Bats Fall 5-2 To Clippers On Saturday
The Louisville Bats offense was held in check for most of the night, suffering a 5-2 loss to the Columbus Clippers in the fifth game of their six-game series on Saturday night at Huntington Park. With scheduled starter Carson Spiers promoted to the Cincinnati Reds on Friday, the Bats resorted
The Louisville Bats offense was held in check for most of the night, suffering a 5-2 loss to the Columbus Clippers in the fifth game of their six-game series on Saturday night at Huntington Park.
With scheduled starter Carson Spiers promoted to the Cincinnati Reds on Friday, the Bats resorted to a bullpen game on the mound. In his first Triple-A start since 2018, Alan Busenitz was sharp for Louisville, striking out the side in the first and retiring the Clippers in order in the second.
Spencer Stockton was first out of the Louisville bullpen in the third and got into a jam, as the Clippers plated two runs on RBI singles Jose Tena and Juan Brito before loading the bases again. Stockton was able to escape further damage by inducing an inning ending double play from Johnathan Rodriguez to hold the deficit at two.
Louisville immediately responded in the top of the fourth against Clippers starter Will Dion (W, 2-2). Peyton Burdick reached with a one-out double that bounced off the base of the wall in left. Michael Trautwein followed with a monstrous 410-foot two-run homer, his fourth of the season, off the scoreboard in right field to tie the game at two.
Evan Kravetz was next into the game for the Bats and fired a scoreless fourth. He returned for the fifth but left with runners on second and third and two out. Casey Legumina entered and walked the first man he faced to load the bases. Legumina got through the jam by striking out George Valera to leave the bases loaded.
Pitching on his 27th birthday, Bats righty Stevie Branche (L, 1-1) got a double play to erase a leadoff walk in the sixth. However, the third out wouldn’t come as easily. Bryan Lavastida walked to keep the inning going then Raynel Delgado put the Clippers back in front with a two-run homer to right, his first of the season.
Louisville put the tying runs on base in the seventh against reliever Tanner Burns. But Anthony Gose was called on to get the final out and struck out Rece Hinds to keep the Columbus lead. The Clippers got insurance in the bottom of the seventh on Jhonkensy Noel’s RBI single off Branche for their biggest lead of the night at 5-2.
Gose kept the Bats at bay with a scoreless eighth and Alex Young maintained the three-run deficit with a scoreless bottom of the inning. In the ninth, Peter Strzelecki (S, 3) finished the win for the home team to earn the save.
Burdick went 2-for-4 in the loss for the Bats, the only visitor to record more than one hit. Trautwein’s homer accounted for all the offense.
The Bats (24-20) wrap up the series with the Clippers (18-25) on Sunday afternoon. First pitch at Huntington Park is scheduled for 1:05 p.m. Nick Curran will be on the call for 1450/96.1 WXVW.