The Louisville Bats outlasted a close game once again on Friday night, beating out the St. Paul Saints 11-7 in an exciting tug of war bout between the two squads. Edwin Arroyo hit one of four Bats homers in an emphatic way, flying the second inside-the-park home run of the series for Louisville.
Chase Petty manned the circle for his ninth start of the year and found a groove early, tossing two scoreless innings with three strikeouts. Michael Toglia plated the first runs of the ball game in the second, flying his team-leading 12th home run over the right field fence to put the Bats ahead 1-0.
Nevertheless, the bottom of St. Paul’s order capitalized off of Petty’s arsenal. After Ben Ross walked, No. 8 batter Ricardo Olivar smoked a double into right-center field that scored Ross from first. A throwing error put runners on first and second, and Hendry Mendez took advantage with an RBI single. Royce Lewis capped off a three-run inning a batter later, doubling to give the Saints a 3-1 lead after the frame.
Olivar got the best of Petty once again in the fourth. Following a leadoff single by Gabriel Gonzalez and two subsequent outs, Olivar took a sweeper long over the right field fence for his first home run of the season and extended the Saints’ lead to 5-1.
The Bats weren’t ready to let the game get away, though. After Noelvi Marte singled and reached second on an error, Toglia launched his second home run of the game far over left field. After Francisco Urbaez and Ivan Johnson both reached base, Austin Hendrick scored another run on an RBI groundout, but earned second on another throwing error by the Saints. With the Bats still alive and a runner in scoring position, Will Banfield tied the game up at 5-5 with an RBI single.
Two consecutive strikeouts ended the frame for the Bats, and the Saints didn’t wait long to regain the lead. Kaelan Culpepper took Petty deep over the left field wall to take back the lead in favor of St. Paul, 6-5. Petty was relieved for Zach McCambley in the sixth, finalizing his line at five innings and allowing six runs, five of which were earned, on six hits and a walk with five strikeouts.
Just like an inning prior, the Bats had a response for the Saints at the plate. With one out, Marte slapped his second hit of the night into center field for a double. After Toglia lost his chance for a third straight homer, an Urbaez walk brought up Johnson, who laced an RBI single to knot things back up at 6-6 before the third out of the frame.
Despite another effort by Louisville to make things even, the Saints didn’t wait an inning to tack on another run. McCambley retired the first two batters via strikeout, but Ross sent another ball over the left field fence to give St. Paul the 7-6 advantage at the end of the frame.
When you need another response from your offense, who do you call? None other than your hottest hitter in May, Edwin Arroyo.
After two quick outs in the sixth, the inning looked to be empty, but Arroyo flied a deep shot towards the right field foul pole on a 2-2 count. It didn’t eclipse the wall, but it took a favorable bounce back down the foul line. Right fielder Gonzalez gathered the ball just as the speedster Arroyo rounded third, but a late throw gave Arroyo an inside-the-park home run. It’s just the third time in the Bats’ franchise history with multiple inside-the-park homers in the same season, and the first time they’ve hit two in the same series.
McCambley (W, 2-1) turned in a scoreless seventh for the first scoreless half-inning since the bottom of the 3rd. The Bats leveraged the opportunity, notching three consecutive singles by Marte, Toglia, and Urbaez to take their first lead since the second inning. The Saints were able to scrounge up two outs, but with runners on the corners, Will Banfield scorched the fourth homer of the night for Louisville to grab an 11-7 lead heading into the eighth.
Hunter Parks and Luis Mey helped secure the Bats' victory, each tossing a scoreless inning to help deadlock the series at two games apiece. Ty Langenberg (L, 1-2) was credited with a loss and the blown save after giving up the inside-the-park homer to Arroyo. Marte, Toglia, and Johnson each recorded three-hit nights for the Bats, while Banfield led the way with four RBIs on the night.
The Bats (30-24) will face off against St. Paul (27-27) for the penultimate game in the closing series of May. The series will continue on Saturday, with first pitch set for 7:15 p.m. EST at Louisville Slugger Field. Nick Curran and Jim Kelch will be on the call for Sports Talk 790-AM.