Bats fall in ten to Mud Hens
On Tuesday night at Louisville Slugger Field, the Bats rallied from a three-run deficit in the ninth to tie Toledo and made things interesting in the 10th after the Mud Hens scored three times before ultimately falling 9-7.
Dioner Navarro went 4-for-4 for the Bats (5-8), including a game-tying RBI single in the ninth. Toledo (7-5) extended the inning when third baseman Audy Ciriaco threw low to Ryan Strieby after fielding a Paul Janish grounder, and the Mud Hens' first baseman couldn't come up with the throw. The play should have ended the game.
Instead, Felix Perez hit a dribbler down the first base line that pitcher Matt Hoffman failed to barehand cleanly. The infield single scored a run and cut the Bats' deficit to 6-5. Navarro then came to the plate and brought in the tying run after lacing his fourth hit. Before that pitch, Navarro barely missed hitting a walk-off homer when his shot to left hooked foul.
Unfortunately, Toledo didn't blink after blowing its lead. With no outs in the 10th, Quintin Berry followed Omir Santos' single with an RBI double into the left field corner off Bats reliever Scott Carroll (1-1). Brad Eldred added an RBI single and Carroll walked in a run as the Mud Hens led 9-6.
Louisville mounted another comeback bid in the bottom half. With no outs, Chris Valaika followed Kristopher Negron's walk with a double. After Denis Phipps picked up an RBI on a fielder's choice to make it 9-7, Danny Dorn was hit by a pitch to set up runners at first and second with the winning run at the plate. Neftali Soto hit a sharp ground ball up the middle, but Waite scooped up the ball and Toledo was able to turn an easy double play to end the game.
Until the dramatic final two innings, walks had been the story of the game. Louisville ended up with 10 and Toledo had seven. The Bats were undone by leaving 13 runners on base, although the Mud Hens were even worse at 14.
After going deep 31 times last year between Double-A Carolina and Louisville, Soto cranked his first home run of the season in the second inning. The Bats' first baseman sent a drive soaring over the berm in left center. Toledo leftfielder Jerad Head didn't even break on the ball after contact, watching it sail out of the ballpark. Soto added an RBI ground out in the ninth in driving in the first of Louisville's three runs.
Eldred, who came into the contest leading the International League in extra-base hits and tied for first in homers and RBIs, extended his hitting streak to 12 games in his first at-bat with a broken-bat double that drove in Berry in Toledo's two-run first inning. He finished 2-for-4 with two RBIs.
In his third start of the season, Sean Gallagher had an unsteady outing. After walking two in a two-run Toledo first, the Bats' right-hander pitched three scoreless innings. However, Gallagher walked two more batters in the fifth and left with two outs after Danny Worth fisted an RBI single to left for a 3-2 lead.
Hoffman (1-0) blew the save but ended up earning the win for Toledo. Waite notched his first save. Fu-Te Ni started for Toledo and pitched 1 2/3 innings before being replaced in the second inning presumably due to injury. Carlos Fisher, Nick Christiani and Ron Mahay all preceded Carroll.
The Bats played their first game without infielder/outfielder Todd Frazier, who was called up Tuesday by the Cincinnati Reds after infielder Miguel Cairo was placed on the disabled list with a strained left hamstring. Infielder Mike Costanzo has been summoned from Double-A Pensacola to fill Frazier's void on the Bats' roster after hitting .333 with three homers and a Southern League-leading 13 RBIs.
Toledo's Andy Oliver (0-1, 2.79 ERA) and Louisville's Chad Reineke (0-0, 4.22) are scheduled to start on the mound at 6:35 p.m. on Wednesday in the second of the four-game set at Slugger Field.