Louisville Bats Notes: May 10

TONIGHT'S GAME: Louisville and Indianapolis meet in the series finale of a four-game series at Louisville Slugger Field. The Bats look to capture their third series victory of the season and first four-game series win. The Bats will turn to left-hander Cody Reed as they look to win their first four-game series since August 15-17, 2017 vs. Pawtucket, taking three of four from the Sox including sweeping a doubleheader.

AGAINST INDIANAPOLIS: Last season, the Bats went just 8-15 against the Indians, 4-7 in their home ballpark. The defending IL West Champions outscored Louisville 117-64 in the 23 contests. In an interesting International League scheduling quirk, Louisville and Indianapolis did not have their first scheduled game against each other until June 22, playing all 23 of their matchups from that point on.
THE LEVITY OF BREVITY: The Bats and Indians played in Louisville's shortest game of the season time-wise at 2 hours and 23 minutes. Wednesday afternoon marked the shortest nine-inning Bats game since the Bats and Toledo Mud Hens finished in 2:20 on August 27, 2017 in a 3-0 Toledo win at Fifth Third Field. It marked the fastest nine-inning game at Louisville Slugger Field since the Indianapolis Indians defeated Louisville 1-0 on August 4, 2017, with yesterday's Indians starter Nick Kingham going for Indianapolis that day and today's Bats starter Cody Reed going for Louisville that day.
THE SCORING FIRST PARADOX: Louisville did not score first in yesterday's win, earning its sixth come-from-behind win this season. The Bats have actually won just as many games in comeback fashion (6) as they have when they score first in a game (6-11), ranking worst in the International League in the latter category with a .353 winning percentage. The overlap: The one game this season where LOU scored first, and also gave up the lead before ultimately earning a come-from-behind win was April 27 at Toledo, when the Bats led 3-0, trailed 4-3, before putting together their biggest offensive inning of the season with a six-run top of the sixth, winning 9-6.
WON DESPITE A HOME RUN: The Bats were victorious yesterday despite allowing a home run for just the second time this season, improving to 2-13 when allowing its opponent to leave the yard. Bats starter Justin Nicolino served up a first inning home run to Indians shorstop Pablo Reyes , before the Bats earned the come-from-behind 4-3 win. The only game before yesterday where Louisville pitching served up a home run and still won came on April 21 vs. Syracuse, when Chiefs third baseman Adrían Sanchez hit a two-run homer off Zach Neal in an 8-5 Bats win.
PAIR OF DEBUTS: Both catcher Garrett Boulware and infielder Josh VanMeter made their Louisville season debuts in yesterday's 4-3 win, with Boulware coming in as a defensive replacement and VanMeter striking out as a pinch-hitter for reliever Tanner Rainey . Boulware appeared in 5 games with the Bats last season, while VanMeter made his Louisville debut. Both players came from Class AA Pensacola and are listed in tonight's starting lineup.
DIXON IN TOP 5: Brandon Dixon went 1-for-4 yesterday and is batting .323 (30-for-93) this season. His batting average ranks 4th in the league, with teammate D.J. Peterson also landing in the Top 10 with his .311 average (8th). In 25 games with a plate appearance this season, Dixon has reached base in 24 of 25, and hit safely in 20 of 25.