Louisville Bats Notes: July 20
July 20, 2018 - International League (IL1)
Louisville Bats News Release
BATS WIN THIRD STRAIGHT: The Louisville Bats dominated the Syracuse Chiefs in Thursday's series opener, winning by an 11-1 score. The Bats led 10-0 after three innings, scoring 3 runs in both the first and second, and scoring 4 runs in the top of the third. Tonight, the Bats turn to left-hander Justin Nicolino as they go for their fourth straight win, which would be their longest win streak since winning a season-high 5 games in a row from May 31 to June 5.
AGAINST SYRACUSE: The Bats will face the Syracuse Chiefs for the first time since April, when they dropped two of three games at Louisville Slugger Field. Louisville's lone win came in the middle game, on Thunder At Slugger Day in front of a record crowd of 14,658. Last season, the Bats won the season series against the Chiefs by a 4-3 advantage, taking two of three at home and splitting a four-game series at Syracuse.
TRANSACTIONS: Today the Cincinnati Reds selected the contract of outfielder Phillip Ervin . Since June 19, Ervin is batting .384 (33-for-86) with 13 runs, 5 doubles, 2 triples, 5 home runs, 29 RBI, 10 walks and 4 stolen bases. Ervin's 29 RBI since then ranks second in the IL to only Columbus' Eric Haase with 31 RBI. His .384 average in that span ranks second to only Toledo's Jacob Robson with a .394 average.
-The Bats also added outfielder Brian O'Grady to their roster from Class AA Pensacola. In 63 games for the Blue Wahoos this season, he is batting .258 (46-for-178) with 12 doubles, 4 triples, 6 home runs and 30 RBI.
MASON FOR THREE: Leadoff batter Mason Williams started off yesterday's game with a triple, scoring on Blake Trahan 's single during the very next at-bat. It was the first triple to start a game for Louisville's offense since Tony Renda on July 9, 2016 at Toledo. Before that, Jose Peraza had tripled to lead off the game on April 12, 2016 at Columbus. Josh VanMeter also tripled in the first inning of yesterday's ballgame, bringing in 2 runs to give Louisville an early 3-0 lead.
ONE RUN ALLOWED IN TWO GAMES: Louisville pitching has been excellent in the team's last 2 games, allowing just one run last night after earning its second shutout win of the season on Wednesday in the series finale at Rochester, a 2-0 win. The one total run allowed in a 2-game span is the best 2-game stretch for Bats pitching since September 3 last season, sweeping a doubleheader with 7-1 and 5-0 victories over the Columbus Clippers at Huntington Park.
BAH GAWD IT'S J.R.: Right-hander Jesus Reyes made his Triple-A debut last night, pitching 1.1 innings in scoreless relief of left-handed starter Cody Reed, who went 3.2 clean frames before being removed after being struck by a batted ball. Reyes joins Zack Weiss (April 7) as Louisville pitchers to earn a win in their Triple-A debuts in 2018.
TR4H4N: Shortstop Blake Trahan went 3-for-4 with 4 runs scored in Thursday's 11-1 win, setting a new career-high with the 4 runs scored in a single game. He's just the third Bat to score 4 times in a game this season, joining Mason Williams (June 23) and Brandon Dixon (July 18).
EX 'CUSE ME: The Bats' 11 runs against Syracuse last night were their most runs against SYR since May 24, 2004 in a 13-6 road win. Just like last night, in that game LOU didn't hit a home run in the victory.
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