Bats Drop Pitcher's Duel In Toledo 2-0

Despite a stellar outing from starter Lyon Richardson, the Louisville Bats offense was unable to produce behind him, suffering a 2-0 loss to the Toledo Mud Hens on Saturday night at Fifth Third Field.

The Mud Hens took advantage of an early Bats mistake, and that would prove to be decisive. With one out in the bottom of the first, Andrew Navigato walked and stole second. Later in the inning with two men down, Spencer Torkelson hit a ground ball to third. Erik Gonzalez fielded the ball cleanly, but his throw to first was errant for an error, allowing Navigato to come home and score the game’s first run as Torkelson was thrown out trying to get to second.

That would be the only run allowed by Richardson. He retired the side in the second. A one-out single from Drew Maggi in the third would be the only hit the Mud Hens produced against Richardson. He again set the Mud Hens down one, two, three in the fourth, worked around a walk in the fifth, then used a double play to erase a leadoff walk in a scoreless sixth.

Richardson (L, 1-5) pitched six innings for the second time this season, earning his first quality start after giving up just an unearned run on one hit while walking three and striking out six. Unfortunately, he would suffer the loss.

Ultimately, Toledo starter Ty Madden was able to keep the Bats at bay for the duration of his start. He set the first 10 Louisville hitters he faced down in order before Rece Hinds’ one-out double in the fourth. Hinds advanced to third on a ground out from Livan Soto. Madden got through the inning unscathed by getting P.J. Higgins to fly out to right.

A two-out single in the fifth didn’t produce much for the Bats, and Madden ended his start with a scoreless sixth. Over six innings, Madden (W, 1-3) kept the Bats off the board, allowing two hits while walking none and striking out eight to earn his first win of the year.

Andrew Vasquez pitched around a two-out double by Edwin Rios for a scoreless top of the seventh to maintain the 1-0 lead. Leading off the bottom of the inning against Louisville reliever Evan Kravetz, Torkelson doubled the Mud Hens’ lead with a solo homer, his fourth of the season to make it 2-0.

Vasquez got the first out in the eighth before Trey Wingenter was brought in from the Toledo bullpen. He immediately gave up back-to-back single to Hernan Perez and Gonzalez, putting runners at the corners with one out. Wingenter responded by striking out Jacob Hurtubise and Hinds to keep the runners on base and preserve the shutout. Kravetz and Stevie Branche combined for a clean bottom of the eighth to hold the deficit at two.

In the ninth, Toledo closer Sean Guenther (S, 2) quickly retired the Bats, finishing the shutout win to earn the save.

Despite being shutout, the Bats outhit the Mud Hens 5-4 in the loss. No Louisville player recorded more than one hit. The Toledo pitching staff combined for 14 strikeouts in the win without walking a Louisville hitter.

The Bats (40-39, 2-3 second half) conclude their series with the Mud Hens (38-41, 3-2 second half) on Sunday afternoon. First pitch at Fifth Third Field is scheduled for 4:05 p.m. ET. Nick Curran and Jim Kelch will be on the call for 1450/96.1 WXVW.