The Louisville Bats were defeated for the fifth time in six days against the Nashville Sounds at First Horizon Park on Sunday afternoon, a 4-2 final.
Chase Solesky made his second start of the season in his seventh appearance with the Bats. His opponent was Sounds starter Colton Gordon, who allowed a two-out single to Noelvi Marte in the first, but nothing more.
Solesky recorded a strikeout and a ground out in the home half before giving up a solo home run to Brock Wilken, staking Nashville to an early 1-0 lead.
The Bats offense remained in neutral through three innings, with seven batters in a row retired by the Sounds southpaw.
Following a scoreless second by Solesky, Eduardo Garcia singled into unoccupied space in the infield for a leadoff base hit in the third. Solesky appeared shaken up on the play but remained in the game.
A stolen base by Garcia and a throwing error by Dayne Leonard moved the runner to third before Jonathan Ornelas provided a RBI single to extend the Sounds advantage to 2-0. Nashville loaded the bases with two outs in the inning, but Solesky worked out of trouble with a ground out.
Leo Balcazar walked to open the fourth, the first Bats base runner since the first inning. After consecutive outs, Orlando Arcia took a base on balls to put a runner in scoring position for Ivan Johnson, who struck out to end the frame.
Cam Cotter (L, 0-1) relieved Solesky in the bottom of the fourth, his 12th appearance with the Bats. He worked a quick 1-2-3 frame to begin his outing.
With only one hit into the fifth inning, Jay Allen II finessed a bunt single to the left of the pitcher’s mound for a Bats base runner. The two-out hit opened the door for Francisco Urbaez to tie the game on a two-run homer to left field, his sixth home run of the season.
Michael Chavis singled to lead off the sixth, representing a possibility for the first Bats’ lead of the game. Despite a threatening fly ball from Johnson to right-center field, the run would not come to pass in a scoreless half-inning from Sounds reliever Garrett Stallings (W, 5-4).
Cotter remained in control through 2.2 shutout innings out of the bullpen until a two-out double became the go-ahead run on a RBI single by Daniel Guilarte. A third straight two-out base hit ended Cotter’s afternoon. In relief, Kevin Abel struck out the first batter he saw on four pitches, concluding the sixth inning with the Sounds on top 3-2.
After a scoreless seventh from both sides, Chavis hit into a ground-rule double with one out in the eighth. The potential tying run moved to third on a ground out, but would not score, despite a 104-mph ground ball off the bat of Johnson, fielded by the Sounds second baseman to end the inning.
The Sounds added an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth, following a double and a fielding error by Orlando Arcia at shortstop. Louisville’s defense had a chance to cut down the run at home, but the throw from left field evaded Leonard at home plate, leading to an unearned run for Abel.
Trailing 4-2 with three outs remaining, the Bats deployed two pinch-hitting lefties, Dominic Fletcher and Will Benson, against Nashville’s right-handed closer. Both batters were retired quickly before Allen II reached on a walk. With the tying run at the plate, Urbaez struck out to end the game.
Louisville’s only offense of the afternoon came from Urbaez’s two-run homer. Chavis collected two of the Bats’ six hits in a performance that saw the team go 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position.
The Bats (59-77, 20-43 2nd half) begin their final homestand of the season against the Columbus Clippers (74-61, 33-28 2nd half) on Tuesday evening. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. at Louisville Slugger Field. Nick Curran and Jim Kelch will be on the call for Sports Talk 790 AM.