Bats Struggles Continue In 9-4 Loss To Omaha

The Louisville Bats fell below .500 for the first time since May 5 with a 9-4 loss in the series opener against the Omaha Storm Chasers on Tuesday afternoon, extending their season-long losing streak to eight. Omaha clinched the 2024 First-Half International League Championship with the win.

Lyon Richardson recorded five solid innings for the Bats, allowing three runs (two earned) and recording two strikeouts.

P.J. Higgins and Noelvi Marte each tallied two-hit games, with the former hitting a home run and the latter totaling two RBI singles. Hernán Pérez homered as well to highlight the Louisville offensive effort.

Both Richardson and Omaha starter Daniel Lynch IV posted consecutive zeros through the first two frames. The Bats recorded three hits through those two innings but couldn’t get anyone home vs. the lefty.

Erik González led off the third with a single and Rece Hinds later singled as well to put Bats on first and second with just one out. Livan Soto then grounded into a fielder’s choice that moved González to third and allowed the second baseman to reach safely at first. Marte came up next and took advantage of the RBI opportunity, hitting a single just over Omaha’s Cam Devanney at shortstop to score González and give Louisville an early 1-0 lead.

Richardson (L, 1-4) blanked the Chasers again in the Omaha half of the third, and Lynch IV did the same in the top of the fourth. In the bottom half, MLB rehabber Michael Massey led off with a single. Richardson was on the verge of getting out of the frame unscathed after forcing back-to-back flyouts, but Nick Pratto then took a hanging changeup over the center field wall to put Omaha up 2-1.

After a quiet half for the Louisville offense, Richardson found himself in trouble again in the fifth. Tyler Gentry opened with a single and Devanney followed by grounding into a fielder’s choice that Soto couldn’t corral, putting runners on second and first with no outs. John Rave grounded right back to Soto, who made a nice play to get Devanney at second for the only out. With Chasers on the corners, Nate Eaton kept the trend going with his own ground ball to Marte, but the shortstop committed the second Bats error of the frame to allow Gentry to score and increase the Omaha lead to 3-1.

In the top of the sixth, Higgins hit the first pitch he saw to left field for a no-doubt home run, his sixth of the year, to put the Bats within one at 3-2. An Austin Wynns walk and a Pérez single created more traffic for Lynch IV (W, 5-0) with two outs, but the lefty forced González to fly out to finalize six strong frames.

Casey Legumina relieved Richardson in the sixth. The right-hander gave up a single to Devin Mann and a walk to Pratto before Gentry followed with a double to score Mann and make the score 4-2. Still two on with no outs, Devanney came up and lifted a three-run home run to break open the game and extend the Omaha lead to 7-2.

Blake Dunn led off the seventh with a double vs. and eventually came around to score on another RBI single by Marte, making the score 7-3. Stevie Branche, who closed out the sixth, remained in to face Omaha at the plate and recorded two strikeouts on his way to a scoreless inning.

In the eighth, Pérez blasted his seventh home run this season on another no-doubter to left field against Chasers reliever John McMillon to inch Louisville closer at 7-4, but that was as close as the Bats would get. Omaha added two more on a home run in the bottom half against Zach Maxwell to stretch their advantage to 9-4 and went on to close out the win and clinch the International League First Half Championship.

Louisville (34-35) will continue the series against Omaha (48-20) tomorrow, Wednesday, June 19. First pitch is scheduled for 8:05 p.m., with Nick Curran on the call for 1450/96.1 WXVW.