The Louisville Bats narrowly escaped with an 8-7 win over the Indianapolis Indians at Louisville Slugger Field on Sunday afternoon in the finale of their six-game series.
Luis Mey started the game as an opener for the Bats, his first start since 2019 with the Arizona League Reds during his first professional season. Mey worked two smooth innings in his outing, striking out three and allowing a single hit.
Louisville’s offense threatened in the first but could not register an early run. Francisco Urbaez opened the frame with a single, followed by a broken-bat base hit by Hector Rodriguez, but two strikeouts and a pop out left the runners stranded.
Nine straight batters were retired across the second and third innings, a stretch that saw seven strikeouts in 11 plate appearances between the two teams.
The tide turned with two outs in the bottom of the third when Edwin Arroyo doubled off the left field wall, his first hit since returning from the Reds. Rodriguez then delivered his team-leading 27th home run of the season on a shot into the left field berm to give the Bats the lead. Michael Toglia immediately followed with a homer of his own on a drive over the center field wall, his 21st of the season.
Rodriguez and Toglia’s back-to-back home runs marked the eighth time this season the Bats hit dueling blasts, along with one instance of back-to-back-to-back homers on May 27 versus St. Paul.
The Indians got one run back in the fourth on a solo home run by Johnathan Rodriguez, decreasing the Bats advantage to 3-1.
Despite allowing the homer, Sam Benschoter (W, 5-5) pitched three effective innings in relief of Mey, earning the eventual winning side of the decision.
Louisville added on to their lead in the bottom of the fourth, a result of singles by P.J. Higgins and Sam Haggerty that allowed Dominic Pitelli to score one run on an RBI base hit. Urbaez followed with a two-run double into left-center, and Rodriguez capped a successful inning with an RBI double of his own, increasing the Bats lead to 7-1.
Bats pitching turned in consecutive clean innings in the fifth and sixth before Zach Maxwell ran into trouble in his second inning of work in the seventh.
A leadoff single, paired with a double by Dominic Fletcher, placed runners on second and third with no outs. Maxwell worked through danger with back-to-back strikeouts before being replaced by Cam Cotter. A ground out to third could have ended the half inning, but a throwing error on Urbaez allowed one Indians run to score before the inning’s conclusion.
Will Banfield delivered a solo shot in the seventh to once again increase the Bats advantage to six runs. Banfield’s ninth home run of the season made it an 8-2 Bats lead and eventually stood up as the game’s winning run.
The gap narrowed in the eighth, when five walks and a hit-by-pitch allowed the Indians to fight their way back into the game. Free passes by Louisville pitching, permitted by a combination of Connor Phillips and Hunter Parks, brought the Bats series total to an astronomical 48 walks.
Later in the inning, a two-run single by Joshua Palacios brought the Indians within a run before Pitelli ranged into shallow left to collect the final out, the Bats lead having been diminished to the eventual final score of 8-7.
Parks continued into the top of the ninth, and despite allowing the tying run to reach base, he struck out two on the way to his sixth Triple-A save of the season.
Louisville’s offense was spearheaded by Rodriguez, who finished 4-for-5 with three RBI, a triple shy of the cycle. Urbaez also contributed with a 2-for-4 effort, driving in two runs. Toglia, Banfield, and Pitelli registered the remaining RBI in a winning effort.
The Bats (50-56, 11-22 2nd half) travel to Minnesota for a six-game series with the St. Paul Saints beginning on Tuesday night. First pitch from CHS Field is set for 8:07 p.m. Nick Curran will be on the call for Sports Talk 790 AM.