Bats Record 4-2 Win Over Sounds In Extra Innings

The Louisville Bats notched their sixth extra-innings win of the season with a 4-2 victory over the Nashville Sounds on Saturday night.

Edwin Ríos continued his torrid hitting this series, adding two more hits with two RBI and two walks, while P.J. Higgins and Livan Soto also tallied two-hit performances.

In what was a bullpen game for the Bats, the Louisville pitching staff did the job with just two runs allowed and 12 strikeouts.

Bats starter Randy Wynne and Sounds starter Jakob Junis began the night with a scoreless first inning, but the Louiville offense got going in the second. Higgins led the frame off with a single and Ríos worked a walk to put two on with no outs. After forcing Peyton Burdick to fly out, Junis threw a wild pitch that allowed the runners to advance to second and third. Michael Trautwein then grounded out to second but scored Higgins from third, putting the Bats in the lead at 1-0.

That accounted for all the offense through the first five innings, with very little traffic on the basepaths. Wynne and Yosver Zulueta combined to keep the Sounds quiet with nine strikeouts through those five frames and the Bats couldn’t muster any additional runs against the Nashville pitching staff.

In the bottom of the sixth, after the Bats were held off the board in the top half, Brooks Kriske relieved Zulueta and immediately gave up a double to Vinny Capra. Francisco Mejía followed with a nine-pitch at-bat that resulted in a line drive to Rece Hinds in right field, allowing Capra to move to third, and Isaac Collins took advantage with a sacrifice fly to tie the game.

In the seventh, Louisville went three up, three down, and Pat Kelly called on Evan Kravetz for the bottom of the frame. Kravetx walked Eric Haase to begin his outing, but set the next three Sounds down to preserve the tie.

The Bats finally woke up in the eighth against Rob Zastryzny. Levi Jordan led off with a single and Livan Soto laid down a bunt to attempt to move Jordan to second, but Zastryzny went to second for the force and Soto was safe at first. Hinds then worked a walk, Nick Martini lined out, and Higgins walked to load the bases with two outs for Ríos. The designated hitter came through, recording the third Louisville walk of the inning to score Soto and give the Bats the lead at 2-1.

Alan Busenitz (W, 3-2) came on in the bottom half. After getting Capra to ground out, Busenitz walked Mejía and gave up consecutive singles to Collins and Wes Clarke to allow Mejía to score and tie the game. The righty bounced back, forcing Owen Miller to ground into a double play to limit the damage.

Busenitz and Zastryzny both stayed in for the ninth inning and posted zeros, with the former using the help of Trautwein and Jordan connecting to catch Chavez Young stealing for the third out to send the game to extras.

Soto led off the tenth inning with a single vs. Harold Chirino (L, 1-1) that moved Jordan, the automatic runner, to third. Hinds then struck out on an automatic strike, but Martini picked him up with a sacrifice fly that scored Jordan and saw Sounds center fielder Chris Roller make a miraculous diving play. Higgins came up next and singled to move Soto to third, and Higgins was able to advance on a throwing error by Young in right field. Ríos followed with another Bats single to score Soto, but Higgins was thrown out at home to end the top half of the inning with the Bats on top 4-2.

Busenitz remained in to close out the game. Zamora grounded to the pitcher to begin the Sounds half, and Busenitz caught Young trying to advance to third for the first out. Capra then grounded into a double play to complete Busenitz’s longest outing of the season at three innings and finalize the 4-2 Bats win.

Louisville (34-27) will continue the series against Nashville (33-29) in the fifth game of the series tomorrow, Sunday, June 9. First pitch is scheduled for 3:05 p.m. and Nick Curran will be on the call for 1450/96.1 WXVW.