Bats Earn Sweep Of Saints With 9-4 Victory

The Louisville Bats earned a thrilling 9-4 victory over the St. Paul Saints to extend their season-long winning streak to seven in a row, the team’s longest streak since 2021, and earn their first six-game series sweep of the season.

Livan Soto and Levi Jordan both went 2-for-4, with the former recording three RBIs, while Hernán Pérez and Conner Capel each notched two RBIs in the victory. Additionally, Jacob Hurtubise stole yet another base, marking his fifth straight game with one on his ledger.

Following a slow start, St. Paul got on the board first. A leadoff walk to Anthony Prato and a single from Alex Isola put two on with no outs. Bats’ starter Randy Wynne, catcher Michael Trautwein, and third baseman Pérez successfully executed a fielder’s choice rundown between third and home to tag out Prato, but a sacrifice fly from Yunior Severino later in the frame put the Saints up 1-0 by the end of the third.

Louisville fought back in the bottom of the fourth, beginning the rally with a Hurtubise leadoff single. After stealing second, Hurtubise scored on a two-run homer from Soto for his third longball of the year. Jordan followed up with a single, stole second, and advanced to third on a throwing error by Saints’ catcher Chris Williams. Tony Kemp kept the scoring burst going with an RBI single, and after Trautwein and P.J. Higgins were both hit by pitches, a sacrifice fly from Capel extended the Bats’ lead to 4-1.

St. Paul attempted a comeback in the top of the fifth, chipping away at the Louisville advantage by combining a couple of singles and a walk to put the tally at 4-2. They continued their scoring effort in the top of the sixth, starting with a leadoff single from Wynton Bernard. Payton Eales then reached on a fielder’s choice before stealing second and third then scoring on an RBI single from Isola, slashing the Bats’ advantage to 4-3.

Louisville pulled away in the bottom of the sixth with an offensive explosion. Jordan kicked it off with a leadoff double, and Tony Kemp, Trautwein, Higgins, and Capel all walked to drive in a run. Pérez and Hurtubise both smacked RBI singles to follow, giving the Bats a comfortable lead of 9-3.

Prato smashed a solo homer in the top of the eighth, gaining one back for the Saints. Reliever Evan Kravetz closed out the ninth, securing two strikeouts and a groundout to finalize the 9-4 Bats triumph.

Bats’ righthanded starter Wynne had a strong outing, tossing 4.1 frames and allowing two earned runs with four strikeouts. Christian Roa (W, 4-5) came on in the fourth, allowing one earned run with four strikeouts in 1.2 innings.

Louisville (48-43, 10-7 second half) will enjoy a few days of rest during the All-Star break before returning to Slugger Field for a three-game series against the Columbus Clippers (41-49, 9-7 second half). The first game of the set will take place on Friday, July 19 with the first pitch scheduled for 7:15 p.m. Nick Curran and Jim Kelch will be on the call for 1450/96.1 WXVW.