The Louisville Humidity turned up the heat in their debut, sweating out a 4-3 win over the Iowa Cubs on Saturday night. A back-and-forth affair turned into an exciting nailbiter towards the end, with the Humidity emerging victorious in the penultimate matchup of the final series between the two teams.
Jose Franco sweated off danger in the first after forcing Owen Miller into a ground ball double play to escape a one-hit, one-walk inning. Outside of that, Franco maintained control on the bump for Louisville, blanking the I-Cubs and allowing just one more hit and walk.
The Humidity offense was heavily dampened in the front half of the game. The team managed just one hit through the first four innings, which came from a Garrett Hampson single in the third. Louisville put long reliever Vince Velasquez in a quagmire in the fourth by putting runners on the corners from walks by Hector Rodriguez and Michael Chavis and a wild pitch. However, with two outs, Austin Hendrick shot a ground ball that couldn’t quite escape the sliding effort from James Triantos at second, and the Humidity came up empty.
Hagen Danner relieved Franco in the fifth, finishing Franco’s line at four innings, two walks and two hits allowed with three strikeouts. Danner tossed just seven pitches in the fifth and quickly evaporated the three batters in the bottom of the I-Cubs order.
After a scoreless bottom half from Louisville, the I-Cubs raised the heat index a notch. Two runners were placed in scoring position after Danner gave up a walk and a double. He bounced back with a strikeout, but Dominic Pitelli couldn’t quite handle a hard grounder by Owen Miller, and Iowa scored the first run of the game off the base hit. Kevin Alcantara tacked on more damage with a two-RBI double, which concluded Danner’s outing. Julian Garcia (W, 3-0) dealt a ground out and a strikeout to limit the Cubs’ lead to 3-0.
However, that lead was cut into immediately. With two outs, the Humidity relied on two of their hottest hitters of recent. Rodriguez shot a double that burned down the right field line, earning just the second hit of the game for Louisville. Michael Toglia stepped up and delivered a high flyer into the heavy Louisville air that just eclipsed the right field fence for a two-run homer. Chavis flew out to end the inning, but not without the Humidity melting Iowa’s lead to 3-2.
Garcia brought the heat in the seventh, quickly tossing a perfect inning and putting Louisville back up to the plate. Hendrick dripped a single into left field, then advanced to second on a fielding error. Will Banfield powered him home a pitch later, dropping a double into left-center to tie the game up. Banfield continues to be consistent in the series for the Humidity, as he’s reached base in every game so far.
Iowa reliever Luis Peralta (L, 0-3) attempted to melt off some of the pressure, but Francisco Urbaez wouldn’t let him get away easily. After Banfield reached third on a ground out, Urbaez squeaked a single through the left side of the infield to give Louisville a 4-3 lead after seven.
The Humidity bullpen had to sweat out a precarious position to begin the eighth after Garcia walked the first two batters. He induced a fly out to Rodriguez to get the first out and was pulled for Connor Phillips. Phillips followed suit with a strikeout, but moved both runners into scoring position with a wild pitch during the at-bat. Nevertheless, Phillips was cool under the pressure and struck out Trianto, who challenged a 99.6-mile-per-hour fastball that clipped the outside corner.
Louisville came up empty with any insurance in the ninth, leaving Connor Phillips (SV, 1) in a muggy situation. Chas McCormick flew a single into center field that just found enough space to drop, and pinch-runner Justin Dean quickly moved into scoring position with a stolen base. A sacrifice bunt moved Dean to third, but Phillips remained unfazed and struck out the last two batters powerfully, reaching 100.6 miles per hour on his final strike to end a fantastic debut of the Louisville Humidity.
Franco, Garcia, and Phillips all finished with scoreless outings in a spectacular pitching performance from Louisville. All but three Louisville players recorded a hit, with Toglia tacking on two RBI and homering in his second consecutive game.
The Louisville Bats (36-31) wrap up their six-game series against the Iowa Cubs (27-39) on Sunday afternoon. First pitch is set for 1:05 p.m. ET at Louisville Slugger Field. Nick Curran and Jim Kelch will be on the call for Sports Talk 790 AM.