On Friday, July 24, the Toledo Mud Hens and Louisville Bats met for the third game of their six-game series, where Toledo earned a 7-2 victory.
Eduardo Valencia got things started for the Hens in the bottom of the 2nd inning, lining a double off the center-field wall. He moved to third on a groundout by Trei Cruz before Tyler Gentry reached on a fielding error by third baseman Michael Chavis, allowing Valencia to cross the plate and give Toledo an early 1-0 lead.
The Hens continued to build momentum in the bottom of the 4th. Valencia once again sparked the offense by drawing a leadoff walk before Gentry followed with a ground-ball single to left that deflected off Chavis' glove. Cal Stevenson then worked a walk to load the bases. With two outs, Max Clark battled the count full before being called out on strikes. Clark immediately challenged the call using the Automated Ball-Strike (ABS) system, and the decision was overturned to ball four, bringing home a run and extending Toledo's lead to 2-0. The inning didn't end there. Following a pitching change, Jace Jung lined a single into center field, driving in two more runs and giving the Mud Hens a commanding 4-0 advantage.
Louisville finally broke through in the top of the 7th inning. Carlos Jorge reached with a slow-hopping ground-ball single to second base before advancing to second on a wild pitch. Matt McLain followed with a double into right field to score Jorge, then came home on a pair of groundouts to trim Toledo's lead to 4-2.
The Mud Hens wasted little time answering back in the bottom half of the inning. Max Clark reached on a bloop single into shallow left field before advancing on a groundout by Jung. Max Anderson then ripped a sharp line-drive single into right, allowing Clark to score standing up and push Toledo's lead back to three at 5-2.
Toledo added the finishing touches an inning later. Trei Cruz worked another walk before Tyler Gentry launched his seventh home run of the season over the left-field wall, extending the lead to 7-2 and putting the game out of reach.
That would be all the offense on the night as the Mud Hens secured a 7-2 victory, earning their second straight win over Louisville. The two teams return to Fifth Third Field tomorrow night at 7:05 p.m. for Game 5 of the series.
Noteables:
Dylan File
W, 7.0 IP (5 H, 2 ER, 2 SO)
Tyler Gentry
2-4 (HR, 2 RBI, 2 R)
Cal Stevenson
1-2 (3 B, 2 BB, R)