IL1 Louisville Bats

Game Notes: Louisville Bats (2-4) at Columbus Clippers (4-2)

Published on April 10, 2019 under International League (IL1)
Louisville Bats News Release


Game 7, Away 7

Louisville Bats (2-4) at Columbus Clippers (4-2)

11:35 AM | Wednesday, April 10, 2019 | Huntington Park

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

TODAY'S GAME: The Louisville Bats and Columbus Clippers meet in the series finale at Huntington Park with the three-gamer on the line as the Bats tied things up Tuesday night with a come-from-behind 6-2 win. Louisville finishes out its seven-game road trip to begin the season before heading home Thursday to start an eight-game homestand against the Gwinnett Stripers and these same Clippers, with first pitch at Louisville Slugger Field at 7 p.m. on Thursday.

AGAINST COLUMBUS: The Bats won their first 2018 series in their second series of the season, taking two out of three against the Clippers. Louisville will repeat last year's accomplishment with a win today, and will have right-hander Lucas Sims (0-0, 9.00) on the mound. Last season, Louisville went 9-15 (.375) against the Clip Show in 24 games, 4-10 at home and 5-5 at Huntington Park. After the Bats evened things up last night in the current series, they also have a chance to even it up in the overall series, with Columbus holding a one-game advantage in the all-time battle with a 207-206 record in 413 total matchups since 1988.

VANMETER HAS FOUND THE HEATER: Second baseman Josh VanMeter went 2-for-4 with 2 home runs and 4 RBI in Tuesday's 6-2 win, now hitting 3 home runs in his last 2 games. Not only has he clubbed 3 round-trippers in his last 2 games, but each of the first two were game-tying home runs. VanMeter's multi-homer game was the first for the Bats since Gabriel Guerrero's on July 30 last season at Toledo, and he's the first to hit 3 homers in a 2-game span or better since Brandon Dixon hit 3 in one game on August 20, 2017 against Rochester. Through 6 games this season, VanMeter is batting .381 (8-for-21) with a 1.314 OPS, sixth-best in the IL.

TRANSACTIONS: Before last night's game, the Bats added a pair of players in what was their first series of roster moves since the start of this season, adding catcher Valentin Martinez and infielder/outfielder Rob Refsnyder.

-Martinez, who appeared in 8 games with LOU last season, wasted no time in his Triple-A return, going 2-for-4 with 2 doubles and an RBI, recording both his first Triple-A extra-base hit and RBI. The 22-year-old backstop was transferred from Rookie Billings.

- On April 7, Refsnyder was acquired by the Reds in a trade from the Diamondbacks in exchange for cash/player to be named later. The 28-year-old was activated on Tuesday but did not appear in Louisville's 6-2 win. Refsnyder has appeared in 166 big league games between the Yankees, Blue Jays and Rays from 2015-18.

- In a pair of corresponding moves, catcher Juan Graterol (left heel contusion) was placed on the 7-day injured list, retroactive to April 6. The Bats' Opening Day backstop went 2-for-3 with 2 walks on April 4 at Toledo, but had no appeared in a game since. Louisville also transferred infielder Taylor Sparks to Rookie Greeneville before Tuesday's game, with the infielder 0-for-3 with a walk in one game with the Bats this year.

DOWN, BUT NEVER OUT: The Bats were down 2-0 after five innings on Tuesday night, courtesy of two solo home runs hit by the Clippers' Mike Freeman. Louisville's offense picked it up in the latter half of the game, scoring 6 unanswered runs for its first comeback win of the season. In 2018, Louisville registered 25 come-from-behind wins, while losing 31 games in which it led at one point. The club's biggest comeback in terms of runs last season was overcoming a 3-run deficit to win, which happened on 3 different occasions, and most recently August 24 vs. Indianapolis.

IT TAKES TWO TO TANGO: On Tuesday night, both Columbus' Mike Freeman and Louisville's Josh VanMeter hit 2 home runs. It was the first time in a Bats game that players from both teams hit at least 2 homers in the same game since June 21 last season, when Nick Senzel, along with Durham's Ji-Man Choi, each hit 2 homers in a 13-3 Bulls win over the Bats at Louisville Slugger Field. It's also noteworthy that Senzel's second home run that night was his last plate appearance of the 2018 season, leaving the June 22 game with an injury.

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