Maya, Chiefs split two with Bats

 The Syracuse Chiefs, the Triple-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals, split a doubleheader with the Louisville Bats on Wednesday night. Syracuse claimed the first game, 3-1, behind Yunesky Maya's first career complete-game win, before Louisville earned a 3-0 victory in game two. The Chiefs have now won five of six games on their season-long 10-game road trip.

Syracuse (50-60) got off on the right foot in game one with a pair of second-inning runs against Bats right-hander Kevin Whelan. Will Rhymes and Jhonatan Solano started the inning with singles before Maya sacrificed the runners up one base each. Center fielder Eury Perez followed with a ground-ball single to left field, plating Rhymes for a 1-0 lead. After Solano was thrown out at the plate on a Jeff Kobernus fielder's-choice bunt, second baseman Danny Espinosa grounded a single into right field to score Perez for a 2-0 advantage.

Right fielder Corey Brown supplied a third Chiefs run in the following frame. Brown led off the third with a solo home run to right field against Louisville right-hander Daniel Corcino, increasing Syracuse's lead to 3-0. Brown's now homered 18 times this season, ranking second on the Chiefs behind Zach Walters.

Louisville (55-58) grabbed its lone first-game run in the sixth inning, with Billy Hamilton blasting a solo home run to right field off of Maya. Syracuse's starter, however, would settle down and retired the next six hitters to finish off the victory. He struck out six and surrendered just three hits in seven innings, tossing 61 strikes in 86 pitches.

In game two, Chiefs starter Ryan Tatusko and Bats starter Yohan Pino traded zeroes until the bottom of the fifth inning. Louisville's shortstop began that frame with a solo home run that snuck over the left-field wall, giving the Bats a 1-0 lead.

Syracuse threatened in its next turn at bat, with pinch-hitter Will Rhymes collecting a one-out single and Chris Rahl picking up a two-out walk. Right-hander Jose Diaz, however, entered to strike out Espinosa with the pair of runners on.

Louisville added a pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth. Left-hander Tyler Robertson walked Neftali Soto to start the frame, and left fielder Felix Perez followed with a double to the left-center field gap, scoring Soto to put Louisville ahead by two runs. Later in the inning, the Bats added a second run when pinch-hitter Emmanuel Burriss grounded in a run with the bases loaded.

Syracuse and Louisville will resume their series on Thursday night at 7:05. Chiefs left-hander Danny Rosenbaum and Bats left-hander Ryan Dennick are the scheduled starters.