Louisville Bats Notes: June 9

SERIES OPENER: The Bats dropped their third in a row after winning a season-best 5 straight games from May 31 to June 5. With yesterday's 4-3 loss, Louisville drops to 7-11 in series openers and 3-5 on the road. The Bats also fall to 6-10 in one-run games, losing their first one-run game since they lost 3-2 at Indianapolis on May 21.

AGAINST SCRANTON/WILKES-BARRE: The Bats and RailRiders meet for the second of two series this season. Last season, Louisville went 2-4 against Scranton, dropping two separate three-game series. LOU was outscored in those matchups 33-28. The Bats last won the season series against the Triple-A affiliate of the New York Yankees in 2012, when LOU went 6-2 against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, including a four-game sweep at Louisville Slugger Field. During the clubs' last meeting just over a week ago, SWB won the first 2 games of the series before LOU won the finale on May 31, the catalyst for a season-long 5-game win streak that was snapped June 6, last series at Pawtucket.
ROAD WOES: Friday marked the Bats' 25th road game of the season, starting 5-20 away from LSF this season. Last season, the Bats were 9-16 after 25 road games, and in 2016 they were 16-9. LOU's record through its first 25 road games this season is the worst in franchise history.
DH THE DH: Dilson Herrera continued his torrid streak Friday, going 1-for-3 with 3 RBI and 2 walks, smacking a 2-run double in the fifth and walking with the bases loaded in the ninth. In his last 6 games, he's batting .429 (9-for-21) with 3 doubles, 4 RBI, 5 walks and 4 strikeouts. Herrera started at designated hitter for Louisville for the first time this season, having previously started at DH for Class A Daytona on April 11 this season.
DO-IT-ALL DILSON: Herrera's 3 RBI accounted for all of the Bats' runs in the 4-3 loss to the RailRiders. It's the first time a Bats hitter has registered all of the team's RBI with at least 3 driven in since... Dilson Herrera, June 19, 2017. In that game, he recorded 4 RBI in Louisville's 4-2 win over the Columbus Clippers at Louisville Slugger Field, including a double off current Bats pitcher and former Clipper, Kyle Crockett .
404: NO ERROR: Hernan Iribarren ripped a single in his only plate appearance last night, a pinch-hit in the top of the ninth. He's excelled in the pinch this season, now batting an immaculate .500 (5-for-10) fresh off the bench for Louisville, accounting for half the club's 10 pinch hits this season. Iribarren already has more pinch hits this season than he had in his previous 4 seasons with Louisville combined, going 4-for-27 (.148) as a pinch-hitter for the Bats from 2014-17.
SENZEL'S ON-BASE STREAK: Infielder Nick Senzel has reached base in 9 straight games, hitting safely in 7 of them. He drew two walks in last night's game, his third multi-walk game of the season.
FINNEGAN LOOKS TO WIN AGAIN: Brandon Finnegan was excellent in his last start, giving up just one run in 7.0 innings against the Gwinnett Stripers on June 3. He is looking to win back-to-back starts for the first time since July 29 and August 4, 2016, when he was victorious in back-to-back starts for Cincinnati at San Diego and vs. St. Louis, also winning back-to-back starts that season on July 5 and 18 at Chicago (NL) and vs. Atlanta.