Spiers Tosses Gem In 6-2 Win Over Indians

The Louisville Bats got back to .500 with their 6-2 win over the Indianapolis Indians on Tuesday night at Louisville Slugger Field.

Carson Spiers (W, 2-1) had his best outing of the young season, allowing no runs while striking out six in six innings. Edwin Ríos and Livan Soto each had two-hit nights, with the former tallying his fifth home run in just nine games this season, and Peyton Burdick added a late home run for his third as a Bat.

After getting Ji Hwan Bae to line out and striking out Nick Gonzales to begin his night, Spiers hit Henry Davis and let up a single to Jake Lamb that allowed Davis to get to third. Spiers didn’t flinch, as he struck out Malcom Nuñez with a sweeper to get out of the jam.

In the Bats’ half, Rece Hinds extended his hitting streak, the longest active streak in the International League, to 12 games with a single vs. Indians starter Eric Lauer, but that was all Louisville could muster.

The bats were silent for both teams in the second, and Spiers continued his strong outing in the third even after a leadoff single from Gilberto Celestino. From there, Spiers set down the next three Indians in order to post another zero.

The Bats were seemingly going to go down quietly in the bottom of the third, but a Livan Soto single and a Rece Hinds walk put two runners on for Ríos. The two-out rally was then capped off by a three-run home run to center field by Ríos to put the Bats on top 3-0.

Both pitchers faced the minimum in the fourth, and Spiers did again in the top of the fifth. In the bottom half, Lauer (L, 2-1) struck out Erik González but followed with a walk to Dunn, prompting a pitching change. Wily Peralta was first out of the bullpen for Indianapolis, and he worked quickly to get Soto and Hinds to ground out consecutively and end the frame.

Spiers finished his near-flawless outing in the sixth with another zero, finalizing the second quality start of the year for the right hander.

Justin Bruihl relieved the Bats starter in the seventh and picked up right where Spiers left off, tallying a scoreless frame in just 12 pitches. In the Bats’ half at the plate, Levi Jordan led off with a single, stole second, and advanced to third on the throw. Dunn followed with a double to score Jordan, and Soto came right behind him with another double to score Dunn and extend the Bats lead to 5-0.

Brooks Kriske was next out of the Louisville bullpen in the eighth, and after tallying a couple of strikeouts and allowing a single to Celestino, Kriske gave up a home run to Gonzales that inched the Indians closer at 5-2. In the bottom of the eighth, Burdick hit a home run to center field to get one of those runs back, sending Louisville to the final frame with a 6-2 lead.

Tony Santillan came on to close the game out, and he walked Jake Lamb in a nine-pitch at-bat to begin the inning. Santillan responded with back-to-back strikeouts and forced Billy McKinney to ground out to conclude the 6-2 Bats win.

Louisville (17-17) will continue the series against the Indians (16-15) on Wednesday, May 8 with the second of six games vs. Indianapolis. First pitch set for 7:37 p.m., with Nick Curran and Jim Kelch on the call for 1450/96.1 WXVW.