Petty's Powerful Start Paces Bats Past Omaha 6-4
In his second Triple-A start, Louisville Bats righty Chase Petty fired five scoreless innings, working around baserunners in key situations to preserve a lead, and the offense got timely hitting late in the game to defeat the Omaha Storm Chasers 6-4 on Friday night at Louisville Slugger Field. Following three
In his second Triple-A start, Louisville Bats righty Chase Petty fired five scoreless innings, working around baserunners in key situations to preserve a lead, and the offense got timely hitting late in the game to defeat the Omaha Storm Chasers 6-4 on Friday night at Louisville Slugger Field.
Following three quick innings from Petty (W, 1-0) and Omaha righty Chandler Champlain (L, 4-9), the Storm Chasers threatened in the fourth with a Drew Waters leadoff triple. The Bats then brough the infield in and Petty got a quick first out on a grounder to second. Brian O’Keefe then hit a ground ball to short, where Erik Gonzalez fielded and fired home to nail Waters at the plate and keep the game scoreless before a strikeout ended the inning.
The Bats would break through first against Champlain in the bottom half. Davis Wendzel singled but was erased when Ivan Johnson grounded into a fielder’s choice. Johnson then stole second, and Tucker Barnhart cashed in with an RBI single to right to open the scoring.
A leadoff double and a walk again put early pressure on Petty in the fifth. A sacrifice bunt moved the runners to second and third with one. Petty then navigated through the jam by inducing a pop up from Cam Devanney and a ground out from John Rave to leave with a 1-0 lead.
Over five strong innings, Petty allowed three hits and walked one, striking out four to earn his first Triple-A win. In the bottom of the frame, Levi Jordan connected on a home run for the third straight game, this time with an opposite field blast that just stayed fair inside the right field foul pole for his 13th homer of the season and a 2-0 lead.
Rehabbing Cincinnati Reds reliever Ian Gibaut gave up a run in the sixth, but left with a 2-1 lead to earn a hold. In the bottom half, the Bats offense got the key insurance they needed. With runners on first and second and one out, Tyler Callihan doubled down the right field line to plate the third Louisville run. Nick Martini followed with a two-run single over the drawn-in infield to make it 5-1, and an RBI single from Wendzel gave the Bats a 6-1 lead after six.
Arij Fransen made his Triple-A debut for the Bats in the seventh and was only able to retire one of four hitters he faced, with an error being the end of his outing. Waters doubled off Justus Sheffield to bring in two more and send the tying run to the plate. Sheffield got out of it by inducing a fly out and a ground out.
In the eighth, a triple and a walk put the tying runs on base for Omaha with two outs. Sheffield escaped by inducing a pop out from Devanney to preserve the 6-4 edge. Evan Kravetz (S, 2) was called on for the save and worked around a one-out single to finish the win and earn his second save of the season.
Jordan led the way for the Bats offense with his third consecutive three-hit game, going 3-for-5 with a run and an RBI. Wendzel and Francisco Urbaez each posted a couple hits in the win. With his Triple-A debut, Fransen became the 74th different player to appear in a game for Louisville during the 2024 season.
The Bats (66-81, 28-45 second half) and Storm Chasers (88-58, 39-34 second half) continue the series on Saturday evening with the penultimate game of the 2024 season. First pitch at Louisville Slugger Field is scheduled for 7:15 p.m. Nick Curran and Jim Kelch will be on the call for 1450/96.1.