Louisville Bats Notes: August 18

TODAY'S GAME: The Louisville Bats and Charlotte Knights play game three of a four-game series tonight at BB&T Ballpark. Right-hander Keury Mella will make his first start for Louisville since late July, when he was recalled to Cincinnati. On Friday, the Bats snapped a six-game losing streak and tied the series at one game apiece with a 4-3 win in 10 innings.

AGAINST CHARLOTTE: The Bats and Knights meet for a four-game series at BB&T Ballpark, the final out-of-division series for Louisville in 2018. In their previous series back in late April, the Bats won 2 of 3 games, outscoring the top farm club of the Chicago White Sox by a narrow 10-7 advantage. Two of the last 3 matchups have now gone into extra innings, with LOU coming out on top in each of the contests.
LOSING STREAK SNAPPED: Louisville snapped its 6-game losing streak, which is tied for their longest losing streak this season. With the win, LOU avoided losing 7 straight for the first time since May 2017.
YESTERDAY: Louisville led 1-0 after a Brian O'Grady sac fly scored Josh VanMeter in the first inning. Charlotte would tie the game in the sixth, with LOU taking a 3-1 on a pair of solo home runs from O'Grady and VanMeter, with the latter going 3-for-4 with the home run, 2 RBI and a walk on the day. The Knights tied it in the bottom of the ninth against Bats closer Kevin Quackenbush , who was charged with his fourth blown save of the season. VanMeter delivered once again in extras, producing an RBI single that gave the Bats a 4-3 lead, which they would win by after Quackenbush closed the door in the 10th.
EXTRAS: After Friday's 4-3 win in 10 innings, the Bats improved to 7-5 on the season in extra innings, and 4-1 in extra inning games (3-1 away from Louisville Slugger Field, with a "road" win over Buffalo on July 24 at LSF). Last season, LOU was above .500 in extra innings, going 9-8.
THE O'G: Louisville first baseman/outfielder Brian O'Grady has been on a tear recently, going 1-for-3 with a home run, sac fly and 2 RBI one game after going 3-for-3. In his first 26 games at the Triple-A level with Louisville this season, O'Grady is batting .318 (28-for-83) with 18 runs, 5 doubles, 2 triples, 5 home runs, 18 RBI and a .942 OPS. Since August 10, he is batting .429 (12-for-28) in 8 games, tied for second-most hits in the IL in that span.
99 HOME RUNS: After Josh VanMeter and Brian O'Grady's home runs in the eighth inning of yesterday's 4-3 win, the Bats have now hit 99 home runs as a team this season, ranking 6th in the league. Last season, Louisville hit just 87 home runs all season, second-fewest in the IL, with only Buffalo's 78 home runs ranking lower. LOU last hit 100+ home runs in a season in 2012, when the Bats collected 116 home runs as an offense, finishing fifth in the league.
TWO AWAY FROM 500 RUNS: Not only is the Bats' offense one homer away from 100 on the season, but they are also 2 runs shy of 500 for the year. Last season, the Bats scored their 500th run of the season on August 25 at Toledo when Jose Duarte 's RBI single scored Zach Vincej in the third inning in a 3-1 Bats win.