Blandino hits two homers in 5-2 loss

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - The Louisville Bats (24-36) dropped Thursday night's series opener against the Charlotte Knights (33-25) by a 5-2 score at BB&T Ballpark. Cincinnati Reds rehabber Alex Blandino went 3-for-4 with two home runs, the 15th multi-homer game by a Bats player this season.

Blandino wasted no time getting the offense started, hitting a leadoff home run against Charlotte starting pitcher and former Bat, left-hander Justin Nicolino (4-1, 4.20) as the game's first batter. It was the second straight night that Louisville had a leadoff homer, after Scott Schebler did it on Wednesday night against the Indianapolis Indians.
Blandino homered again in his next at-bat in the third inning, giving Louisville a 2-0 lead and its 15th individual multi-homer game of the season, far and away the most in the International League. He finished his night 3-for-4 with the pair of homers, also singling in his third at-bat.
Right-hander Vladimir Gutierrez (2-5, 7.32) continued his recent stretch of solid starts despite the loss, giving up four runs (three earned) on seven hits and two homers in 6.0 innings of work, walking none and striking out five on a season-high 110 pitches and 70 strikes. It was his second consecutive quality start, allowing one earned and one unearned run to the Knights in the fourth, allowing them to tie the game, 2-2.
Charlotte took the lead in the bottom of the sixth on back-to-back home runs by Alcides Escobar and Zack Collins, capped off a Daniel Palka solo shot in the eighth to give the Knights five unanswered runs to eventually win by a 5-2 final.
For the second night in a row and the 18th time this season, Louisville lost a game in which it led at one point, accounting for exactly half of its 36 losses so far this season.
Tomorrow, left-hander Eric Stout (0-1, 11.57) is scheduled to make his second career start in the Reds organization, set to oppose veteran left-hander Ross Detwiler (1-2, 3.91) with another 7:04 first pitch in game two of the four-game series.