Bats Earn Their Largest Comeback Win Of The Season

The Louisville Bats came back from an early 5-0 deficit to record their largest comeback win of the year and defeat the St. Paul Saints 7-5 in the first game of their six-game set on Tuesday afternoon.

The first inning was one to forget for the Bats. David Festa struck out the side to begin the frame, sitting down all three Bats hitters on sliders. In the bottom half, St. Paul worked two walks and Yunior Severino reached on an error with two outs to load the bases. Tony Kemp worked another walk to score a Saints run, and before the Bats could rebound, Patrick Winkel delivered a grand slam to right center field to extend the St. Paul advantage to 5-0.

P.J. Higgins led off the second with a single and Peyton Burdick worked a walk to set the table for Levi Jordan, but he grounded into a 5-3 double play to get Festa back on track. Austin Wynns wasn’t going to let the Bats go empty-handed, lifting the first home run of his Bats career to cut the deficit to 5-2. In the Saints half at the plate, Richardson worked around a pair of singles in a scoreless frame to keep the momentum on the Bats side.

The next three innings were quiet for both offenses, as Richardson and Festa were rolling while posting big strikeout numbers. Festa finished the day with a Triple-A career-high 10 strikeouts through five innings while allowing just two runs, and Richardson posted seven strikeouts and allowed five runs, four earned, to keep the Bats in the game.

Justin Topa was the first out of the bullpen for the Saints, and he hit Blake Dunn on the first pitch of his day. Dunn stole second easily, and Rece Hinds followed with a single to drive Dunn in. Hinds was also ready to run, stealing second before Mike Ford grounded out to move Hinds to third. Higgins walked to put runners on first and third for Burdick, and he came through with a double to right field as the Bats came within one at 5-4. Jordan then singled to score Higgins, completing the comeback and tying the game at five.

Stevie Branche relieved Richardson in the bottom of the sixth. After a strikeout to begin his outing, Branchie walked two Saints and let up a single to load the bases, and Pat Kelly was ready for a change once again. Kelly called on Brooks Kriske to get the Bats out of the jam, and Kriske did exactly that, getting Yoyner Fajardo to pop out on the infield and striking out Anthony Prato to end the frame.

Hobie Harris (L, 1-3) came in for Topa to begin the seventh and got Hernán Pérez to ground out to begin his appearance. Erik González singled to right field for his first hit of the game, and he continued the Bats running efforts by stealing second. Winkel’s throw down to second got past the infield, allowing González to advance to third. Dunn took advantage, driving in González to give the Bats their first lead of the day at 6-5. Another single by Hinds put runners on first and third for Ford, who came through with an RBI ground out to extend the Bats lead to 7-5.

Justin Bruihl replaced Kriske (W, 3-0) and pitched around some traffic to work a scoreless seventh, keeping the Bats lead at two. Alan Busenitz also did the same to hold the lead for the Bats in the eighth. Tony Santillan (S, 5) came in for the save opportunity for the Bats, and locked down his fifth save of the season to finalize the 7-5 Bats win.

Eight of the nine Bats starters reached base in the win, while both Hinds and Jordan recorded two hits and Wynns drove in a team-high two runs. After the rough first inning, the Bats pitching staff kept the Saints off the board for the rest of the game.

The Bats (14-14) continue their series with the Saints (10-16) on Wednesday night in the second of their six-game series. First pitch is scheduled for 7:37 p.m., with Nick Curran on the call for 1450/96.1 WXVW.