Bats Comeback Falls Short in 4-3 Loss
June 17, 2025 - International League (IL)
Louisville Bats News Release
LOUISVILLE, Kentucky - The Bats gave it all they had in the bottom of the ninth, rallying to come within a run of the RailRiders with two men in scoring position, but Scranton/WB pulled out a 4-3 victory over Louisville to open the six-game set.
After a solid two innings of work from Randy Wynne to start the game for the Bats, Edwin Rios led off the bottom of the second with a triple off the left field wall. The Bats failed to bring him home, however, as the rock-solid Scranton/WB starter Allan Winans (W, 7-0) retired the next three Louisville batters to escape trouble.
The Bats' offense bounced back and came through in the third, as Winans plunked P.J. Higgins and Blake Dunn to put two runners on for Jeimer Candelario. The Candy Man ripped a double into the right field corner, bringing home both runners and putting Louisville up 2-0.
The fourth inning passed quickly, and Braden Shewmake led off the top of the fifth for the RailRiders with a double into right. Two batters later, Jesus Rodriguez played Shewmake with another double to cut the Bats' lead in half. A flyout moved Rodriguez to third with two outs, and after a hit-by-pitch, Bats manager Pat Kelly made the call to the pen, Wynne exiting an out shy of qualifying for a victory. Southpaw Reiver Sanmartin (L, 2-2) entered for Louisville, and T.J. Rumfield greeted him with an RBI single to center to knot the score up at two halfway through the ballgame.
After the Bats went quietly in the fifth, Sanmartin remained in the game for Louisville in the sixth. He surrendered hits to three of the first four batters of the inning, allowing the go-ahead run before coming out of the game for Connor Phillips. As Andrew Velazquez took off for second base, Higgins pump-faked a throw down from behind the plate, baiting Shewmake into leaning off third base. Higgins back-picked Shewmake at third for out number two before the inning ended on a groundout.
Scranton/WB added a run of insurance in the top of the seventh with a solo shot off the bat of Everson Pereira, but Phillips limited the damage.
The Bats squandered a scoring opportunity in the bottom of the eighth by grounding into an inning-ending double play, and Lenny Torres Jr. took the mound for Louisville in the ninth. The RailRiders poked a single and a double to lead off the inning, putting two runners in scoring position with nobody out. Torres gutted out a scoreless frame, working around trouble to keep the Bats' deficit at two runs entering the bottom of the ninth.
Louisville led off the ninth with a pair of walks, putting two runners on base against Eric Reyzelman (S, 1) with Ivan Johnson striding in. Johnson's fielder's choice moved Levi Jordan to third, and he came in to score on a wild pitch that moved Johnson to second. Another walk to Dunn put two on with one out, but Candelario rolled a grounder to first to bring the Bats down to their final out. Francisco Urbaez cracked a fly ball deep to center field, but it fell in the glove of Pereira as the RailRiders closed out a series-opening win.
The Bats (29-41) will look to bounce back in game two of their six-game set with the RailRiders (36-31) on Wednesday afternoon. First pitch is set for 12:05 p.m. ET with Nick Curran and Jim Kelch on the call for Talk Radio 1080.
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