The Louisville Bats squeaked out their first win of the series at Columbus, surpassing the Clippers 4-2 in a close battle at Huntington Park on Thursday afternoon. Bats starter Darren McCaughan tossed a quality start in the win, while Edwin Arroyo’s three-run homerun put the Bats ahead in the fifth.
After a hitless first, Noelvi Marte got the Bats in position in the second inning after a walk, then reached third on a stolen base and an error. Three batters later, Austin Hendrick plated Marte on a groundout, notching his second RBI in his first series with Louisville. McCaughan held the 1-0 lead through the third, allowing two hits with three strikeouts.
Despite his impressive three innings, Kahlil Watson shut down McCaughan’s scoreless outing in the fourth, clobbering a 400-foot solo home run to tie the game up. However, it didn’t take long for the Bats to reclaim the lead.
Will Banfield and Francisco Urbaez both reached base on singles in the next inning, putting runners on with no outs. Arroyo put the Bats ahead in a big way, hammering a three-run homer over the right field wall to continue his outstanding effort at the plate in May. Arroyo’s big fly makes him the second player with double-digit homers, joining Michael Chavis with 10 so far. The Bats hit three straight ground outs to end the inning and walked away with a 4-1 lead.
McCaughan got two outs to kick off the fifth, but two walks in the inning ended his day. Hunter Parks came out of the bullpen and gave up a walk to load the bases, and walked another on a full count to plate a run for the Clippers. CJ Kayfus filled up the count against Parks again, but Parks got the strikeout to keep the lead for the Bats at 4-2. McCaughan’s line was solidified, finishing with two runs on four hits with six strikeouts through 5.2 innings.
Kyle Nicolas replaced Parks in the seventh, but ran into trouble, walking two runners on with one out. Once again, the Bats' pitching staff stood firm, with Nicolas retiring the next two batters and striking out Watson on a 98-mile-per-hour fastball.
Outside of the early runs, the Bats slowed down substantially on offense, going hitless through the eighth inning since Arroyo’s homer. Luis Mey continued to hold down the fort for Louisville, tossing a scoreless eighth with a strikeout. Clippers reliever Jake Miller retired the side quickly in the ninth, striking out two Bats looking in a 1-2-3 inning.
The bottom of the ninth got tense for Louisville before they were able to pull it off. Yunior Marte was called upon to keep the lead, but faced runners on the corners after he gave up a double and a single with one out. He walked Juan Brito a batter later to load the bases, but followed up with a strikeout to grab the second out. Down to the last out, Ralphy Velasquez shot a ground ball to Urbaez, who just beat the runner at third to secure the 4-2 win.
McCaughan is now tied with the Bats team lead with five wins on the season, while Yunior Marte increased his team lead in saves to five. The Bats recorded just six hits on the day, led by Arroyo’s 2-4 day at the plate.
The Bats (27-21) will continue their series against the Clippers (25-23) for the fourth bout in the six-game series, with first pitch set for 7:05 p.m. EST at Huntington Park. Nick Curran will be on the call for Sports Talk 790-AM.