Bats Blow Late Lead In 7-2 Loss To Gwinnett

The Louisville Bats took a 2-0 lead into the ninth inning but couldn’t close out the victory in their 7-2 loss on Thursday night at Louisville Slugger Field.

Rhett Lowder, the Reds No. 2 prospect and the No. 35 prospect in all of baseball, dazzled in his Triple-A debut with seven strikeouts and just three hits allowed in six shutout innings.

Edwin Ríos and Tony Kemp both had multi-hit games to carry the offense, with the former recording a double and the latter adding two doubles of his own while driving in one of Louisville’s two runs.

Lowder impressed right out of the gate, with the righty tallying a strikeout to begin his day then adding two in the second while keeping the Stripers quiet.

Gwinnett starter Ian Anderson posted a zero in the first, but Louisville got the bats going in the second. Ríos led off with a double and Kemp later doubled as well to drive Ríos home. Erik Gonzàlez then went opposite field for a single that scored Kemp and gave the Bats a 2-0 advantage.

Over the next three frames, Lowder continued cruising with four more strikeouts while facing the minimum in both the fourth and the fifth and retaining the shutout. The Stripers finally threatened in the sixth after the righty hit J.P. Martínez and gave up a single to Nacho Alvarez Jr., but Lowder forced a timely ground ball by Drake Baldwin that the Bats turned into a double play to end that inning with a zero as well.

Anderson kept Louisville off the board after the initial two runs, with Louisville still leading 2-0 heading into seventh. In his first rehab appearance, Brent Suter relieved Lowder and allowed consecutive singles to start his outing, but the unique-throwing lefty then earned a lineout and a double-play groundout to end the frame.

Casey Legumina was chosen for the eighth and he thrived with two strikeouts in a three-up, three-down inning. The Bats threatened in the bottom half after Rece Hinds singled and stole a base, but the home team couldn’t get Hinds across the plate as the score remained 2-0 going into the final inning.

Bats manager Pat Kelly called on closer Zach Maxwell for the save opportunity. The hard-throwing righty walked the first two hitters he faced but earned back-to-back flyouts for the first two outs before walking another Striper and giving up a two-RBI single that tied the game at 2-2. Louisville failed to get anyone on with their walk-off chance in the bottom of the ninth as the game headed into extra innings.

Gwinnett got right back to work in the top of the tenth, scoring five runs against Brooks Crawford (L, 0-1) capped off by a Baldwin grand slam, and the Stripers closed out the 7-2 win in the home half to take a 3-0 series lead.

The Bats (57-64, 19-28 second half) continue the series with the Stripers (61-62, 26-22 second half) on Friday night, with first pitch at Louisville Slugger Field set for 7:15 p.m. Nick Curran and Jim Kelch will be on the call for 1450/96.1 WXVW.