Bats Drop Third Straight to Toledo 5-1
The Louisville Bats struggled to come up with runs in key situations against the Toledo Mud Hens in a 5-1 loss Thursday Night at Fifth Third Field. Louisville’s Jose Franco (L, 3-5) and Toledo’s Dylan File (7-11) were going at it through the first two innings. However, with one out
The Louisville Bats struggled to come up with runs in key situations against the Toledo Mud Hens in a 5-1 loss Thursday Night at Fifth Third Field.
Louisville’s Jose Franco (L, 3-5) and Toledo’s Dylan File (7-11) were going at it through the first two innings. However, with one out in the third, Franco was pulled after walking two batters. With new pitcher Kevin Abel in, the Mud Hens tacked on two runs with an RBI walk and sacrifice fly to take a 2-0 lead.
Franco ended the day with a final line of two runs given up and walking three, although he did not surrender a single hit in his outing.
The Bats got on the board in the top of the fifth. Will Benson launched a homer deep in right field to put Louisville within one, his fourth homer of the year. Although the Bats got a couple of runners in scoring position with one out later in the inning, nothing came of it, and the score remained 2-1.
Toledo immediately fired back with another run on a double off the wall by Jace Jung, stretching the lead to 3-1 after five.
The Mud Hens kept hammering away on Bats' relievers, as they plated two more via another RBI double by Jung against Zach Maxwell to make it 5-1 after seven innings.
Louisville welcomed Brandon Leibrandt back to the mound in the eighth inning, where he worked a scoreless inning and allowed one hit. Leibrandt had not made an appearance for the Bats since July 21, when he started against the Mud Hens.
Yilber Díaz entered in the ninth to close the game out, but Louisville did not go quietly. They managed to put runners on first and second with one out, but a strikeout and a ground out put the game to bed with a final score of 5-1 in favor of Toledo.
Franco was tacked with the loss for the runs he allowed in the third, while File earned the win for going 6.0 innings, allowing one run on three hits and striking out five. The Bats walked a total of seven hitters tonight compared to the Mud Hens' three. Louisville also stranded nine runners on base in the contest.
The Bats (64-81, 25-47 2nd half) continue their final series with the Mud Hens (72-73, 38-33 2nd half) on Friday night at 7:05 at Fifth Third Field. Nick Curran will be on the call on Sports Talk 790.