St. Paul Punished by Greene's Pitching In Bats' 3-0 Shutout Win

The Louisville Bats shut the St. Paul Saints out 3-0 at Louisville Slugger Field Sunday afternoon. Hitting in key spots late in the game, paired with superb pitching by familiar Cincinnati Reds faces, led to the donut hole for St. Paul and the crooked number by Louisville.

The Bats hosted Reds rehab arm Hunter Greene (W, 1-0) for his second start of the week, and he delivered a 10-pitch one-two-three inning to start the contest. Saints starter Kendry Rojas followed suit, facing the minimum through his 3.0 innings of work, allowing one hit and striking out three.

Both teams struggled with getting runners on base, notching just two hits combined through the first three innings, but Louisville started to string together some hits, loading the bases with one out. A fielder's choice on a play at home and a strikeout by new pitcher Ryan Gallagher (L, 2,3) got St. Paul out of a jam.

Greene continued to deal through five innings, retiring twelve in a row, and not allowing a hit since the second inning.

Louisville threatened by loading the bases once again in the sixth, but they would not leave the inning empty-handed. Will Banfield took a 94 MPH fastball to the ribs to score the game's first run, giving the Bats a 1-0 lead.

Greene was adamant about going back out in the seventh, and Bats manager Pat Kelly granted his wish, allowing him one more hitter before exiting the game with a superb 6.1 innings pitched. He sat down 16 in a row, four of which were strikeouts, and allowed just one hit. Across his two rehab starts, he did not let up a single run.

More run support came in the bottom of the seventh, where Francisco Urbaez drove in the leadoff man, Garrett Hampson. The offense seemed to have woken up for the Bats, because Hector Rodriguez drove in Urbaez on an RBI double to widen the gap for Louisville, 3-0.

The Bats were not playing around with pitching today, as yet another rehabbing arm made an appearance. Emilio Pagan entered the game in the eighth, and he delivered a nine-pitch inning to keep the Saints scoreless.

To close the game out, Trevor Kuncl (SV, 4) came in to shut the door on St. Paul. A quick ninth closed things out, and the Bats emerged victorious 3-0. Although offense did not come early, Urbaez had a three-hit performance in the win. The main story, however, is the pitching by the Bats' arms. Only two hits allowed across four different pitchers were key in the victory, also allowing only three baserunners all day.

The Bats (41-37, 2-3) conclude their series with the Saints (43-33, 3-2) and travel to Columbus to take on the Clippers. First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m. EST on Tuesday at Huntington Park. Nick Curran will be on the call on Sports Talk 790.