Pitching Prowess Leads Louisville To 4-2 Win

The Louisville Bats got timely hits and a dominant afternoon on the mound, holding on at the very end for a 4-2 victory over the Iowa Cubs to secure a split of the six-game series at Louisville Slugger Field on Sunday afternoon.

Making his third rehab start with Louisville, lefty Brandon Williamson was strong out of the gate, retiring the first nine hitters he faced over three scoreless innings.

The Bats offense would come to life in the bottom of the second without the benefit of a hit off Cubs rehabber Jordan Wicks (L, 0-2). Walks to Conner Capel and Peyton Burdick put two on with nobody out. A ground ball moved the runners to second and third before a sacrifice fly from Levi Jordan plated Capel with the first run of the game.

An error allowed Hernan Perez to reach at the start of the third inning. He tagged up to advance to second on a fly out toe center. With two outs, P.J. Higgins delivered with an RBI single to right, allowing Perez to come home and double the Bats lead.

Williamson allowed his first hit in the fourth, but it was promptly erased with an inning-ending double play from Alexander Canario. He faced the minimum with four scoreless innings, striking out two and allowing just the one hit.

Louisville continued to add on in the fourth. Michael Trautwein reached with a one-out double to the gap in left-center. Two hitters later, Levi Jordan lined a single through the right side of the infield, allowing Tratuwein to come home for a 3-0 Bats lead.

Christian Roa (W, 3-2) faced the minimum over two scoreless innings, getting a double play to negate a leadoff walk in the sixth while striking out one to earn his third win of the season and second of the series.

Casey Legumina breezed through the Cubs for a one, two, three top of the seventh and Brooks Kriske did the same in the eighth to preserve the shutout bid.

The Bats capped the afternoon’s scoring with another RBI single from Jordan in the eighth, plating Higgins, who began the inning with a walk.

In the ninth, Tony Santillan worked into trouble. With two outs and runners on first and third, Santillan struck out Owen Caissie. However, the pitch was in the dirt and rolled to the backstop, allowing Caissie to reach, a run to score, and the game to keep going. Canario drove in a run with a single to put the tying runs on base. With the go-ahead run at the plate, Santillan struck out Matt Mervis to end the game and preserve the 4-2 win.

Offensively, Jordan led the way for the Bats, going 2-for-2 with three RBI in the triumph. Trautwein was 2-for-4 with a run scored and the Bats’ only extra-base hit, the double in the fourth. The Bats did not hit a home run on Sunday, bringing an end to their franchise-record streak of consecutive games with a home run at 24. The win wraps up the Bats’ season-long 11-game homestand with a 7-4 record.

The Bats (32-24) hit the road for Music City to begin a six-game series with the Nashville Sounds on Tuesday night. First pitch at First Horizon Park is scheduled for 7:35 p.m. Nick Curran will be on the call for 1450/96.1 WXVW.