The Louisville Bats hung with the Memphis Redbirds for awhile, but let up a disastrous seventh inning on Wednesday afternoon to lose 18-4 in the second game of the series. The Bats totaled 14 walks as a pitching staff, while also giving up four home runs at AutoZone Park.
After the Bats went down empty in the top frame, Darren McCaughan (L, 5-3) gave up a run swiftly in the first inning on a leadoff solo shot from Lars Nootbar, who is on an MLB rehab assignment from the Cardinals. After a double to follow, Bligh Madris smashed another home run over the right field wall to put the Redbirds up 3-0. The Bats have now given up 13 first-inning home runs, which is tied for the most among the International League.
Despite the early offense from Memphis, the Bats rallied in the third off the back of an unlikely source. Trey Faltine led off the frame and flew his first Triple-A homer over the center field wall in his first at-bat with the Bats in 2026. The big fly was off his former college teammate, Pete Hansen, who played with Faltine at the University of Texas from 2020-22.
Louisville loaded the bases after Ivan Johnson singled and two consecutive walks from Hector Rodriguez and Francisco Urbaez. With no outs, Toglia worked another walk to plate another run and cut the Redbird lead to 3-2. However, with the bases still loaded, a pop out and a double play quickly halted the Bats’ efforts to take the lead.
Memphis responded with more offense, as Blaze Jordan flew the third home run off of McCaughan to lead off the bottom-half, extending the lead to 4-2. With two outs, McCaughan was cut short after hitting a batter and was relieved by Julian Garcia, who tossed two pitches to end the inning. McCaughan ended his outing in 2.2 innings and gave up four runs on five hits, three of which were home runs, with two walks and a strikeout.
Garcia managed a scoreless fourth, but the Redbirds tacked on to their run total with another home run to leadoff the inning in the fifth. Garcia forced a ground out, but then let up a walk and a single, creating another jam for Louisville. He gave up another single, but a nice throw from Faltine cut down a runner heading home. A subsequent strikeout got the Bats out of the innings and kept the lead at 5-2.
With one out in the sixth, the Bats managed to load the bases off a single and two runners reaching on an error. Johnson plated a run home with a sacrifice fly to cut the lead to 5-3, and Rodriguez walked to load the bases up once again. After a pitching change, Urbaez had a chance to break the game open, but hit a ball just past home plate which gave Memphis an easy out at home.
The Redbirds completely broke the game open in the seventh, adding another run in the bottom of the seventh from an RBI single off of new reliever Hagen Danner. Danner proceeded to walk three straight batters to cross another run for Memphis, and was relieved right after for Trevor Kuncl. Kuncl struggled with the same issue, as he walked the first two batters he faced for two more runs.
Nootbar added two more runs on an RBI single into right field, while Joshua Baez laced a sacrifice fly to put Memphis up 12-3. Kuncl earned himself a strikeout a batter later, ending the bottom frame with a seven-spot for the Redbirds.
Kuncl let up another run in the eighth as struggles continued, with Faltine coming in as a reliever to finish out the game. In total, the Bats let up another six runs in the inning. Urbaez knocked home another run for the Bats at the top of the eighth, but Louisville couldn’t garner any offense from that point on and finished with the 18-4 loss.
Despite the blowout, Ivan Johnson led the Bats' offense with three hits in the leadoff spot, while Faltine, Urbaez, and Toglia each recorded an RBI. The 18 runs allowed are the most allowed in a game this season, while the Redbirds’ seven-run seventh ties the most runs allowed in an inning by Louisville. Jared Shuster (W, 3-2) was given the win for Memphis.
The Bats (31-27) and Redbirds (36-23) continue their series on Thursday night at AutoZone Park. First pitch is set for 8:05 p.m. Nick Curran will be on the call for Sports Talk 790.