Bats Fall 8-2 In Game Five Vs. RailRiders

Eight of nine starters reached base

Edwin Ríos tallied an RBI double to breathe some life into the Bats offense, but the group was unable to get much going in the 8-2 defeat. (Cam Anderson/Louisville Bats)

By Trey Curry

August 3, 2024

The Louisville Bats stumbled early and couldn’t get going offensively, falling 8-2 to the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders on Saturday afternoon at PNC Field. Jacob Hurtubise began the day-game matchup with a single and quickly stole second vs. RailRiders starter Yoendrys Gómez to give the Bats an early scoring opportunity. Blake Dunn

The Louisville Bats stumbled early and couldn’t get going offensively, falling 8-2 to the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders on Saturday afternoon at PNC Field.

Jacob Hurtubise began the day-game matchup with a single and quickly stole second vs. RailRiders starter Yoendrys Gómez to give the Bats an early scoring opportunity. Blake Dunn came up next and lined out, followed by a Rece Hinds strikeout and an Edwin Ríos flyout to allow Gómez to escape unscathed.

In the bottom half of the first, the RailRiders earned a similar opportunity as Jasson Domínguez led off with a double to set up his teammates. Later in the frame, the home team took advantage as Oswald Peraza launched his fifth home run of the season to give Scranton/Wilkes-Barre a 2-0 lead. T.J. Rumfield next earned a walk to keep the pressure on Bats starter Randy Wynne, and Taylor Trammell doubled the RailRiders lead at 4-0 with his 10^th homer of the year.

Wynne (L, 1-2) was able to settle in, posting consecutive zeros to give his offense a chance. In the top of the fourth against SWB reliever Oddanier Mosqueda, Michael Trautwein and Tony Kemp tallied back-to-back two-out walks and Erik González continued his recent stellar play with an RBI single to get Louisville on the board at 4-1.

Rehabber Emilio Pagán relieved Wynne in the home half and put the RailRiders down in order in an impressive first outing. In the top of the fifth, Mosqueda recorded the first two outs before being relieved by Alex Mauricio. Hinds singled to keep the inning alive and Ríos came right behind him with a double that scored Hinds and put the Bats within two.

Reiver Sanmartin was next out of the Louisville bullpen and worked around a walk to keep the RailRiders quiet before the game was delayed heading into the sixth. Once the weather allowed the teams to keep battling, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre got to work quickly against Lyon Richardson out of the pen, adding two more runs in the bottom of the sixth to increase their lead to 6-2.

Louisville’s offense couldn’t get anything going in the next two frames, and the RailRiders added yet another two runs in the bottom of the eighth with Richardson still pitching. Hurtubise worked a walk in the top of the ninth, but the Bats were unable to create a rally, finalizing the 8-2 loss and give Scranton/Wilkes-Barre a 3-2 series lead.

The Bats (51-54, 13-18 second half) and RailRiders (59-47, 16-16 second half) will play the final game of their six-game set on Sunday, August 4. First pitch is set for 1:05 p.m. at PNC Field with Nick Curran on the call for 1450/96.1 WXVW.