Bats Fall 4-3 To I-Cubs In Extra Innings

The Louisville Bats couldn’t extend their four-game winning streak on Wednesday night as they fell 4-3 to the Iowa Cubs at Louisville Slugger Field.

Rece Hinds and Austin Wynns launched solo home runs to extend the team’s home run streak to 21 games, and Livan Soto tallied two hits to lead the Louisville effort at the plate.

Randy Wynne, Casey Legumina, Alan Busenitz, and Tony Santillan combined to allow just one run (zero earned) across 6.1 innings to keep the Bats in the game.

Bats starter Connor Phillips got off to a rocky start, walking Darius Hill to lead off the game and later giving up a two-run blast to Matt Mervis to put the I-Cubs on the board first at 2-0. In the bottom half, Blake Dunn began the Bats afternoon at the plate against Iowa starter Cade Horton with a triple and scored on a wild pitch. Hinds then came up and tied the game at 2 with a solo shot, his seventh of the season.

Brennen Davis worked a walk to again put the leadoff runner on for Iowa in the second. Bryce Windham followed with a single to shallow left field to put I-Cubs on first and third with just one out as Phillips found himself in trouble once more. The righty continued battling, striking out Hayden Cantrelle and forcing Hill to fly out to escape the jam unscathed. Edwin Escobar relieved Horton in the second and pitched a quick three up, three down inning to keep the game tied.

After a scoreless third frame, Iowa took the lead back in the fourth. Davis worked a walk between outs before Windham, Cantrelle, and Hill tallied three consecutive walks to score a run. Bats manager Pat Kelly called on Wynne, who managed to keep the deficit at 3-2 by getting Miles Mastrobuoni to fly out and end the threat.

Escobar and Ethan Roberts combined to keep the Bats quiet through the sixth frame, while Wynne did the same to the I-Cubs. Legumina relieved Wynne in the seventh and walked the first two batters he faced, giving Iowa the chance to extend their lead. Legumina then forced Cannario and Mervis to fly out but walked Caissie to load the bases with two outs. The righty wouldn’t give in, getting Davis to pop out to shallow center field to hold the I-Cubs at bay.

Keegan Thompson pitched a scoreless seventh for Iowa, and Busenitz posted his own zero for the Bats in the top of the eighth. Thompson came back out for his second frame in the bottom half looking to continue the I-Cubs bullpen dominance. He forced Levi Jordan to fly out, but Wynns came up next and lifted a game-tying solo home run to left center field to knot the score at 3.

Busenitz recorded another scoreless frame in the top of the ninth, setting the Bats up for a walk-off chance at the plate. I-Cubs righty Carl Edwards Jr. (W, 2-3) shut that down quickly, throwing just 10 pitches in route to setting the Bats down in order and sending the game to extra innings.

Santillan (L, 1-3) came on for Louisville in the 10^th and immediately gave up an RBI single to Mervis that scored the automatic runner for the I-Cubs, giving them a 4-3 lead. He then walked Caissie and hit Davis to load the bases still with no outs, but Santillan got BJ Murray Jr. to fly out to shallow center field and Windham to ground into an inning-ending double play to send the Bats into the bottom of the tenth down just one.

Jose Caus (S, 1) was chosen to attempt to close the game out for Iowa. He struck out both Jordan and Wynns to begin his outing but walked Hernán Pérez to put the winning run on first with the automatic runner in Erik González on second. Dunn came up next, and he hit a grounder to Murray Jr. at third base. Murray Jr. couldn’t corral it, allowing Dunn to reach on the error, but González rounded third attempting to score and got caught in a rundown that resulted in him getting thrown out trying to get back to third to end the game.

The Bats (30-22) continue the six-game set against the I-Cubs (24-29) Thursday night, with first pitch set for 6:35 p.m. Nick Curran and Jim Kelch will be on the call for 1450/96.1 WXVW.