The Louisville Bats battled back from a 5-0 deficit Wednesday afternoon only to have their bullpen falter as they fell to the Durham Bulls 7-5.
After the Bats scored three in the top of the eighth and began building momentum for a comeback, Carlos Fisher gave up a two-run home run to Jeff Salazar in the bottom of the inning, making the score 7-3.
Those two runs turned out to be huge as the Bats battled one final time in the ninth. After Bill Rhinehart singled home Neftali Soto, Kristopher Negron singled home Rhinehart for the Bats’ fifth run of the game—a run that would’ve tied the game had Fisher not given up the home run. Two batters later, Chris Valaika grounded out to end the game. It was the Bats’ (9-18) fourth straight loss.
The Bulls jumped on Bats starter Jeff Francis early to get out to a big lead. Leslie Anderson doubled home Kyle Hudson in the very first inning to give the Bulls a 1-0 lead. Then in the second, the Bulls got three runs on a Craig Albernaz double, Hudson’s groundout, and a sacrifice fly from Shawn O’Malley to make it 4-0.
The Bulls scored once more in the seventh on a wild pitch by Fisher.
Louisville’s three-run eighth started with a bang as Bill Rhinehart laced his first home run of the year over the right field wall. Pitcher Dane De La Rosa then recorded two quick outs before Felix Perez singled. After Valaika walked, Denis Phipps came through with a huge two-run double to cut the lead to 5-3.
Francis (2-3) was pitted with the loss for the Bats. Reds prospect Miguel Rojas made his Triple-A debut in the game, going 2-for-4. Rojas was one of three Bats players (Rhinehart and Mike Costanzo) who recorded multi-hit games.
The teams hook up Thursday for game three of the four game series. It is the Bats’ ninth of a twelve game road swing in which they are now 2-6. The Bats send Sean Gallagher (1-2, 7.36 ERA) to the mound against the Bulls’ Chris Archer (1-4, 6.75). First pitch is scheduled for 7:05.
