Louisville Falls 3-1 In Pitcher's Duel Against St. Paul
Despite a comeback attempt in the bottom of the ninth, the Louisville Bats dropped game five of their series against the St. Paul Saints with a final score of 3-1 on Saturday night in front of a crowd of 7,272 at Slugger Field. St. Paul attempted to score in the
Despite a comeback attempt in the bottom of the ninth, the Louisville Bats dropped game five of their series against the St. Paul Saints with a final score of 3-1 on Saturday night in front of a crowd of 7,272 at Slugger Field.
St. Paul attempted to score in the top of the second, the Bats defense turned their league-leading 38th double play of the year at home to escape the frame without any further damage. After a quiet three innings to start, Matt Wallner knocked a solo home run to claim a 1-0 lead for the Saint in the fourth.
Louisville threatened to score in the bottom of the third after Levi Jordan smacked a single and stole second, but he was ultimately stranded.
In the top of the seventh, St. Paul took advantage of a leadoff single by Wallner and a walk to Yunior Severino. Thanks to an RBI double by Jair Camargo and a sac fly from Tony Kemp, the Saints extended their advantage to 3-0.
Louisville fought back in the bottom of the eighth with a two-out single from Jordan. Blake Dunn followed up with another single, but the Bats were unable to capitalize and left both men on.
The Bats kicked off a rally in the bottom of the ninth against Saints closer Kody Funderburk (S, 2) to chip away at St. Paul’s lead. After Edwin Ríos was hit by a pitch, he scored on a single by P.J. Higgins. An error by the Saints on Hernan Perez’s ground ball brought the winning run to the plate for the Bats. But Funderburk struck out Austin Wynns to end the game with the tying run on base.
Though he took the loss, right-handed starter Graham Ashcraft (L, 0-1), tossed a quality start in his first outing after being optioned to Louisville last Thursday. He recorded four strikeouts in six innings of work, allowing three earned runs on five hits. Casey Legumina came on in the seventh, keeping the St. Paul lineup silent through two frames with only one hit. Alan Busenitz ended the game on the mound for the Bats with a scoreless ninth.
Higgins and Jordan combined for four of the Bats’ five hits in the loss. St. Paul starter Randy Dobnak earned the win, striking out 10 over six scoreless innings. The loss extends the Bats’ season-long losing streak to six games.
Louisville (34-33) and St. Paul (32-35) will play the last game in the series on Father’s Day Sunday, tomorrow, June 16. The first pitch is set for 1:05 p.m. with Nick Curran and Jim Kelch on the call for 1450/96.1 WXVW.