Louisville Bats Notes: August 14

TONIGHT'S GAME: The Louisville Bats look to snap their 3-game losing streak tonight against the Gwinnett Stripers, who one-hit the Bats in their 6-0 win in the series opener last night. There was not a hit in last night's ballgame until Bats catcher Tim Federowicz singled in the top of the fifth, which ended up being LOU's lone hit of the night. Tonight, right-hander Tyler Mahle takes the mound for the Bats in his second Louisville start this season.

AGAINST GWINNETT: The Bats and Stripers meet for a three-game series at Coolray Field. The clubs last met at the beginning of June, with Louisville earning its first series sweep of the 2018 season by winning 3 consecutive games against the Stripers, outscoring them 13-4. Last season, the Bats went 3-4 against the Gwinnett Braves, winning all 3 at Louisville Slugger Field, before dropping all 4 games at Gwinnett. The Bats look to buck that trend this series, trying to snap a 5-game losing streak at Coolray Field, last winning there in 2016.
SHUT OUT AGAIN: The Bats were shut out for the second consecutive game, losing 6-0 in Monday's series opener. It's the first time LOU has been shut out in back-to-back games since July 13-14, 2017 at Indianapolis, losing 10-0 and 6-0 in the first 2 games after the All-Star break. The Bats have still been shut out just 4 times all season, fewest shutout losses in the International League in 2018. LOU looks to avoid being shut out in 3 straight games for the first time since August 9-12, 2015.
NOT FEELING WRIGHT: Catcher Tim Federowicz recorded Louisville's only hit last night, the first time the Bats have been one-hit all season. Gwinnett starter, right-hander Kyle Wright dominated, tossing 7.0 shutout innings with 8 strikeouts. Before last night, the fewest hits LOU had in a game were 2 hits on May 30 vs. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. The one hit last night was the fewest number of hits for LOU in a game since they were no-hit on June 30, 2016, also vs. Gwinnett.
FAMILIAR FACES: The Bats have a pair of 2018 Gwinnett Stripers on their roster, right-handers Lucas Sims and Matt Wisler . Both pitchers, along with OF Preston Tucker , came over to the Cincinnati Reds in a July 30 trade that sent OF Adam Duvall to the Atlanta Braves. Sims went 4-3 with a 2.84 ERA in 15 games (14 starts) for Gwinnett this season, while Wisler went 4-4 with a 4.37 ERA in 13 starts. Wisler made a start against Louisville earlier this season, going 4.0 innings and giving up 6 runs in the Bats' 7-2 win over the Stripers. Sims is expected to start for Louisville in Wednesday's series finale.
SINCE THE WIN STREAK: Since falling to a season-high 20 games below the .500 mark (35-55) on July 16, the Bats are 17-10 in their last 27 games, despite going 2-7 over their last 9 games. The 27-game stretch was started by a 9-game winning streak from July 17-25, the club's longest win streak since the 2010 season. Since the winning streak was snapped in a 4-3 home loss vs. Buffalo on July 26, the Bats are 8-10.
NL BASEBALL: Louisville fell to .500 (15-15) against National League affiliated teams this season, while 37-50 (.463) against AL-affiliated clubs. The Bats play 58 percent (14 of 24) of their remaining games this season against NL-affiliated clubs, starting with this past Friday's opener against the Lehigh Valley IronPigs.