The Louisville Bats dropped the penultimate game of the series on Saturday night, coming up short against the St. Paul Saints in a 7-2 loss. The Bats' offense managed just four hits after a fast start, while Davis Daniel had some hardships in his first start since being activated off the Injured List.
Daniel (L, 5-4) made his first start since being placed on the 7-Day IL after he exited the game in his last start at Columbus on 5/20. Daniel surrendered a walk and a single, but forced a ground ball double-play with one out to escape his first inning back in action.
The Bats put up the first runs of the game in the bottom frame, marking the 22nd game this season in which the Bats have scored in the first inning. With one out, Hector Rodriguez and Noelvi Marte notched their first hits of the game with singles, placing runners in scoring position. Michael Toglia extended his team's lead in RBI to 35, flying Rodriguez home with a sacrifice fly to give Louisville the 1-0 lead.
Ivan Johnson helped back up a scoreless second from Daniel, flying an opposite field home run over left field that just transcended the left field wall for a home run. The home run was hit just 334 feet, making it the sixth-shortest homer at Louisville Slugger Field since 2023.
Nevertheless, St. Paul delivered a response in the third inning. The Saints punched two early singles on Daniel before their first out, and Kyler Fedko tacked on the first run of the board for St. Paul with an RBI double. Toglia made an athletic diving catch for the second out, but Daniel let up a two-RBI single to Gabriel Gonzalez, handing the Saints a 3-2 advantage after the frame.
After a scoreless fourth, Daniel gathered two outs but also gave up two singles to St. Paul in the fifth. With Daniel at 96 pitches, he was pulled for Julian Garcia, who swiftly gave up a three-run bomb that furthered the Saints' lead to 6-2 before a strikeout ended the inning. Daniel finished his night with nine hits through 4.2 innings while allowing five runs and three walks with four strikeouts.
Despite giving up a big fly, Julian Garcia tossed a clean inning in the sixth and seventh, fanning four batters in the process. However, the Bats' offense took a huge step back since Johnson’s homer, recording just one hit through the bottom half of the seventh. Hagen Danner tossed another clean inning for Louisville in the eighth, giving the Bats ample opportunity to stage a comeback.
Unfortunately for Louisville, two more strikeouts and a ground out forced by Saints reliever Raul Brito (SV, 2) would kill that possibility. St. Paul took advantage of the stagnant effort with Royce Lewis hitting an RBI single to make it 7-2 heading into the bottom of the ninth. Toglia fought off the lone walk on the night for Louisville, but the Bats went down empty and dropped their third game of the series.
Garrett Hampson, Rodriguez, Marte, and Johnson recorded the four hits for the Bats on the night. Saints reliever Alejandro Hidalgo (W, 1-1) earned his first win of the season after giving up the back-to-back-to-back home runs to the Bats on Wednesday.
The Bats (30-25) will face off against St. Paul (28-27) for the final game of the series on Sunday, with first pitch set for 1:05 p.m. EST at Louisville Slugger Field. Nick Curran and Jim Kelch will be on the call for Sports Talk 790-AM.