Bats Drop Close Battle With Stripers 5-4

A late comeback from the Louisville Bats came up just short on Saturday night, falling 5-4 to the Gwinnett Stripers in front of an energetic crowd of 7,204 at Louisville Slugger Field.

With scheduled starter Casey Kelly called up to the Reds earlier in the day, the Bats were forced into a bullpen day. Connor Overton got the ball and induced a double play for a scoreless first inning. But in the second, the Stripers broke through. Harold Ramirez got it started with a single, stole second, and came home on Chadwick Tromp’s RBI double. Tromp would come home to score on a double play ground out from Luis Liberato.

Louisville cut into the lead in the bottom of the inning on a solo home run from Tony Kemp 392 feet over the wall in right-center, his ninth at the Triple-A level this season to cut the Gwinnett lead to 2-1 against starter Allan Winans.

Overton (L, 0-1) ended his start with a scoreless top of the third. Over three innings, he allowed three runs on five hits with one walk and two strikeouts. Stevie Branche was first out of the Bats bullpen and worked around a pair of walks for two scoreless innings to hold the deficit at two.

Liberato added an RBI single off Brooks Crawford in the sixth and Ramirez did the same in the seventh off Yosver Zulueta, allowing the Stripers to increase the lead to 5-1.

Winans continued to stymie the Louisville attack, retiring the side in order in the fifth and sixth. The Bats offense finally came back to life in the bottom of the seventh. Kemp got a two-out rally started with a single. Joey Wiemer followed with a single that was misplayed in left, allowing the runners to advance to second and third. A wild pitch from Winans plated Kemp to make it 5-2. Tucker Barnhart then laced a single to center, making it a 5-3 ballgame after seven.

Winans (W, 6-4) departed with a quality start, giving up three earned runs on six hits with one walk and seven strikeouts over seven innings to earn the win.

Reiver Sanmartin held the deficit at two with a clean top of the eighth, giving the Bats another chance to get closer. With one out, Ivan Johnson laced a triple to the gap in left-center, sliding under a tag at third base to delight the crowd. Edwin Rios followed with an RBI ground out, bringing in Johnson to make it a one-run game.

Zach Maxwell kept the Stripers off the board in the top of the ninth. Gwinnett turned to closer Jimmy Herget in the bottom half. P.J. Higgins greeted him with a single, Kemp doubled to right, and Wiemer walked to load the bases with nobody out. Herget (S, 3) struck out Barnhart for the first out before inducing a game-ending double play from Erik Gonzalez to finish the win and earn the save.

Kemp led the way for the Louisville offense, going 3-for-4 with two runs scored, a double, and an RBI. No other Bat recorded more than one hit in the loss as the Bats’ losing skid reached six games.

The Bats (57-66, 19-30 second half) wrap the series with the Stripers (63-62, 28-22 second half) on Sunday afternoon. First pitch at Louisville Slugger Field is set for 1:05 p.m. Nick Curran and Jim Kelch will be on the call for 1450/96.1 WXVW.