IL1 Louisville Bats

Game Notes: Norfolk Tides (8-15) at Louisville Bats (9-14)

Published on April 28, 2019 under International League (IL1)
Louisville Bats News Release


Game 24, Home 14

Norfolk Tides (8-15) at Louisville Bats (9-14)

RHP Vladimir Gutierrez (1-1, 5.75) vs. RHP Matt Wotherspoon (2-0, 2.70)

2:00 PM | Sunday, April 28, 2019 | Louisville Slugger Field

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

THE FINALE: The Louisville Bats finish up a three-game series against the Norfolk Tides, which also wraps up a six-game homestand. Louisville looks to win its first home series of the season in its fourth try, after splitting against Gwinnett and losing series against Columbus and Durham, with the latter being a 3-game sweep. On Sunday, right-hander Vladimir Gutierrez will take the mound for Louisville, in search of his first quality start of 2019.

AGAINST NORFOLK: The Bats and Tides will face off 6 times in 2019, 3 at Louisville Slugger Field and 3 at Harbor Park in a little over a month (5/31-6/2. The 6 scheduled meetings between the teams this year will be the fewest since meeting 6 times in 2016, and only the second time since 1998 they will meet fewer than 8 times.

WALK-OFF WINNER: The 'Derby City Mint Juleps' won on Saturday night by a 5-4 score, earning their first walk-off win of the season. First baseman Brian O'Grady punched an opposite-field grounder that beat the defensive shift in the 10th inning to give the Bats their second extra innings win of 2019. Louisville recorded 6 walk-off wins as a team in 2018, and most recently a Gabriel Guerrero single on August 24 vs. Indianapolis. On the other side, LOU surrendered just 2 walk-off wins all of last season, already surrendering 3 so far this season.

PATIENTLY WAITING: The Bats drew 8 walks as a team in last night's win, a new season high. The 8 free passes were the most Louisville has drawn as a team in a game since August 27 last season at Indianapolis. Saturday night marked just the fifth time since the beginning of 2018 that Louisville drew 8+ walks as a team, with exactly 8 in all of those. Josh VanMeter and Nick Longhi each walked 3 times apiece.

A LEAD: Louisville led by a 3-0 score after a 3-spot in the bottom of the fourth inning, just the third time in their 13 home games this season that they scored first in a game. Louisville owns a 5-5 record when scoring first this season, and they are now 1-2 when scoring first in games played at Louisville Slugger Field.

CHRISTIAN COLON: Louisville's Christian Colon has not only been one of the International League's best hitters, but one of the hottest hitters across all levels of professional baseball. Since April 11, his 26 hits are tied for the most across Levels A - MLB, with only Triple-A Las Vegas' Jorge Mateo. For reference, the MLB leader in hits since 4/11 is the Kansas City Royals' Hunter Dozier with 24.

GET BACK UP: Louisville led 3-0 and 4-2 last night, before Norfolk tied it up on a 2-run homer off the bat of former Bat and Red, Mason Williams. It was the first time Louisville spoiled a 3-run lead and still came back to win the game since June 27, 2018 at Columbus, when LOU led 5-0, gave up 7 unanswered runs to trail 7-5, scored 4 to lead 9-7, with Columbus tying it 9-9. LOU ultimately scored 2 runs in the eighth on Phillip Ervin and D.J. Peterson home runs to win an exciting 11-10 ballgame.

FREAKY FRIDAY: The Bats and Tides combined for 30 runs on Friday night, the highest scoring game in Louisville Slugger Field's history, since the ballpark opened in 2000. The 30 runs surpassed LSF's previous-high of 28 combined runs, which had occurred twice, once in 2002 and again in 2014. The 30 runs also tied a franchise-record, previously occurring twice, both in 1987.

POWER UP: Through 13 games at Louisville Slugger Field this season, there have been a combined 42 home runs (15 by the Bats, 27 by opponents), averaging over 3 homers/game. In the early going, the number of homers/game (3.23) in 2019 is double compared to the 2018 season (1.61 homers/game), with 114 total homers (47 by the Bats, 67 by opponents) hit in 71 games at LSF in 2018.

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International League Stories from April 28, 2019


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