Bats fall to PawSox, 5-1

PAWTUCKET, R.I. - The Louisville Bats (21-35) dropped the final game of a three-game series by a 5-1 score against the Pawtucket Red Sox (27-30) Thursday at McCoy Stadium. Louisville dropped its second in a row after winning a season-best five games in a row.

Louisville scored just one run for the second straight game, on a Hernan Iribarren single that scored Dilson Herrera in top of the third inning. Herrera, Iribarren and Phillip Ervin all recorded two hits for the Bats in an otherwise quiet day for the offense.
Left-hander Justin Nicolino (2-3, 4.02) started for Louisville, going 5.2 innings and giving up four earned runs on six hits and two home runs, walking two and striking out one on 93 pitches, 64 strikes. It was the first time Nicolino failed to record 18 outs in a game since May 20, having gone 7.0 or more innings in each of his last two starts.
Right-hander Jackson Stephens pitched 2.1 innings out of the bullpen for the Bats, giving up one earned run on two hits and one home run, walking none and striking out one in his first appearance for Louisville since being optioned by Cincinnati.
Rusney Castillo, Iván De Jesús Jr. and Mike Ohlman provided the firepower for Pawtucket, each hitting home runs in the 5-1 game. Castillo recorded eight hits in the three-game series against Louisville, including a 5-for-5 night in the series opener on Tuesday.
The Bats fall to 2-4 in six morning games this season, with one more scheduled morning game left in 2018, on Tuesday, July 17 at Rochester.
Louisville will travel to Moosic, Pennsylvania to start a three-game series against the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, Triple-A affiliate of the New York Yankees. Right-hander José López (2-5, 4.19) will look to win his third straight game for Louisville with the RailRiders set to go with left-hander and top prospect Justus Sheffield (0-2, 3.80) with first pitch slated for 6:35 p.m. Friday night.