Bats drop eighth straight, lose 8-5
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The Louisville Bats surrendered an early lead Tuesday night to the Columbus Clippers, dropping their eighth consecutive game and losing 8-5 at Louisville Slugger Field.
Erasing a 1-0 deficit in the second inning, the Bats got on the board when Donnie Murphy hit his first homerun in a Louisville uniform and scored Neftali Soto, giving the team the 2-1 lead. Murphy was signed by Cincinnati and assigned to Louisville on July 17th.
The Bats added two more runs in the bottom of the third inning when Felix Perez and Soto each drove in a run and extended the lead to 4-1. Soto went 2-for-4 with an RBI on the night.
Columbus battled back, scoring a pair of runs in the top of the fifth and seventh innings and adding another in the eighth to take the 6-4 lead that they wouldn't surrender. A Louisville run in the bottom of the inning and two more Columbus runs in the ninth set the score at 8-5.
Making his 17th start of the season, right-hander Josh Smith did not factor into the decision. He pitched six innings while allowing three earned runs off seven hits with a pair of walks and four strikeouts. Louisville was unable to reward a pitcher turning in a quality start for the third consecutive game.
Right-hander Adam Russell (2-2, 4.59) suffered the loss, pitching a third of an inning while permitting two earned runs on two hits with a walk.
Clippers right-hander Kyle Davies (6-7, 4.06) earned his sixth win of the season, delivering a six and two-thirds-inning performance, giving up four earned runs on 11 hits with a pair of walks and four strikeouts.
The Bats will look to end the eight-game skid tomorrow at 7:05 p.m. when they send southpaw David Holmberg (0-5, 5.17) to the rubber to face Columbus righty Tyler Cloyd (8-5, 4.10) at Louisville Slugger Field.