Bats fall to Indians in series opener

INDIANAPOLIS, IN - The Louisville Bats (50-77) dropped game one of a four-game series to the Indianapolis Indians (70-57) by a score of 6-1 on Monday night at Victory Field.
Indians starter Nick Kingham (8-6, 3.44) was one out away from tossing a complete-game shutout until Darnell Sweeney spoiled his bid on an RBI double. The right-hander was then pulled after having allowed the lone run on six hits and one walk while striking out five. Four of the six hits belonged to Tyler Goeddel, who went a perfect 4-for-4 at the plate.
The Bats' biggest scoring threat came in the first inning. Goeddel led off the game with an infield single while extending his hitting streak to eight games. He then proceeded to swipe his seventh bag of the year and advanced to third on a groundout, but was left stranded there.
Danny Ortiz broke a scoreless tie in the fourth inning on an RBI double, giving the Indians a 1-0 lead.
In the seventh inning, the Indianapolis offense gave Kingham some insurance runs courtesy of back-to-back solo home runs by Jacob Stallings and Erich Weiss. Prior to today's, Tyler Mahle (3-4, 2.73) had allowed only two home runs in nine starts in a Louisville uniform.
Mahle tossed seven innings on the night, giving up three runs on nine hits and no walks while striking out five.
The Bats and Indians will be back in action again tomorrow night at 7:05 p.m. Right-hander Jackson Stephens (7-8, 5.01) will start for Louisville while right-hander Tyler Glasnow (8-1, 1.79) will get the ball for Indianapolis.