Bats Lose 3-2 To St. Paul In Series Opener

The Louisville Bats were unable to land a big punch at the plate, leaving 12 men on base and hitting 1-8 with runners in scoring position in the 3-2 series-opening loss to St. Paul on Tuesday night.

Nick Martini tallied just the second four-hit game for the Bats this season in the losing effort. Conner Capel totaled his third three-hit game in 2024, while Livan Soto and Reds No. 2 prospect Noelvi Marte added multi-hit games with two each.

Brandon Leibrandt had another solid start, throwing five innings and allowing just two runs with a season-high five strikeouts. Alex Young, Yosver Zulueta, Zach Maxwell, and Brooks Kriske all had scoreless appearances out of the pen, continuing the bullpen excellence for Louisville.

Leibrandt pitched a near-flawless first frame, striking out the side on just eleven pitches. In the bottom half against Saints starter Caleb Boushley, Soto led off with a walk and Marte doubled in his first at-bat of the year to put runners on second and third with no outs. After Soto was nabbed at home on a ground ball by Rece Hinds, Louisville scored the first run of the game on a Martini single that scored Marte from second.

Both Leibrandt and Boushley posted zeros in the second and third innings, with the Bats righty giving up just one baserunner the first time through the St. Paul order.

In the fourth, Brooks Lee led off with a double to set up the first threat against Leibrandt. Edouard Julien grounded out next but moved Lee to third, and Michael Helman took advantage of the RBI opportunity with a sacrifice fly to tie the game at 1.

Louisville didn’t take long to get that run back. Edwin Ríos grounded out to begin the bottom half of the fourth, but Peyton Burdick singled and Capel followed with a double to score Burdick and put the Bats on top 2-1.

The Saints threatened again in the fifth and again came through. Yunior Severino singled and Will Holland walked to put two on with two outs, and Lee delivered with a single that scored Severino and tied the game.

After a quiet fifth at the plate for the Bats, Christian Roa was first out of the bullpen in the top of the sixth. The righty kept St. Paul off the board with the help of a 5-4-3 double play that ended the frame, and the Bats were again held scoreless in the bottom half.

Roa (L, 3-3) came back out for the seventh and immediately found himself in trouble. Severino worked a walk and Holland doubled to put Saints on second and third with just one out, and Austin Martin came through with a single that gave St.Paul their first lead of the night at 3-2. Young was called on to record the final two outs, and the lefty did just that without allowing the Saints to stretch their lead.

Louisville attempted to bounce back in the bottom half against Saints reliever Ronny Henriquez (W, 1-2), as Marte registered his second hit with a single and Martini doubled for his third hit to put two on with two outs for P.J. Higgins. Righty Nick Wittgren relieved Henriquez to face the Bats catcher and did the job by forcing Higgins to fly out to center and end the threat.

Zulueta was next tasked with keeping the deficit at one, and he wasted no time in doing so. The righty completed a three up, three down inning in just six pitches, capping it off with a strikeout. The Bats couldn’t take advantage as they were unable to get anything going in the home half.

Maxwell was the choice for the Bats in the ninth. The hard-throwing righty walked Severino to begin his outing but blew fastballs by Tony Kemp and Holland for strikeouts. Maxwell couldn’t build on that momentum, giving up a single to Martin and walking Lee to load the bases. Pat Kelly called on Kravetz to get Louisville out of the jam, and the lefty struck out Julien with three straight changeups to end the inning.

Kody Funderburk (S, 1), who pitched the eighth for St. Paul, remained in the game to attempt the save. Soto singled to set the Bats up with the winning run at the plate, but Marte struck out looking and Hinds lined out to put Louisville down to their last out. Martini kept the home team alive with an infield single that allowed Soto to advance to third on a throwing error. Higgins came up next in the game’s biggest spot, and he flew out to center to close out the comeback effort.

Louisville (34-29) will continue the series against St. Paul (28-35) in a day-game matchup tomorrow, Wednesday, June 12. First pitch is scheduled for 12:05 p.m., with Nick Curran and Jim Kelch on the call for 1450/96.1 WXVW.