Bats Drop Thriller to Nashville, 6-5

Louisville built a 5-0 lead against the Sounds on Friday night but couldn’t hang on as the Bats fell 6-5 in walk-off fashion.

Nick Martini and Edwin Ríos lifted solo shots and Livan Soto recorded two hits, including a three-run double, to headline the Louisville offense.

It was a slow start for both offenses out of the gate, as Louisville starter Brett Kennedy and Nashville starter Taylor Clarke each posted zeros through the first two innings. Christian Roa relieved Kennedy in the third and continued blanking the Sounds after Clarke recorded another scoreless inning against the Bats in the top half.

In the top of the fourth, Nick Martini got the fastball he was looking for after working a full count, launching his fourth Bats home run of the season over the center field wall to begin the scoring and put the Bats on top 1-0.

Roa again kept the Sounds quiet in the bottom of the fourth, allowing the Bats to try their hand at increasing their lead in the fifth. Connor Capel tallied a walk and Michael Trautwein singled to put runners on first and second for Erik González. The third baseman flew out to deep right field, but Capel tagged up and moved to third. The two-on, one-out situation prompted Nashville to make a change, calling on Darrell Thompson to get the Sounds out of the jam against Levi Jordan. Trautwein stole second and Jordan walked to load the bases for Livan Soto, who then doubled in the gap to clear the bases and increase the Louisville lead to 4-0.

With the help of Trautwein and Jordan connecting to catch Yonny Hernández stealing, Roa pitched around some trouble to keep his ledger clean in the bottom of the fifth. Edwin Ríos, coming off five hits total across the first two games, continued his torrid hitting with a homer off Tyler Woessner (W, 2-4) to left-center field in the next frame to expand the Bats advantage to 5-0.

Zach Maxwell relieved Roa in the bottom half of the sixth. After giving up a single to Vinny Capra and walking Joey Wiemer to put two on with no outs, Isaac Collins struck at the opportunity with a double to score Capra and move Wiemer to third. A wild pitch then allowed Wiemer to score and Collins to advance to third, and Owen Miller later singled to score Collins and put the Sounds within two at 5-3.

After Casey Legumina kept the Sounds off the board in the seventh, Alex Young was called on in the eighth. Young forced Wiemer to fly out to begin the inning but hit Collins and gave up a single to Wes Clarke to put two on for Owen Miller. The first baseman struck out to get the Bats on the verge of escaping unscathed, but Francisco Mejía singled to score Collins and inch Nashville closer at 5-4.

Tony Santillan (L, 1-4) came on to attempt the save in the ninth. The right-hander walked both Freddy Zamora and Wiemer, and Collins followed with a walk-off two-run double to win the game for the Sounds.

Louisville (33-27) will continue the series against Nashville (33-28) in the fifth game of the series tomorrow, Saturday, June 8. First pitch is scheduled for 7:35 p.m., and Nick Curran will be on the call for 1450/96.1 WXVW.