July 2 2024 Bats Recap

Conner Capel hit his tenth home run of the season, but it was nearly all the Bats could muster as Louisville fell 8-2 to the Indianapolis Indians on Tuesday night at Louisville Slugger Field.

After a quiet first inning for both offenses, Seth Beer led the second off with a home run to center field to give the Indians an early 1-0 lead.

Louisville answered in the bottom of the third with a home run of their own, a solo shot over the right field fence by Conner Capel to tie the game at 1-1.

Bats starter Randy Wynne’s outing was complete after three solid innings of work. He allowed one earned run on five hits and was replaced by Christian Roa (L, 3-5).

Indianapolis took advantage of the new Louisville pitcher in the top of the fourth. Beer began the effort by drawing a leadoff walk. He moved over to third on Malcom Nuñez’s single, who was out trying to reach second base. A single by Matt Gorski put runners on the corners for Matt Fraizer, who launched a towering three-run home run to give the Indians a 4-1 lead.

Indians starter Quinn Priester (W, 3-1) completed a scoreless fifth to finalize his outing, allowing just one run on three hits while striking out six Louisville hitters.

Jacob Hurtubise started the sixth inning with a leadoff walk, a positive outcome that resulted from a pitch he challenged that was originally called strike three. He advanced into scoring position on a stolen base, his second of the season, and crossed home plate on a single by Livan Soto to cut the lead to 4-2.

Indianapolis took control of the game in the top of the eighth off Bats reliever Spencer Stockton, scoring four runs on four hits. Liover Peguero launched a 450-ft home run to lead off the inning followed by a walk and a single. With two on and no outs, Fraizer doubled to right field to clear the bases, and after the Bats changed pitchers, he came home on a Grant Koch single to give the Indians a commanding 8-2 lead.

P.J. Higgins singled to center on the first pitch of the ninth inning and the Bats eventually loaded the bases, but they could not take advantage, falling 8-2 to suffer their eighth straight home loss.

Louisville (41-41, 3-5 second half) will play the final game of the homestand series against the Indians (36-45, 3-5 second half) tomorrow, Wednesday, July 3 with the first pitch set for 7:05 p.m. Nick Curran and Jim Kelch will be on the call for 1450/96.1 WXVW.