IL1 Louisville Bats

Game Notes: Gwinnett Stripers (4-3) at Louisville Bats (4-4)

Published on April 12, 2019 under International League (IL1)
Louisville Bats News Release


Game 9, Home 2

Gwinnett Stripers (4-3) at Louisville Bats (4-4)

7:00 PM | Friday, April 12, 2019 | Louisville Slugger Field

LISTEN: Nick Curran & Jim Kelch, 790 KRD; iHeartRadio.com; iHeart app

LET'S DO GAME TWO: The Louisville Bats and Gwinnett Stripers face off Friday night in the second game of a four-game series in the season-opening series at Louisville Slugger Field, celebrating its 20th season. Louisville will start right-hander Vladimir Gutierrez (1-0, 3.38), who in his Triple-A debut on April 7, became the first Bats starting pitcher to win a Triple-A debut since 2016. Last night, the Bats snapped their 4-season losing streak in home openers, winning their first since 2014.

AGAINST GWINNETT: Thursday night's 7-6 win means the Bats have now won 9 straight home games against Gwinnett, sweeping them in 3 games in both 2017 and 2018. Louisville hasn't lost to the top farm club of the Atlanta Braves at Louisville Slugger Field since July 1, 2016. In 78 total matchups between the clubs since the Richmond Braves relocated to Gwinnett to begin the 2009 season, the teams have been nearly dead-even, with Louisville owning a 40-38 advantage, including 22-16 at home after Thursday's series-opening game.

OH, WHAT A NIGHT: The Bats won a 7-6 ballgame in their 2019 home opener in a thrilling, come-from-behind fashion, once trailing 4-0 in the second inning before mounting a furious comeback to win their third straight game to climb back to .500.

Last 4-Run Comeback: The Bats coming back from a 4-run deficit to win was something that did not occur during the entire 2018 season. It was the first time Louisville won a game in which it was down 4+ runs since August 29, 2017, when LOU trailed Indianapolis by a 4-0 score at Louisville Slugger Field, before winning 7-4.

How About In An OPENER?: Louisville coming back from a 4-run deficit to win a home opener is not unprecedented; the Bats actually accomplished that same feat back on April 5, 2007. In the first game of the season, LOU trailed the Toledo Mud Hens 4-0 in the third, before coming back to win 5-4 on a walk-off fielder's choice hit by Louisville's Bubba Crosby in the bottom of the 10th inning.

WINNING WAYS: The Bats have won 3 straight games and 4 of their last 5, climbing back to .500 after starting off 0-3 and 1-4. LOU last won 3 straight from August 23-25 last season. It's also the first time, besides when they started 0-0 to begin 2019, that Louisville owns a .500 record since they were 3-3 on April 11, 2018 after winning the sixth game of the season vs. Columbus.

With A Win Tonight: If Louisville wins its fourth straight game, it will be their first 4-game winning streak since July 31-August 3 last season. A win would also raise the Bats above the .500 mark for the first time since July 27, 2016, when they were 53-52 after winning their 105th game of the season in a home game vs. Charlotte.

AIR SHOW CAME EARLY: Louisville hit 3 home runs as a team yesterday, with Brian O'Grady hitting 2 and Aristides Aquino hitting one. It was already the second time Louisville's hit 3 homers in a game this season, also doing it in April 7's 8-4 win (O'Grady, Aquino, Nick Longhi). It was the first time LOU's hit 3 homers in a game at Louisville Slugger Field since Sept. 2 last season (O'Grady, Steve Selsky, Gabriel Guerrero) against Indianapolis.

O'GREAT-Y: Louisville first baseman Brian O'Grady went 2-for-4 with a pair of home runs in Thursday's 7-6 win, already the second multi-homer game for a Bat this season after Josh VanMeter did it in April 9's 6-2 win at Columbus. The first homer of the night for O'Grady was his 50th career as a minor leaguer, and the second gave the Bats a 6-5 lead in the bottom of the sixth, his second go-ahead homer of 2019. O'Grady last had registered a multi-homer game on April 29, 2018 with Pensacola.

WE'D RATHER RUN ANYWAYS: Louisville won 7-6 despite not drawing a base on balls. Last season, LOU went 1-10 in the 11 games it did not walk as a club, with the lone victory coming on August 3 at Columbus, winning 4-0.

TRANSACTIONS: If Outfielder Phillip Ervin was recalled to join the Cincinnati Reds as the 26th man for their Mexico series against the St. Louis Cardinals. In a corresponding move, outfielder Courtney Hawkins was transferred to the Bats from Double-A Chattanooga. Hawkins, who will make his Triple-A debut when first appearing in a game, was originally a 1st round draft pick (13th overall) by the Chicago White Sox in 2012, and recently played in the independent Atlantic League for the Sugar Land Skeeters.

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