Higgins' Homer The Difference In 2-1 Bats Win

Lyon Richardson recorded a season-high eight strikeouts and P.J. Higgins tallied his second home run of the season to lead the Louisville Bats to a 2-1 win over the Nashville Sounds in the second game of their six-game series at Louisville Slugger Field on Wednesday afternoon.

Richardson had no trouble waking up for the morning start, striking out the first two batters he faced and getting the third to ground out. Later, in the second, Richardson pitched around some early traffic, as the Sounds left two runners on base after Eric Haase was caught in a rundown between third and home to end the inning.

The Bats offense woke up in the third, as Austin Wynns led off the inning with a single before Francisco Urbaez doubled to right field on a ball that got past Noah Campbell on his dive attempt. As Campbell tracked down the ball in the right field corner, Wynns rounded third with eyes on the plate. Campbell hit cutoff man Tyler Black, who then relayed a strike to home plate to nab Wynns attempting to score, keeping the game scoreless.

Richardson again pitched out of trouble in the top of the fourth, getting Yonny Hernández to fly out to halt the threat and keep two more Sounds stranded on first and third.

Back on offense, Rece Hinds led off the bottom of the fourth with a double, followed by Mike Ford being hit by a pitch. With runners on first and second and no outs, Higgins roped a line drive single to right field to score Hinds from second with the game’s first run.

James Meeker was the first out of the bullpen for the Sounds, keeping the Bats at bay in the bottom of the fifth.

Richardson continued his stellar outing, holding the Sounds scoreless through the fifth and striking out Francisco Mejía to begin the top of the sixth. Richardson then walked Andruw Monasterio, prompting Bats manager Pat Kelly to make a pitching change as he called for reliever Evan Kravetz out of the bullpen. Isaac Collins wasn’t willing to give a warm welcome, as he immediately doubled to left field to put runners on second and third for Haase. The designated hitter grounded out to Livian Soto at shortstop to score Monasterio from third and tie the game 1-1.

Meeker came back out for a second inning in the sixth, tossing another clean frame to keep the momentum on the Sounds side. Kravetz (W, 2-0) followed with a scoreless inning of his own in the top of the seventh, pitching around a walk.

Higgins led off the bottom of the seventh against Sounds reliever Corbin Martin and took a middle of the plate slider deep to left center field for his second home run of the season, putting the Bats up 2-1. Louisville then recorded consecutive walks and looked like they could break the game open, but Wynns popped out to first and Erik González grounded into a double play to end the threat.

Rehabbing Reds reliever Ian Gibaut recorded a one, two, three inning in the top of the eighth, and the Sounds again pitched around traffic in the bottom of the eighth as Nolan Blackwood relieved Martin (L, 0-1) and stranded runners on second and third to keep the Bats lead at one.

Tony Santillan came on for the save opportunity in the top of the ninth, striking out Haase to open the frame but then hitting Campbell and walking Hernández. Santillan (S, 4) gathered himself, getting Vinny Capra to flyout to right and ending the game on a Chavez Young strikeout looking to cap off the Bats 2-1 win.

Higgins drove in both of the Bats’ runs in the win, going 2-for-4 with the home run. The Bats pitching staff of Richardson, Kravetz, Gibaut, and Santillan combined to strike out 12 and allow a season-low two hits.

The Bats (11-12) continue their six-game series against the Nashville Sounds (11-12) on Thursday, April 25. First pitch at Louisville Slugger Field is scheduled for 6:35 p.m., with Nick Curran and Jim Kelch on the call for 1450/96.1 WXVW.