The Louisville Bats suffered a 12-7 loss against the Indianapolis Indians on Thursday night at Louisville Slugger Field. A five-run bottom of the ninth for the Bats wasn’t enough to recover from the deficit, while Louisville’s pitching group tallied 12 walks on the night.
The Indians got the scoring started quickly in the first after they caught a break off of the Louisville defense. After Jose Acuna (L, 1-3) began the game with a strikeout, the Indians put a runner on with a soft infield single from Mitch Jebb. With Jebb running on a 3-2 count, Ronny Simon lined a shot above the head of Sam Haggerty, who couldn’t quite keep the ball in his glove with a leaping grab. As the ball squirted into short center field, Francisco Urbaez gathered and threw it home, but Jebb avoided the tag to cross the first run.
Acuna’s command slipped in the second inning, when he walked the bases loaded with the first three batters. He was able to gather an out with a pop out, but walked a run home right after. Defensive woes continued after Urbaez caught a liner for the second out of the inning, but committed a throwing error to extend Indy’s lead. Simon cleared the bases in the next at-bat with a two-RBI single to give the Indians a 5-0 lead after the frame.
As the Bats remained hitless at the plate through two innings, troubles only continued. Acuna gave up a leadoff solo home run to the Indians, followed by a double to begin the third. Acuna was pulled after giving up a walk, ending his day through two innings where he gave up eight runs, seven earned, on five walks and a strikeout.
Thomas Farr relieved Acuna for his first career Triple-A appearance, but immediately gave up an RBI single. He managed to force a line out before giving up a walk that loaded the bases. The subsequent batter then flew a sacrifice fly, scoring another run for Indianapolis. Not long after, Simone cleared the bases once again on a double, giving the Indians a 10-0 lead before the frame’s end.
Louisville made their first dent into the Indianapolis lead in the bottom frame after Michael Toglia tallied the Bats’ first hit of the night with a broken-bat single. It also extended Toglia’s active hit streak to now 14 games, which remains the longest streak for a Bat this season.
Will Benson scored Toglia on an RBI double to give the Bats their first run of the game. After a pair of ground outs, Austin Hendrick handed Louisville another run with an RBI single, making it 10-2 before a ground out ended the inning.
Farr returned for his third inning of action, but Termarr Johnson jumped on him early and launched a solo home run to lead off the inning, making it 11-2. Farr was replaced by Connor Phillips, who tossed a nine-pitch strikeout to strand two Indy runners. However, Phillips wasn’t as clean in the sixth, as he gave up a run on an RBI single to Tyler Callihan after two walks. Phillips was relieved for Hunter Parks, who quickly gathered a strikeout to keep the Indians’ lead at 12-2. Parks returned in the seventh and fanned another batter in the midst of Louisville’s first clean inning of the night. Sam Haggerty made his second pitching appearance of the season in the eighth, and notched two consecutive clean innings in nine pitches.
Louisville brought signs of a rally into the bottom of the ninth, but ultimately fell short in their efforts. After Haggerty and Urbaez both reached on hits, Hector Rodriguez extended his team lead in home runs with a three-run shot. Benson followed suit not long after, flying a solo home run to bring the score to 12-7 before a fly out ended the game.
Toglia and Benson recorded the lone Bats multi-hit performances tonight, while Rodriguez's three RBI led the scoring. Benson and Pitelli’s doubles were the only extra-base hits before the ninth inning, while Louisville stranded seven runners in the loss.
The Bats (49-54) continue their series against the Indianapolis Indians (50-55) on Friday night, with first pitch scheduled for 7:15 p.m. ET at Louisville Slugger Field. Nick Curran and Jim Kelch will have the call on Sports Talk 790.