Louisville Bats Notes: 5-8-19

Game 33, Home 16
Syracuse Mets (17-14) at Louisville Bats (14-18)
RHP Keury Mella (1-2, 5.46) vs. LHP Héctor Santiago (1-1, 4.20)
 11:00 AM | Wednesday, May 8, 2019 | Louisville Slugger Field
LISTEN: Nick Curran & Jim Kelch, 790 KRD; iHeartRadio.com; iHeart app

GAME TWO: The Bats and Mets meet in the middle game of a three-game series at Louisville Slugger Field. Louisville tied its season-long 3-game winning streak last night, and will try to win 4 in a row for the first time since July 31-August 3 last season. Louisville will also look to clinch its first home series win of the 2019 season today against Syracuse, with right-hander Keury Mella on the mound for the Bats.
AGAINST SYRACUSE: Louisville welcomed the Syracuse Mets to Louisville Slugger Field for the first time last night, winning by a 3-1 score. Dating back to last season against the Syracuse Chiefs, the Bats have a 5-game winning streak against Syracuse, by far their longest active winning streak against an IL opponent, with a 2-game win streak vs. Indianapolis and Rochester being the second-closest. With Tuesday night's victory, Louisville improved to 30 games above .500 all-time against Syracuse at Louisville Slugger Field, with a 51-21 record.
HALF A RUN A GAME: With Sunday's 8-0 win at Indianapolis and Tuesday's 3-1 win vs. Syracuse, Louisville has allowed its opponents to score just one run in its last 2 contests. Louisville last accomplished the feat on August 2-3 last season, winning 2-0 and 4-1 at Columbus.
THAT WAS FAST: Tuesday evening's series opener was played in 1 hour and 59 minutes, the shortest nine-inning game the Bats have played in since August 9, 2016 in a 2-0 loss at Charlotte, which was also 1:59. It was the shortest nine-inning game at Louisville Slugger Field since May 16 of that same season, winning 4-1 over Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, with a time of 1:59.  
SEVEN AND SEVEN: Lucas Sims followed up Odrisamer Despaigne's Sunday performance with a 7.0 inning outing of his own, with Bats starting pitching allowing just one run over its last 18.0 frames, counting 4.0 scoreless from José López's outing on Saturday. Despaigne and Sims are the first LOU starters to go at least 7.0 innings in back-to-back contests since July 28-29 last season, when Cody Reed and Robert Stephenson went 7.2 and 7.0 innings, respectively, in a pair of Louisville wins vs. Rochester.
ANOTHER ONE: Louisville closer Anthony Bass recorded his seventh save of the season on Tuesday, now leading the International League after breaking a tie with Syracuse's Arquimedes Caminero. Bass has converted 7-of-9 save opportunities this season, and has pitched exactly 1.0 inning in 14 of his 15 appearances, including each of his last 14. He has not yielded an earned run in 12 of his 15 games this season.
COCKADOODLEDOO: Wednesday marks the fourth of 6 scheduled morning games for the Bats this season, owning a 2-1 record so far in games with a pre-noon first pitch. Louisville is 2-0 in the morning on the road, winning 8-0 at Columbus on April 10 and 4-3 at Toledo on May 1. Their lone loss in the morning came at Louisville Slugger Field on April 17 at Columbus, losing 9-5.
FIRST AT HOME: Yesterday marked just the fourth time in 15 home games this season that Louisville had scored first. Overall, when the Bats score first in a game this season they own a 9-6 record, and are 2-2 at home in that scenario.
CATCHER TRIPLE ALERT: Bats catcher Juan Graterol hit an RBI triple in last night's win, the first triple hit by a Louisville backstop since Garrett Boulware on May 16, 2018 at Durham in his second-to-last career game before voluntarily retiring. For Graterol, it was his first career triple in his 667th career professional game, and 2,304th plate appearance.
SIMS LIKE IT MIGHT BE A PATTERN: Starting pitchers have recorded quality starts for the Bats in back-to-back outings for the first time this season, last occurring before Sims and Despaigne on August 19 and 21 last season, when Tyler Mahle and Sims threw quality starts. With a quality start today, LOU would have 3 consecutive for the first time since August 8-10 last season (Cody Reed, Mahle, Sims).