Seven Run Third Sets Tone For Bats' Victory
The Bats’ biggest offensive inning of the season powered Louisville to a 9-6 victory over the Nashville Sounds on Friday night at Louisville Slugger Field. Bats starter Darren McCaughan cruised through a perfect first inning before being roughed up in the second. He allowed back-to-back doubles from Luis Matos and
The Bats’ biggest offensive inning of the season powered Louisville to a 9-6 victory over the Nashville Sounds on Friday night at Louisville Slugger Field.
Bats starter Darren McCaughan cruised through a perfect first inning before being roughed up in the second. He allowed back-to-back doubles from Luis Matos and Eddys Leonard, which plated the game's first run and gave the Sounds an early 1-0 lead.
McCaughan then walked Ramon Rodriguez and gave up a two-run triple to Jordyn Adams to jolt Nashville ahead 3-0.
Louisville responded with thunder in the bottom of the third. Edwin Arroyo singled to boost his hit streak to 10 games. Hector Rodriguez followed that up with a single, and Noelvi Marte reached on a fielder's choice to load the bases. Rece Hinds and Michael Toglia drew back-to-back walks to draw the deficit to 3-2.
Michael Chavis hit the first pitch he saw to left field for a sac fly, which scored Marte to tie the game at three. Francisco Urbaez kept the line moving with a single, which scored another run to give the Bats a 4-3 lead.
With runners on first and second, Will Banfield crushed a hanging changeup onto the concourse in left-center field for his second homer of the season. Banfield’s bomb capped the seven-run third inning and gave Louisville a 7-3 lead.
Nashville responded immediately in the fourth with Leonard’s sixth homer of the year. The solo shot tightened the deficit to 7-4. Nashville scored again in the fifth when McCaughan allowed back-to-back singles, followed by a groundout that scored the lead runner, and inched Nashville closer to 7-5.
McCaughan allowed a ground-rule double, which ended his evening with one out in the fifth. Julian Garcia entered with runners on second and third and one out and worked his way out of the jam unscathed. McCaughan allowed five runs on eight hits, walked two, and struck out two over 4.1 innings of work.
The Sounds continued battling in the sixth inning and scored for a third consecutive inning. A lead-off single came around to score to pull Nashville within one at 7-6. Arroyo responded immediately in the bottom of the sixth with a solo shot of his own to improve the Bats' lead to 8-6.
Arroyo continued his offensive onslaught with another solo homer in the eighth inning. His 7th of the season was hit 418 feet to center field to give Louisville a 9-6 lead. Zach Maxwell shut the Sounds offense down with two scoreless innings. He struck out three and recorded his second save of the season.
Arroyo went 3-for-5 with two homers, one from each side of the plate, and scored three runs. Friday was Arroyo’s second career multi-homer game, and first since April 29, 2022, while with the Mariners' Single-A Affiliate. Marte went 3-for-5 with a run scored to improve his batting average to .405 over 20 games with the Bats.
The Bats (22-15) will take on the Nashville Sounds (19-18) for the fifth game of the series on Saturday at 7:15 p.m. Sam Benschoter (2-1) will be on the hill for the Bats. He’ll face the Sounds' Carlos Rodriguez (0-3). Nick Curran and Jim Kelch will be on the call on Sports Talk 790.