The Louisville Bats let three separate leads slip away before making the fourth one stick, winning a 6-5 11-inning thriller over the Memphis Redbirds in the opener of a six-game series on Tuesday night at AutoZone Park.
Louisville began the game with an attack against Memphis starter Tink Hince. Following a couple walks to start the game, Michael Toglia crushed a double off the wall in left-center to score Ivan Johnson with the opening run of the night. Tink escaped the inning without further damage, leaving runners on second and third base.
The Redbirds quickly responded against rehabbing Reds starter Rhett Lowder as an RBI double from Joshua Baez tied the game and a two-out single to center from Leo Bernal scored Baez to put the home team in front 2-1.
Lowder settled down after the rocky first to retire the Redbirds in order in the second, and the Bats offense would get him the lead back in the third. Hector Rodriguez walked and Noelvi Marte singled to put two on with one out. Toglia was the one to cash in again, this time with a double that bounced off the wall in right center to score both runners and put Louisville up 3-2.
The Bats added on with a run in the fourth as Francisco Urbaez led off the inning with his eighth double of the season and came around to score on a Will Banfield sacrifice fly two hitters later.
Lowder worked around a one-out single in the third and continued his strong start with a pair of strikeouts in the fourth. Another RBI double from Baez got the Redbirds a run closer in the fifth before Lowder induced a ground out from rehabbing Cardinals outfielder Lars Nootbaar to end the inning with the Bats up 4-3.
The fifth inning would be Lowder’s last. He left after giving up three runs on six hits with no walks and eight strikeouts over 5.0 innings. The eight strikeouts are the most Lowder has recorded in a regular season game at any level since an eight-strikeout game for Double-A Chattanooga on August 14, 2024 vs. Rocket City.
Jose Franco was first out of the Louisville bullpen and made quick work of the Redbirds in a scoreless seventh. A ground ball double play erased a leadoff walk in the sixth as Franco held the one-run lead. But in the eighth, the third out didn’t come quick enough for Franco. Nootbaar took a two-out walk to keep the inning going. Then on a 1-2 pitch, Blaze Jordan’s line drive fell fair inside the right field line, with Nootbaar coming all the way around to score the tying run on a triple.
In the ninth, Hancel Rincon kept the score tied with a clean inning. Franco returned to the mound and did the same, sending the game to extra innings.
Marte got the Bats the lead in the 10th with a sacrifice fly to score designated runner Garrett Hampson. Anthony Misiewicz (W, 2-0) nearly got out of the bottom of the frame unscathed. With two outs and the tying run at third, a slow grounder from Baez was fielded by Misiewicz near the third base line. On a close play at first, Baez was called safe with an infield single to tie the game, sending it to the 11th.
There, the Bats again got the designated runner, Toglia, home with a pair of fly outs, capped by an Urbaez sacrifice fly. Hunter Parks (S, 1) was called on in a save opportunity and struck out the first two hitters he faced before inducing a ground out from Yoel Pozo to wrap up the win and earn his first Triple-A save.
Toglia led the way for the Bats offense, going 2-for-5 with three RBI while Rodriguez scored two of the five Bats runs. Franco allowed one run over four innings of long relief.
The Bats (31-26) and Redbirds (35-23) continue their series with a matinee on Wednesday afternoon at AutoZone Park. First pitch is set for 1:05 p.m. Nick Curran will be on the call for Sports Talk 790.