Joshua Palacios's ninth-inning walk-off sac fly sealed the Louisville Bats' fate in the 3-2 loss to the Indianapolis Indians on Friday night at Victory Field.
Louisville’s starter Kevin Abel dominated his first start in Triple-A this season. He allowed just three hits, walked one, and struck out five over four scoreless innings. Abel had allowed two runs over 3.1 innings of relief in his two prior appearances with the Bats this season.
Indians starter Hunter Barco was solid through his first three innings but finally buckled in the fourth. Will Benson led off the inning with a single and stole second base for his eighth steal of the year. Two batters later, Dominic Pitelli singled to center field to score Benson and give Louisville a 1-0 lead.
Pat Kelly then turned to Chase Solesky in relief of Abel, and it paid off initially. The righty tossed two shutout frames in the fifth and sixth innings.
After a quiet couple of innings, Louisville started some drama in the seventh. Pitelli walked and Leo Balcazar singled to bring up Noelvi Marte with two outs. Indianapolis pitcher Isaac Mattson threw a slider in the dirt, which advanced the runners to second and third.
On the next pitch, Marte hit a hard ground ball, which was stopped by the diving third baseman, but he had no play at first base. The infield hit scored a run to give Louisville a 2-0 lead.
That Louisville lead didn’t last long. Solesky walked the first two batters he faced in the bottom of the seventh before a sac-fly moved them both up 90 feet. Kelly turned to Chase Petty to record the final out of the inning, which he couldn’t do immediately.
His 1-1 pitch to Palacios scooted by catcher Dayne Leonard to the backstop. Leonard pounced back, grabbed the ball, and tossed it past Petty covering home plate. The ball trickled far enough away for the second runner to score from second base to tie the game at two.
Palacios doubled on the next pitch but was stranded at second base. Both runs were charged to Solesky, but only one was earned. His final line was two runs allowed (one earned) on one hit, two walks, and three strikeouts over 2 2/3 innings.
Petty threw a scoreless eighth and gave way to Anthony Misiewicz in the ninth. Misiewicz walked the leadoff batter and gave up a double to Jack Brannigan, which brought up former Bat Tyler Callihan with none out.
Misiewicz struck out Callihan on three pitches, then intentionally walked Derek Berg to load the bases with one out for Palacios. On a 1-0 pitch, Palacios lined a ball to Marte in center field, just deep enough to score Simon from third and walk off the Bats.
Leonard threw out two runners attempting to steal on Friday night. He’s caught 11 of the 20 runners attempting to steal on him this season.
The Indians will host the Bats again on Saturday at 6:35 p.m. Lefty Brandon Williamson (1-1, 7.11) will get another rehab outing for Louisville. He’ll oppose fellow southpaw Connor Wietgrefe (4-3, 3.20).