Bats early surge leads to victory

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The Louisville Bats defeated the Norfolk Tides Monday night 10-5 after an impressive outing from lefty Jeff Francis at Louisville Slugger Field.

Francis (4-3, 2.91) went seven innings while throwing 120 pitches, 82 for strikes, with six strikeouts. He retired 11 straight batters at one point in the game.

Left-hander Nick Additon (L, 2-1, 3.38) pitched five innings for the Tides allowing four hits and five runs including a three-run homerun by Ruben Gotay.

The Bats stumbled at the start of the game, committing three errors through the second inning and allowing the Tides to take a 4-0 lead.

Norfolk's lead would be short-lived as Louisville came to the plate in the bottom of the second. The Tides would allow two runs before Gotay would come to the plate with runners on the corners and drive one out to left-center field to give the Bats a 5-4 lead. Gotay would finish with five RBI on the evening, the most by a Bat this season and the most since Mike Hessman had five on August 31, 2013.

Designated hitter Mike Wilson hit a solo home run in the bottom of the eighth, his third of the year.

Corky Miller appeared in his 541st games as a Louisville Bat and is now three shy of tying Bill Lyons' franchise record of 544 games played. He added to his franchise-record double total with his 99th career two-bagger in the second.

Right-hander Jose Diaz (0-0, 0.69) came on to pitch in the ninth inning. He allowed his first run of 2014 to cross with two outs, but was able to finish the game.

The Louisville Bats will host Norfolk on Tuesday at 6:35 p.m. Lefty Aroldis Chapman (NR) will take the mound for the Bats in his rehab assignment for the Cincinnati Reds after being hit in the head with a line drive during a spring training game on March 19. Mike Wright (0-0) will pitch for the Tides, coming into the game with a 2.86 ERA.