Bats bullpen shines in 4-3 win over Indians

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - In their shortest home outing of the young season, the Louisville Bats held on for a 4-3 win over the Indianapolis Indians Wednesday afternoon at Louisville Slugger Field. The Bats (11-18) benefitted from a strong bullpen performance that retired nine of the final 10 batters for the Indians (15-15).

Louisville reliever Domingo Tapia earned the win, improving to 2-2 as he retired three straight batters following a leadoff double in the seventh. Indianapolis right-hander Alex McRae fell to 0-4 with the loss, while the Bats' Kevin Quackenbush picked up his second save of the year.
The Indians struck swiftly in the first as shortstop Pablo Reyes cracked a 391-foot shot to left, his first homer of the season. Bats starter Justin Nicolino settled in for a quality start after the dinger, going six innings with five hits and three runs with two walks and two strikeouts.
The Louisville offense got moving in the bottom of the second as catcher Joe Hudson brought home right fielder Gabby Guerrero from third on a line drive to center. Two batters later, center fielder Mason Williams added to the margin with a line drive of his own that made the score, 3-1. Despite the surge, Indianapolis starter Nick Kingham also posted a quality start as he gave up seven hits and allowed three runs over six innings of work.
Following a pair of quick innings, the Bats threatened again in the fifth with the bases loaded and one out, but a Guerrero double play cut off the rally. In the following frame, the Indians finally got to Nicolino with three doubles to the right-center corner that knotted the score at 3. After putting runners on the corners to begin the seventh, the Bats regained the lead for good as Williams scored on a fielding error by Indians third baseman Wyatt Mathisen. In the eighth, Tanner Rainey tallied his second hold of the year, setting up Quackenbush for the save, which ended with a three-pitch strikeout.
The Bats and Indians will finish up their four-game set Thursday night with first pitch set for 7 p.m. Louisville will send out southpaw Cody Reed (0-0, 2.25) to face Indianapolis right-hander Tyler Eppler (3-1, 2.64).