Bats Hold On For 6-4 Win Over Clippers

The Louisville Bats brought the heat early on with five first-inning runs and held on late for a 6-4 win over the Columbus Clippers on Saturday night in front of a lively crowd of 7,057 at Louisville Slugger Field, tying the series at one a piece.

Eric Yang led the effort at the plate with a three-hit performance that included a double and his first three Triple-A RBIs while Livan Soto reached base three times and P.J. Higgins had two RBIs to round out the offense.

Julian Aguiar earned his third consecutive win with 6.0 innings of work in which he allowed four runs and struck out four, and Yosver Zulueta and Alan Busenitz combined to shut the door from there.

After Aguiar kept the Clippers quiet in the top of the first, the Bats pounced quick. Blake Dunn singled, Soto earned a walk, and Levi Jordan was hit by a pitch to load the bases with no outs against Clippers starter Tyler Beede (L, 0-4). Tony Kemp followed with an RBI groundout to score Dunn, and Higgins came through next with a two-RBI single that gave Louisville a 3-0 lead. Still with just one out, Hernán Pérez and Conner Capel worked walks to load the bases again before Erik González struck out for the second out, but Yang picked up his teammate with a two-RBI double to cap off a five-run first inning for the Bats.

The Clippers took no time in bouncing back in the top of the second. Johnthan Rodriguez and George Valera tallied singles and Myles Straw worked a walk to load the bases before Dom Nuñez delivered with a two-RBI single to cut the Louisville lead to 5-2.

After several quiet frames on both sides, the Clippers continued chipping away in the fifth. José Tena was hit by a pitch, Kyle Manzardo tripled to score Tena, and Rodriguez drove Manzardo in with a sacrifice fly to inch the Clippers closer at 5-4.

The Bats picked up another run in the bottom of the sixth against Joey Cantillo, who had pitched three sterling innings up to that point. González doubled and Yang kept up his fantastic night with an RBI single to give Louisville some breathing room at 6-4.

Zulueta came on to relieve Aguiar (W, 3-0) in the seventh, and the righty recorded two no-hit frames for his 12^th consecutive Bats appearance without an earned run allowed.

Bats manager Pat Kelly called on Busenitz to attempt his first save of the year in the top of the ninth, and he used the third Louisville double play of the night to pitch around some traffic and finalize the 6-4 Bats win.

The Bats (49-44, 11-8) continue the series with the Clippers (43-50, 11-8) on Sunday night, with first pitch at Louisville Slugger Field is scheduled for 6:05 p.m. Nick Curran and Jim Kelch will be on the call for 1450/96.1 WXVW.