage on a three-run homer to right field. Harmon quickly adjusted by recording two strikeouts and a fly out, the Saints holding an early 3-0 advantage.

Second inning singles from a trio of Michael Toglia, Will Benson, and P.J. Higgins loaded the bases with one out for the Bats. Will Banfield capitalized with a two-run base hit that he attempted to stretch into a double, before being thrown out on a play from right field.

The latter half of the second saw the Saints go deep for the second time in as many innings on a Ben Ross home run, making it a 4-2 Bats deficit.

Harmon recorded his third and fourth strikeouts of the game on the way to a scoreless third but faced self-induced trouble in the fourth after allowing a walk and uncorking a wild pitch, moving the St. Paul runner into scoring position. Ross notched his second RBI of the game on a single through the infield, extending the Saints' lead to three runs at 5-2.

The Bats nearly tied the game in the top of the fifth, had it not been for a baserunning blunder after Sam Haggerty’s one-out single. Haggerty found himself caught in a rundown between first and second, leading to a caught stealing. Francisco Urbaez followed with his 19th double of the season, a precursor to a two-run homer by Arroyo, his 12th of the season and first since returning from the Reds last week.

With a dwindling 5-4 lead, St. Paul began the bottom of the fifth with consecutive singles, testing Harmon in the final inning of his outing. He responded with back-to-back strikeouts and a fly out to eliminate the threat.

Johnathan Lavallee (L, 0-3) took over in relief for Louisville in the sixth, allowing a leadoff double to Gabrielle Gonzalez. A groundout moved the runner to third, but a fly ball out to Urbaez in left field resulted in a close play at home, ruled a double play after a strong throw.

The back half of the Bats order sparked another bases-loaded situation in the seventh. Higgins reached on an infield throwing error to open the inning, followed by base hits from Banfield and Haggerty. Urbaez followed up his excellent defensive play with a sacrifice fly to tie the game at 5-5, but the top of the batting order couldn’t do any more damage.

With Lavallee still on the mound, the Saints reestablished a lead on their second three-run homer of the game, this time by first baseman Aaron Sabato.

Following a Bats pitching change, the newly admitted Thomas Farr committed an error on a pickoff attempt, allowing another run to score. St. Paul extended the lead to 11-5 on an RBI double by Cody Morissette and another run-scoring hit by Ross before the seventh inning’s conclusion.

Will Benson walked with one out in the eighth, but a ground ball double play led to a quiet inning.

The Saints piled on with a four-run eighth, making it ten unanswered runs since the Bats tied the game. Farr struggled in relief, allowing five earned runs over 1.1 innings. The two pitchers who preceded him also allowed five earned runs in their respective outings.

Offensively, Arroyo and Banfield each went 2-for-4 with two RBI, while five other Bats recorded at least a hit in a losing effort.

The Bats (50-57, 11-23 2nd half) play the second of a six-game series against the St. Paul Saints (62-46) Wednesday afternoon. First pitch from CHS Field is set for 2:07 p.m. Nick Curran will be on the call for Sports Talk 790AM.