After a rainout on Thursday, the Louisville Bats took on the Gwinnett Stripers in doubleheader action and split the day, with Gwinnett winning in walk-off fashion 9-8 in game one, and the Bats shutting the Stripers out in game two 2-0 on Friday night at Gwinnett Field.
To start game one off, Elly De La Cruz, who is on a rehab assignment with the Bats, singled to the right side in his first at-bat. From there, the featured power bats of Hector Rodriguez and Michael Toglia went back-to-back to quickly go up 3-0 in the top of the first in game one.
The Stripers got on the board shortly after that. An RBI double scored one, and the Bats went into the second with a 3-1 advantage.
De La Cruz didn’t need long into his rehab assignment to go yard. In the second, he blasted a 441-foot home run that scored P.J. Higgins. Gwinnett scored on a sacrifice fly that saw the Bats command a 5-2 lead.
Moving to the top of the fourth, TJ Friedl added onto the offense with the fourth home run of the day for the Bats. The solo shot put Louisville back up by four, 6-2. That spelled the end of the day for Gwinnett starter Garrett Baumann, who went 3.2 innings and allowed six runs on eight hits.
The Stripers closed the deficit in the home half of the fifth, where a sacrifice fly hit to right field, followed by an infield single, which led to two runs, cutting the lead down to 6-4.
Davis Daniel hunkered down and got out of the inning to limit the damage, but his day finished in the bottom of the seventh. Daniel went 5.0 innings and allowed three runs on four hits, striking out four. Connor Phillips came in for the home half of the last inning in game one, but Gwinnett took advantage, tying the game up off a two-RBI triple by Cal Conley.
With nobody out, Pat Kelly pulled the move known too well by Bats fans, bringing in an outfielder into the infield. It is a move that paid off yet again, as a groundout to Ivan Johnson kept the Bats in it. From there, Anthony Miseiwicz shut the door on a walk-off, and the Bats took full advantage of their opportunity in extras.
Louisville loaded up the bases in the top of the eighth, and a wild sequence ensued shortly after. With nobody out, Higgins hit a grounder to the third baseman, who went home to get the lead runner out. From there, Gwinnett’s catcher roped a ball to first base to attempt a double play, but it hit Higgins in the back, which ended up scoring a runner. One run scored, and another shortly after, pushing the game to an 8-6 lead.
In the home half, Gwinnett loaded the bases and capitalized in a big way, walking the Bats off 9-8. Hunter Parks (L, 0-1) takes the loss for allowing the walk-off hit, and Joel Payamps (W, 2-0) took home the win in game one.
Game two saw a lot less offense and a lot more standout pitching compared to game one.
A hit didn’t come until the fourth inning, but it got Louisville on the board. Friedl bunted to get the offense going, and Rodriguez had a ball drop into the empty part of left field, scoring Friedl. An errand throw down to second on a steal attempt scored another, stretching the Bats' lead to a very familiar differential of 2-0.
Jose Franco (W, 1-1) manned the bump for game two, and he faced the minimum through 4.1 innings before a single broke up that rhythm. Franco was as efficient as you could ask for, throwing 71 pitches through 5.0 innings of work and only surrendering two hits.
Luis Mey took his place in the bottom of the sixth, and although the Stripers would threaten with runners in scoring position, Francisco Urbaez’s defense showed out to prevent any runs from scoring with three key defensive plays in the inning.
To close the game out, Trevor Kuncl (SV, 2) manned the mound for the final three outs, and the Bats split the doubleheader against Gwinnett. Franco earned the win, and Owen Murphy (L, 3-5) took the loss for the Stripers after going 6.0 innings, giving up the only two runs of the ballgame on five hits.
The Bats (38-33) continue their bout with the Stripers (37-35) on Saturday night. First pitch is set for 6:05 p.m. EST at Gwinnett Field. Nick Curran will be on the call on Sports Talk 790.