Bats Drop Opener To Jacksonville In Extras 4-3
The Louisville Bats rallied late to tie Tuesday night’s series opener with the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp, but they couldn’t match a 10th inning run and ultimately suffered a 4-3 loss in the first of a six-game series at Louisville Slugger Field. Bats righty Randy Wynne began the game in fine
The Louisville Bats rallied late to tie Tuesday night’s series opener with the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp, but they couldn’t match a 10th inning run and ultimately suffered a 4-3 loss in the first of a six-game series at Louisville Slugger Field.
Bats righty Randy Wynne began the game in fine form with a couple strikeouts in a scoreless top of the first. He and Jacksonville righty Roddery Munoz traded zeroes until the top of the third.
Back-to-back doubles from Dalvy Rosario and Jakob Marsee got the Jumbo Shrimp on the board first in the top of the third, and Javier Sanoja’s single drove Marsee home to make it 2-0 for the visitors. The Bats looked to respond in the bottom of the inning. Francisco Urbaez got it started with a walk, Jacob Hurtubise singled, and Levi Jordan was hit by a pitch to load the bases with one out. Edwin Rios then took a walk on five pitches, brining Urbaez home to cut the lead in half. Looking to get the Bats even, Davis Wendzel grounded into an inning-ending double play, keeping Jacksonville up 2-1.
Leading off the fourth, Nick Gordon doubled the Jacksonville lead with his first Triple-A home run of the season, a 362-foot solo blast to right for a 3-1 lead. A pair of two-out singles in the bottom half gave the Bats a threat, but Munoz ended it by striking out Ivan Johnson. Munoz departed after four innings, striking out eight while giving up one run on three hits to leave with the lead.
Wynne cruised through a one, two, three top of the fifth, making a behind the back snag to field a ground ball from Sanoja to end the inning. He was equally as strong in the sixth, getting three ground balls to end his outing. In a quality start, Wynne allowed three earned runs on eight hits, striking out three in six innings. Later, the Louisville offense would get him off the hook.
Yosver Zulueta was able to maintain the two-run deficit with a clean top of the seventh. Facing Jacksonville reliever Austin Roberts in the bottom of the frame, Urbaez singled, Johnson walked, and a sacrifice bunt from Hurtubise moved the runners to second and third with one out. Jordan got a run back with a sacrifice fly to left. The Jumbo Shrimp turned to Shaun Anderson to try and protect the lead. He couldn’t, as Rios crushed a double off the left field wall, missing a go-ahead home run by just a couple feet, allowing Johnson to trot home from second with the tying run.
Zulueta again worked around a baserunner in the eighth, finishing a scoreless relief outing with two strikeouts over two innings with two hits. The Bats couldn’t take the lead against Anderson in the eighth, sending the game to the ninth with the score tied 3-3.
Alan Busenitz (L, 5-3) made quick work of the jumbo Shrimp in the ninth. Elvis Alvarado (W, 3-3) did the same for the visitors in the bottom of the inning, sending the game to extra innings. In the top of the 10th, Jacksonville restored the lead on an RBI ground out from Jacob Berry.
Alvarado returned to the mound in the bottom of the 10th and made a behind the back snag of his own to secure the first out of the inning. Alvarado then struck out Joey Wiemer and Tucker Barnhart, finishing the one-run win for the Jumbo Shrimp.
Urbaez led the way for the Bats offense, reaching base four times while going 2-for-2 with two walks and two runs. Rios drove in two of the three runs while also walking twice in the defeat. The one-run loss is the Bats’ eighth in their last 11 overall games.
The Bats (58-74, 20-38 second half) and Jumbo Shrimp (64-67, 29-27 second half) continue the series on Wednesday night at Louisville Slugger Field. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. Nick Curran and Jim Kelch will be on the call for 1450/96.1 WXVW.