The Bats battled through a hot and sticky July evening but came up short 6-4 against the Omaha Storm Chasers on Friday night at Louisville Slugger Field.
One of the newest Bats bullpen arms, Jonathan Lavallee, came on and struck out two in a scoreless eighth inning. He came back out for the ninth but wasn’t as effective. Omaha led the ninth off with a single, double, and a walk to load the bases for John Rave.
With two strikes, Rave smashed a 92-mph fastball 408 feet to dead center field just over Benson’s outstretched glove for a grand slam, and a 6-4 Storm Chasers lead. Louisville was retired in order in the ninth inning to seal its fate.
Garrett Hampson got the scoring started early in the second inning. After P.J. Higgins led off with a single, Hampson smacked a ball up the middle at 78.9 MPH, which caused the two middle infielders to collide upon reaching the ball. The chaos allowed Higgins to score from second base, which gave Louisville an early 1-0 lead. Hampson’s single was his 11th consecutive plate appearance reaching base, dating back to Wednesday.
The Bats added another run in the third when Sam Haggerty doubled and later scored on a Francisco Urbaez sac fly. That 2-0 lead would quickly be nullified in the fourth. Louisville’s starter Davis Daniel walked the leadoff batter and allowed a single before Peyton Wilson hit a double just off the glove of left fielder Austin Hendrick, which scored both runners to tie the game at two.
The Storm Chasers tried to sneak a third run across in the inning, but to no avail. With a runner on third and one out, Andrew Velazquez laid a bunt down the first base line, which Higgins quickly gathered and flipped to Banfield covering home, who applied the tag in time for the out.
Daniel settled down and pitched well during his final two innings of work. He retired six of the final seven batters he faced, and posted his first quality start since May 1st, and his fourth of the season. He allowed two runs on six hits, walked two, and struck out two over six innings.
Anthony Misiewicz entered in the seventh inning and immediately allowed a leadoff double to Velazquez. A sac-bunt moved him to third, but Misiewicz struck out John Rave for the second out of the inning. On a 0-1 pitch to Brett Squires, a changeup scooted past Banfield, which caused Velazquez to dash toward home. The Bats catcher quickly recovered and dove toward home to tag out Velazquez, and keep the game tied at two runs apiece.
In the bottom of the seventh, the tie finally ended. Hampson singled to lead off the inning and later scored on a wild pitch to give Louisville a 3-2 lead. After Omaha’s bullpen walked the bases loaded, Will Benson ground into a force out at second base, but beat the double-play attempt at first to score a run and boost the lead to 4-2 before the eventual downfall from Louisville in the ninth.
Hector Rodriguez continued his monstrous month with his fifth multi-hit game through eight games. Hampson recorded his third consecutive multi-hit game, which has raised his season batting average from .218 to .233.
The Bats will host the Storm Chasers again on Saturday night for the fifth game of the series at 7:15 p.m. Julian Aguiar (1-4, 5.89) will take the hill for Louisville. Henry Williams (1-1, 7.29) will get the ball for Omaha. Jim Kelch and Nick Curran will be on the call on Sports Talk 790.