Less than 24 hours after Toledo tagged five Louisville pitchers for 17 hits, the Bats batters struck back.
Louisville pounded out a season-high 16 hits on their way to a 6-2 triumph over the host, Mud Hens, on Wednesday.
Steve Selsky led the Bats (6-6) with four hits while Eugenio Suarez, Josh Satin, Ramon Cabrera and Jermaine Curtis tallied two apiece. Meanwhile Curtis, Louisville's No. 9 hitter, led the way with two runs batted in.
Louisville's hot hitting - ironic on a day that the game-time temperature was 43 degrees at Fifth Third Field - provided starting pitcher Jon Moscot with more than enough offense.
Moscot, fresh off the 7-day disabled list, improved to 2-0 on the season with a strong outing. The 6-foot-4, 210-pound right-hander gave up two earned runs on six hits while walking one and striking out six in six innings as he shut down a Toledo offense that entered averaging 7.8 runs in five games against the Bats so far this season.
Louisville did most of its damage in the first six innings (scoring two runs in the second and fifth frames and one in the sixth), when it racked up 13 hits.
Selsky and Bryson Smith got the Bats going in to the bottom of the second. That’s when they led off with back-to-back singles before both moved up a base on Cabrera’s sacrifice bunt. Curtis then drove both in with a single to center field.
Toledo tallied one run in the bottom of the inning on a sacrifice fly, but the Mud Hens (7-5) wouldn’t get any closer.
In the top of the fifth Satin singled with one out, then moved to third on Chris Dominguez’s double to left field. Selsky followed with a single to score Satin before Dominguez scored on Smith’s ground out.
In the sixth Rafael Dolis, who relieved starter Kyle Ryan (0-2), walked Curtis to start the inning. Curtis then stole second, took third on a wild pitch and scored on Satin’s double to left field.
Toledo picked up a run in the bottom of the inning on Jordan Lennerton’s two-out, solo homer.
Louisville added some insurance in the top of the eighth when Suarez homered with two outs.
Carlos Contreras and Nate Adcock combined to give up two hits to Toledo while walking one and striking out four over the final three innings.
The Bats now travel to Columbus for a four-game series that begins at 6:35 p.m. Thursday night. Right-hander Dylan Axelrod (1-0, 1.38 ERA), who was supposed to start Wednesday but got bumped by Moscot’s return, is scheduled to face off against fellow righty Shaun Marcum (1-0, 1.80 ERA).
Photo courtesy of the Louisville Bats Facebook Page.
