Bats Survive Slugfest In Iowa With 11-10 Win

Rios hits two more homers, now at eight in eight September games

Edwin Rios homered twice against his former team in Tuesday's win. (Anna Rouch/Louisville Bats)

By Aaron Cheris

September 10, 2024

In the opener of their six-game series against the Iowa Cubs, the Louisville Bats stormed ahead with a six-run second and ultimately built a 10-run lead before hanging on by a thread at the very end, withstanding a valiant Cubs comeback attempt for a 11-10 victory on Tuesday night at

Following a scoreless first, the Louisville offense went to work, ultimately batting around against Iowa starter Brandon Birdsell (L, 3-5). P.J. Higgins walked, Erik Gonzalez doubled, and Eric Yang walked to load the bases with one out. Bubba Thompson then crushed a fly ball off the top of the wall in deep center field, coming within feet of the Bats’ first grand slam of the season but settling for a three-run double to give the Bats a 3-0 lead. Back-to-back singles from Jacob Hurtubise and Levi Jordan plated Thompson. Two hitters later, Davis Wenzel worked an incredible 11-pitch at-bat, fouling off five pitches with two strikes before lining a double into the left field corner, scoring Hurtubise and Jordan to make it 6-0.

Iowa looked to get on the board in the bottom of the inning off Connor Phillips as Matt Mervis walked and Brennen Davis hit a line drive off the left field wall. Jordan quickly fielded in left field and threw to second, catching Davis trying to stretch a single into a double for the second out of an eventual scoreless inning. An inning later, the Cubs did get on the board with a bases-loaded walk from Chase Strumpf. However, Phillips struck out Mervis to end the inning and strand the bases loaded with a 6-1 lead.

Phillips was pulled after 3.2 innings, allowing one run on three hits with four walks and tying a season-high with seven strikeouts. Sam Benschoter was first out of the Louisville bullpen and got the final out of the fourth.

An RBI single from Hurtubise got the Bats another run in the top of the fifth, and Benschoter quickly dispatched the Iowa offense in the bottom of the frame.

Leading off the top of the sixth, Edwin Rios continued his torrid pace by launching his 20^th home run of the season, a 420-foot solo blast to right-center. Higgins added an RBI single to bring in Wendzel, who followed Rios’ homer with a single.

Thompson got the seventh inning started with a single. Three hitters later, Rios did it again, this time with a mammoth 445-foot two-run homer to dead center field for second home run of the night and eighth in the month of September to give the Bats their biggest lead of the night at 11-1.

Trailing by 10 runs, the I-Cubs used the long ball to make their comeback. Owen Caissie hit a two-run blast to make it 11-3 in the bottom of the seventh. Iowa plated three more runs, making it a 11-6 game after seven. Benschoter (W, 2-0) pitched 2.1 innings, giving up five earned runs on four hits with three walks and three strikeouts to earn the win.

In the eighth, the Bats turned to Yosver Zulueta and he struggled. After getting the first out of the inning, Zulueta allowed four straight hits, capped by a three-run homer from William Simoneit, to bring the Cubs within a run at 11-10. Zach Maxwell was brought in and got the final two outs to preserve the slim lead.

Alan Busenitz was called on in a save situation in the bottom of the ninth. He struck out Ed Howard on three pitches for the first out of the frame, then made a nice defensive play to cover first base on a ground out from Caissie. Busenitz (S, 3) was able to get the final out by striking out Matt Shaw, finishing the wild win and earning his third save of the season.

All nine Louisville starters recorded at least one hit and one run scored in the win. Rios led the way with another pair of home runs, driving in three while going 2-for-6. Hurtubise reached four times with three hits and a walk while Thompson went 2-for-5 with two runs and three RBI. The series-opening win is just Louisville’s second in eight series’ since the All-Star break.

The Bats (63-75, 25-39 second half) and Cubs (61-78, 28-36 second half) meet in a Wednesday matinee for the second game of the series. First pitch at Principal Park is scheduled for 1:08 p.m. Nick Curran will be on the call for 1450/96.1 WXVW.