IL1 Louisville Bats

Louisville Bats Notes

June 2, 2019 - International League (IL1)
Louisville Bats News Release


Game 56, Away 29

Louisville Bats (23-32) at Norfolk Tides (23-30)

LHP Eric Stout (NR) vs. RHP Luis Ortiz (1-5, 7.26)

1:05 PM | Sunday, June 2, 2019 | Harbor Park

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

ROAD TRIP FINALE: The Bats finish off their six-game road trip against the Norfolk Tides on Sunday afternoon, looking for a series win and also a road trip win, coming into play with a 3-2 record through the first 5 games. Louisville's received terrific starting pitching in back-to-back games from Keury Mella and Vladimir Gutierrez, hoping the trend continues with newly acquired left-hander Eric Stout, who will make his Reds organizational debut with the Bats today.

AGAINST NORFOLK: Louisville and Norfolk will face each other for the final time of the season today. After dropping 2 of 3 against the Tides in a home series from April 26-28, the Bats will try to return the favor as they search for their sixth series win overall and their second straight. Louisville went just 1-6 at Norfolk last year, and last won a series at Harbor Park from April 24-26, 2016, when they swept back-to-back series at Norfolk and Durham.

MOUTH OF THE SOUTH: With a series win over Durham and a chance to do the same at Norfolk, the Bats will try to win their first back-to-back road series against IL South opponents since the aforementioned pair of series at Norfolk and Durham in April 2016 in which Louisville went 6-0. This season, LOU has already matched the number of road wins against the IL South (3) than they collected last season with a 3-14 record.

IT HAPPENED AGAIN!: Left fielder Nick Longhi went 2-for-4 last night, hitting a solo home run in the second inning and a two-run shot in the eighth, both go-ahead homers for the Bats. It was Longhi's second multi-homer game of the season (May 18 at Buffalo), and the 13th for the Bats this season, easily most in the International League above second-place Gwinnett's 8 multi-homer games.

QUALITY QUALITY: Mella (7.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, BB, 7 K) on Friday and Gutierrez (6.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 4 K) yesterday tallied the first back-to-back quality starts for Louisville since May 5-7, when Odrisamer Despaigne and Lucas Sims did it in wins at Indianapolis and vs. Syracuse. Gutierrez's great effort also pushed Louisville's starting pitching ERA to below the 6-run mark.

ROLLERCOASTER GAME: The Bats looked like they were on their way to a season-best 4-game winning streak, leading on Saturday by a 4-1 score going into the seventh inning. The bullpen would give up 4 runs to the Tides in the bottom of the seventh, with Louisville regaining the lead in the eighth on a Longhi home run, 6-5. Norfolk would overtake the lead again, 7-6, before the Bats tied it in the top of the ninth when Brian O'Grady beat out a potential double play ball to keep the game alive. Norfolk would ultimately prevail in the bottom of the ninth when Ryan Mountcastle hit a walk-off home run off Jimmy Herget.

ONE-RUN GAME: The Bats played in their first one-run game in a while after playing in a string of them, going 8 games between playing in one-run games, with identical 8-7 scores on May 23 and yesterday. Before the 8-game stretch without a one-run game, LOU had played in 3 consecutively, and 5 out of 6. The 8 consecutive games that did not end in one-run fashion was the Bats' longest such streak of 2019, and their longest since going 14 consecutive games from July 7-24 last season.




International League Stories from June 2, 2019


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