Rios, Bats Deliver Dramatic Comeback Walkoff Victory, 9-8
IL Louisville Bats

Rios, Bats Deliver Dramatic Comeback Walkoff Victory, 9-8

Published on September 20, 2025 under International League (IL)
Louisville Bats News Release


LOUISVILLE, Kentucky - In the penultimate game of the 2025 season, the Louisville Bats rallied back from an early seven-run deficit to the Nashville Sounds to tie the game and subsequently go to extras. Leading off the bottom of the 10th, Edwin Rios demolished a curveball down in the zone to give the Bats their first walk off homer of the year. Thanks to Rios' two-run, walk off blast, Louisville secured a 9-8 victory.

Louisville starter Adam Plutko entered Saturday night on a scorching stretch. Over four starts, Plutko shoved, surrendering just three runs. However, in his final appearance of the season he couldn't sustain that dominance, giving up more runs in the opening frame than he had in the 25 innings preceding it. A three-run bomb from Tyler Black capped off a four-run frame for the Sounds.

In the bottom half, Louisville started chipping away, getting one run back. Back-to-back doubles from Francisco Urbaez and Ryan Vilade put the Bats on the board.

Nashville continued to pile on in the third. A triple from Oliver Dunn plated two runs, and a sac fly from Eric Haase extended the Sounds' lead, making it 7-1. Plutko's outing came to a close, charged with seven runs across 2.2 innings. Yosver Zulueta entered, stranding two inherited runners to end the rally.

Despite trailing by six runs, the Bats were clearly unfazed. After quickly loading the bases, Christian Encarnacion-Strand smoked a double to left, bringing in two runs. Connor Joe kept the line moving with a single, bringing Davis Wendzel to the plate. With one swing of the bat, Wendzel knotted the game at seven, blasting a homer to left.

Zulueta returned for the fourth and took care of business, sitting the Sounds down in order. Although he put two runners on in the fifth, he worked around them to turn in 2.1 scoreless innings of work.

After Louisville and Nashville put a combined 14 runs on the board in the first three frames, that explosive hitting fizzled out for both teams. The Bats put a runner on in each of the fourth, fifth and sixth innings, but couldn't convert them to runs.

On the other side of the ball, Louisville's relief corps delivered, completely stifling the Sounds at the plate from the fourth inning on. Sam Moll and Lyon Richardson each tossed two shutout innings, sending it to the bottom of the ninth. The Bats couldn't find a run, sending the game to extra innings.

Nashville quickly took the lead as Eric Haase singled, bringing in the ghost runner for the go-After that, Luis Mey (W, 5-3) locked in to keep it at a one-run game.

Edwin Rios stepped to the plate in the bottom of the 10th and delivered in dramatic and heroic fashion. Rios called game, launching a two-run leadoff home run 439 feet over the right field wall off of Will Childers (L, 2-1). After not having a walk off homer in the first 148 games of the season, Rios bucked the trend and sent the Louisville crowd home happy.

The Bats (71-78, 39-35 second half) look to build on their comeback, walk off win and take a series split against the Sounds (84-63, 40-34 second half), and finish 2025 on a high note. First pitch is set for 1:05 p.m. ET with Nick Curran and Jim Kelch on the call for Sports Talk 790.

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International League Stories from September 20, 2025


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