Los Murcielagos Fall Short to Los Veleros, 6-4
July 5, 2019 - International League (IL1)
Louisville Bats News Release
COLUMBUS, Oh. - The Louisville Bats (33-54) were defeated by the Columbus Clippers (53-33) by a score of 6-4 on Friday night at Huntington Park. Louisville and Columbus assumed the identities of Los Murciélagos and Los Veleros, respectively, to continue the Copa de la Diversión, or "Fun Cup." The matchup was the fourth of five total games for the event, with the series now being tied 2-2.
Los Murciélagos struck first in the game as Narciso Crook hit a leadoff homerun in the top of the first inning, his third homerun of the season, giving the Los Murciélagos an early 1-0 lead. The homerun was the 100th Louisville long-ball of the season, coming in the 87th game of the season. Louisville has reached 100 team homeruns in back-to-back seasons, immediately following five consecutive seasons with 94 or fewer homeruns from 2013-2017.
Louisville starter Vladimir Gutierrez (2-7, 7.04) was locked in early, sitting down Los Veleros in order in the first two innings, striking out four of those six hitters. However, the waters would grow choppy starting in the third inning when Eric Haase would connect with his 22nd homerun of the season. Gutierrez would be charged with the loss, allowing five runs (four earned), on six hits with six total strikeouts across 5.0+ innings of work.
After giving up the leadoff homerun to Crook, Los Veleros starter Shao-Ching Chiang (6-5, 4.87) was able to settle in and pitch a solid 5.2 innings, allowing only two runs on eight hits with seven strikeouts and a pair of walks to ultimately earn his sixth win of the season. The second run he allowed came in the sixth, as Juan Graterol made him pay for a rare mistake by sending it sailing well over the left-field fence for his second homerun of the season.
Heading into the ninth, down by a score of 6-2, Louisville would not go down without a fight. Following a Juan Graterol single and a Sherman Johnson double, Los Murciélagos would plate both of them with a sac fly and wild pitch to cut the lead to 6-4. From there, Crook would draw a hit-by-pitch to bring Christian Colon to the plate, representing the tying run. However, a heads-up defensive play by Los Veleros shortstop Eric Stamets to let a soft line drive short hop into his glove, set up the 6-4-3 double play to end the game.
Los Murciélagos and Los Veleros will play game three of the four game series in Columbus tomorrow evening with first pitch set for 7:15p.m. Tomorrow night's game will also be the final matchup of the two teams in the Copa de la Diversión, or "Fun Cup." With the series now tied 2-2, game five of the series will decide who will receive the celebration's hardware, the Copa Cup. Left-hander Alex Wood (MLB Rehab, NR w/LOU) start for Los Murciélagos and will go head-to-head with Los Veleros southpaw Tanner Tully (1-0, 3.00).
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