Powerful Bats Pitching Blanks Redbirds 6-0
IL Louisville Bats

Powerful Bats Pitching Blanks Redbirds 6-0

Published on June 5, 2026 under International League (IL)
Louisville Bats News Release


Three Louisville Bats pitchers combined on a three-hit shutout, beating the Memphis Redbirds 6-0 for their fourth shutout of the season on Friday night.

Making his return from a nearly two-month stint on the injured list, Bats righty Julian Aguiar was stellar. He set the Redbirds down in order in the first, navigated around a single and a walk in the second, induced three ground outs in the fourth, and retired three straight Redbirds after a leadoff double in the fourth to wrap up his outing. Over four scoreless innings, Aguiar allowed two hits and one walk with four strikeouts in his first Bats start since April 8.

Louisville's offense struggled early as the scoreless tie lasted five innings. Redbirds starter Bruce Zimmermann finally faltered in the sixth. With one out and a runner on second, Ivan Johnson crushed a double off the wall in right center to bring Garrett Hampson home with the first run of the night. Later in the inning, Francisco Urbaez delivered with an RBI single double the lead and knock Zimmermann out of the game. Michael Chavis capped the inning's scoring with an RBI single of his own off reliever Scott Blewett to make it 3-0.

Sam Benschoter was first out of the Louisville bullpen and cruised through the fifth and sixth. In the seventh, the Redbirds got the tying run to the plate with two outs before Benschoter struck out Jeremy Rivas to end the inning. Benschoter would earn the win with three scoreless relief innings, striking out four.

Louisville doubled the lead with two outs in the eighth against Memphis reliever Hancel Rincon. Michael Toglia got the scoring started with a massive 447-foot home run to dead center, his team-leading 14th of the season. Following another Urbaez single, Chavis went the other way for a two-run homer to right center to make it 6-0.

Hunter Parks wrapped up the win with two scoreless innings of his own, finishing the shutout as the Bats evened the series at two games apiece with two games remaining.

Next Game: Saturday, June 6, 7:35 p.m. E.T. at Memphis Redbirds (Triple-A affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals)

Probable Pitchers: Bats RHP Davis Daniel (5-4, 4.45) vs. Redbirds LHP Brycen Mautz (0-2, 2.64)

Check out the Louisville Bats Statistics

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International League Stories from June 5, 2026


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