IL1 Louisville Bats

Bats Hit Four Homeruns in 10-7 win

Published on May 29, 2013 under International League (IL1)
Louisville Bats News Release


LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Despite being outhit in the game, Louisville (26-27) belted four solo homeruns to win the matinee 10-7 with Columbus (29-24). The Bats have hit 47 homeruns this season, 33 of which have been solo homers. Louisville has now recorded 10 or more hits in 15 of their last 22 games.

The Clippers had 14 hits compared to the Bats 11, and Wednesday marked just the third win in 23 games of being outhit this season.

Wednesday's pitching match-up featured Louisville's Armando Galarraga and the Clippers' Trevor Bauer. Galarraga had lost his previous two starts entering the game, allowing eight runs in his last 12 innings of work. The 22-year old Bauer is the second-rated prospect in the Cleveland Indians farm system.

Two Clippers reached base in the first inning, following a single and an error by third baseman Neftali Soto; however, Galarraga was able to get through the inning unscathed.

Billy Hamilton got things started for the Bats in the home half of the first inning, drawing a leadoff walk. The base-on-balls was Hamilton's 21st this season, and fifth in the last three games. Hamilton stole second base on the very first pitch, despite the pitchout, sliding in safely for his International League leading 28th stolen base. On the second pitch of the at bat to Josh Fellhauer, Hamilton attempted to steal third base, but was gunned down by Columbus' Omir Santos. Hamilton has now been caught stealing five times in 34 attempts.

Despite the out at third, Fellhauer proceeded to blast a solo homerun to right field, his third of the season, after hitting just four homeruns in all of last year with Double-A Pensacola. Fellhauer is batting .500 with 11 RBI throughout the current home stand. Louisville is now 22-8 when scoring first.

The Bats would tack another run on in the second. Henry Rodriguez and Mike Hessman both drew walks to open the inning, and were advanced into scoring position on a perfectly placed bunt by Kristopher Negron. Hessman has now reached base safely in 24 consecutive games. Nevin Ashley followed with a RBI single to score Rodriguez; however Louisville was unable to add to their lead as Konrad Schmidt and Hamilton recorded back-to-back strikeouts to end the inning.

More of the same in the third inning for the Bats, as Bauer continued his early struggle with command. Fellhauer drew a leadoff walk, and a pitch hit Neftali Soto to give the Bats multiple runners on base. Both would advance following a wild pitch. Henry Rodriguez followed to hit a sacrifice fly to deep leftfield, knocking in Fellhauer for his 25th RBI this season. Hessman followed with a RBI single, as Louisville took a 4-0 lead after three innings.

The Clippers threatened in the fourth inning as Lonnie Chisenhall led off with a single, extending his current hitting-streak to nine games. Chun Chen followed with a hard-hit ball up the middle, but Negron made a great play to get to the ball, backhanding it to Rodriguez to complete the 6-4-3 double play. Galarraga allowed another single and walk in the inning, but again was able to pitch out of trouble.

Ashley and Schmidt began the bottom of the fourth inning with back-to-back homeruns, the first time Louisville has accomplished that feat this season. Ashley's leadoff homer to right field was his third homerun this season and first in Louisville Slugger Field. Schmidt's blast to left was his first of 2013, giving the Bats a 6-0 lead.

The fifth inning would get dicey for Galarraga, as Columbus we get on the scoreboard and then-some, after sending nine batter to the plate. Ezequiel Carrera reached base on an error by Rodriguez, Louisville's 48th error this season in just 53 games. After walking Tim Fedroff, Galarraga gave up a three-run homerun to Cord Phelps to deep right field, his seventh of the season. After a strikeout to Matt LaPorta, Chisenhall and Chen hit back-to-back singles to give the Clippers runners on the corners with one out.

Controversy set in as Jeremy Hermida belted a shot to deep right-centerfield that hit off the wall, but was originally ruled a three-run homerun, which would have tied the score at six runs apiece. After the original decision Louisville skipper Jim Riggleman came out to argue that it wasn't a homerun. The umpires met to discuss and changed the ruling to a ground-rule double, making the score 6-4. The adjustment then brought Columbus manager Chris Tremie out to argue, and he was eventually ejected from the game. Chen and Hermida were brought back out of the visiting dugout and placed on third and second base respectively. Galarraga would take advantage of the good fortune, getting Juan Diaz and Santos to fly out to end the inning, avoiding any further damage.

Galarraga (3-3, 2.94 ERA) final line was 5 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 4 BB, and 3 K's.

Hessman continued his hot hitting in the bottom of the fifth, blasting his league-leading 13th homerun to deep left field. The solo shot was Hessman's eighth homer in May, fourth of the home stand, including one in each of the last three games. Hessman now has 397 career homeruns; 376 of those have come in the minor leagues including 231 in the International League. Hessman went 3-for-3 with three RBI.

Bauer (2-2, 5.05 ERA) finished his outing with 4.2 IP, 7 H, 7 ER, 4 BB, and 3 K's.

Kevin Whelan took the mound for the Bats in the sixth inning, which saw the Clippers cut the deficit to one run. Whelan walked two and gave up a two-run triple to Chisenhall, making the score 7-6. Chisenhall was 4-for-5 with two RBI on the day.

Hamilton laid a drag bunt down the first base line for a one-out single in the sixth inning. Fellhauer drew a walk and Hamilton stole third base, his 29th, to give the Bats runners on the corners. Soto followed with a double down the left field line to score both runners, giving the Bats a three-run lead once again. Soto was 1-for-4 with two RBI. Hessman would later single to knock him in and push the lead to 10-6.

After the Clippers added a run in the seventh, Louisville went down in order for the first time of the day. The Bats scored at least one run in six consecutive innings, their longest streak of the season.

Yohan Pino entered to throw a scoreless eighth inning, allowing one hit while striking out two batters. Pino returned for the ninth inning for a six-out save. After getting the leadoff runner out, Santos hit a ball back up the middle that drilled Pino in his right bicep. Pino stayed in, but gave up another single and a walk to load the bases. Pino was able to get Phelps and LaPorta to pop out to end the game.

With the win on Wednesday, Louisville improved to 14-13 in the month of May, and is looking for their first month with a record above .500 since they went 16-7 in April 2011. The Bats have two games left in May, tomorrow against Columbus, and Friday at Toledo.

The final game of the home stand is tomorrow at 6:35 p.m. Louisville's Greg Reynolds (4-0, 3.16 ERA) squares off against Danny Salazar (0-0, 0.00 ERA). A win tomorrow would mean a series win against Columbus, as well as improving to .500 both on the season and on the eight-game home stand.

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International League Stories from May 29, 2013


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