Louisville Bats Notes: May 8

BATS CONTINUE SERIES AGAINST INDIANS: The Bats snapped their longest losing streak of the season Monday night at Louisville Slugger Field, defeating IL West division rival Indianapolis by a 3-1 score. The win gave Louisville its first win in the month of May, and improved the Bats' record in series openers to 3-6, winning three of their last four series openers after starting off 0-5 in the first game of a series.

AGAINST INDIANAPOLIS: Last season, the Bats went just 8-15 against the Indians, 4-7 in their home ballpark. The defending IL West Champions outscored Louisville 117-64 in the 23 contests. In an interesting International League scheduling quirk, Louisville and Indianapolis did not have their first scheduled game against each other until June 22, playing all 23 of their matchups from that point on.
REAL DEAL NEAL: Right-hander Zach Neal (2-0, 4.15) was excellent in his first Louisville start, tossing 5.0 scoreless innings, with 5 hits allowed, one walk and 3 strikeouts on an efficient 57 pitches (40 strikes). It was Neal's first scoreless start since his final start with the Nashville Sounds last season on September 4, tossing 7.0 scoreless innings in a road win against the New Orleans Baby Cakes.
IN A JIFFY: Louisville's last two ballgames have gone a combined 4 hours and 59 minutes, with Sunday's series finale at Norfolk (2:26) being the quickest Bats game of the season. It's the first time the Bats have played in back-to-back 9-inning games that have combined to go for less than 5 hours since August 1-2, 2017 vs. Toledo, with the two games going 2:18 (8/1. 3-2 loss) and 2:20 (8/2, 5-1 loss) in a combined 4:38 against the Mud Hens.
TWO-RUN WIN: Last night marked Louisville's first 2-run win of the season and first since they won 3-1 at Toledo on August 25, 2017. In that game, RHP Rookie Davis went 8.0 innings, allowing just one unearned run. Heading into play last night, LOU was the only IL club without a victory by exactly 2 runs.
GUERRERO MAKES BATS DEBUT: Right fielder Gabby Guerrero made his Louisville debut last night, going 1-for-4 with a double and run scored. The nephew of Hall of Fame slugger Vladimir Guerrero was batting .296 with Class AA Pensacola at the time of his promotion yesterday, and has previously spent time in the Mariners and Diamondbacks organizations, appearing in 34 games with Class AAA Reno in 2016.
OFF THE SCHNEID IN MAY: The Bats started the month of May with 6 straight losses, the first time they had lost the first 6 games of a month since they dropped the first 6 games of September 2015, before winning their season finale on September 7, a 3-2 home win over Indianapolis. Coincidentally, yesterday the Bats snapped their 6-game losing streak to start a month with a 3-1 win over the Indians at Louisville Slugger Field.
SEVEN COMBINED RUNS IN TWO GAMES: After Louisville's 2-1 Sunday loss and Monday's 3-1 win, the 7 combined runs in the Bats' last 2 games are the fewest runs in a 2-game span since August 4-5, 2017 vs. Indianapolis, when the Bats lost back-to-back games by 1-0 and 3-2 scores, combining for just 6 runs in 2 games.
FORMER BAT WALDROP ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT: Former Bats outfielder Kyle Waldrop announced his retirement today. In 151 games between 2015-16 in a Louisville uniform, Waldrop batted .226 (120-for-530) with 27 doubles, 6 home runs, 40 RBI and 4 stolen bases. He also played 16 games with Cincinnati, making his MLB debut on August 2, 2015. He most recently played 7 games with the independent ball Lancaster Barnstormers in 2018.