TONIGHT'S GAME: The Louisville Bats and Columbus Clippers finish up a three-game series tonight at Huntington Park, with the Bats looking to avoid a series sweep after dropping Wednesday's middle game by a 7-1 score. Tonight, right-hander Tyler Mahle will make what is likely his last Louisville start of the
TONIGHT'S GAME: The Louisville Bats and Columbus Clippers finish up a three-game series tonight at Huntington Park, with the Bats looking to avoid a series sweep after dropping Wednesday's middle game by a 7-1 score. Tonight, right-hander Tyler Mahle will make what is likely his last Louisville start of the season as the Bats look to avoid being swept at Columbus for the first time since losing both games of a two-game series from August 29-30, 2015.
AGAINST COLUMBUS: The Bats and Clippers meet for the final time in 2018 tonight at Huntington Park. In 23 total matchups so far this season, Columbus holds a 15-8 lead, finishing with a 10-4 record at Louisville Slugger Field this season. Overall, COL has outscored LOU this season by a 124-111 advantage. Three of the last 4 matchups between the teams have been one-run games, with Columbus coming out on top in all three.
ALL GOOD THINGS MUST COME TO AN END: The Bats notched 7 hits in yesterday's loss, all singles. D.J. Peterson went 3-for-4 and Steve Selsky went 2-for-3, while Josh VanMeter (9 games) and Gabriel Guerrero (7 games) had their hitting streaks snapped. During VanMeter's hit streak, he batted .444 (16-for-36) with 11 extra-base hits (7 2b, 2 3b, 2 hr) with 11 RBI, with 4 more XBH than next-closest Austin Riley and Kennys Vargas in that span.
AAA BATTERY: Last night, left-hander Juan Martinez made his Triple-A debut for Louisville, tossing 3.0 innings in relief of José López , giving up 3 earned runs on 5 hits, walking none and striking out 4. Valentin Martinez caught Juan Martinez, making them the first Louisville Bats battery to share a last name since May 5, 2003, when Corky Miller caught left-handed pitcher Travis Miller.
THE NOTORIOUS B. O'G: Left fielder Brian O'Grady went 1-for-4 and scored the Bats' only run of the ballgame in Wednesday's 7-1 loss. He extended his hit streak to 7 games in the process. Since joining Louisville on July 21, O'Grady is batting .312 (39-for-125) with 8 doubles, 2 triples, 7 home runs and 25 RBI in 37 games.
TOP 3 ALL-TIME: On Tuesday night at Huntington Park, Louisville designated hitter Hernan Iribarren went 2-for-4, recording his 441st and 442nd career hits in a Louisville uniform, moving into sole possession of third place on the franchise hits list since Triple-A baseball came back to Louisville in 1982. Iribarren's leadoff single in the second inning moved him into a three-way tie for third place with Bill Lyons and Gene Roof. On Tuesday, "Iri" moved past the former Louisville Redbirds on the franchise hits list with a double in the sixth inning, his second straight multi-hit game and fourth in his last 5 starts.
