Ramon Cabrera’s big night propelled the Louisville Bats to their 10th win in their last 13 games Tuesday night.
The Bats catcher, who was hitting ninth in the lineup, went 3-for-3 at the plate and drove in three runs to lead Louisville to its 4-3 triumph over the visiting Toledo Mud Hens at Louisville Slugger Field.
The Bats (23-23) bounced back from an 11-2 Memorial Day shellacking by scoring all of their runs in the first four innings while a quartet of pitchers helped their lead hold up.
Louisville tallied two runs in the second and single runs in the third and fourth frames.
In the bottom of the second Ryan LaMarre, Eugenio Suarez and Chris Dominguez had back-to-back-to-back one-out singles before Jermaine Curtis hit into a fielder’s choice (LaMarre was out at home). The next hitter, Cabrera, lined a single to centerfield to score Suarez and Dominguez.
The Bats added another run an inning later when Yorman Rodriguez led off with a triple to left field, then scored one batter later on Ivan De Jesus Jr.’s sacrifice fly.
Toledo trimmed Louisville’s lead to 3-2 with a pair of runs in the top of the fourth, but the Bats answered with a run in the bottom of the inning. Suarez received a leadoff walk, then moved to third to Curtis’ one-out single to right. He scored moments later on Cabrera’s soft single to center field.
Dylan Axelrod picked up the victory to improve to 2-3 on the season. The right-hander gave up three earned runs on six hits while walking three and striking out one in five innings. Relievers Jose De La Torre, Pedro Villarreal and Nate Adcock then held the Mud Hens (19-26) hitless over the final four frames. Adcock pitched a perfect ninth to pick up his 10th save of the season.
The same two teams will play out their four-game series, and the Bats will close out their 10-game homestand, at 6:35 p.m. Wednesday night. Louisville right-hander Donovan Hand (0-2, 3.62 earned run average) is scheduled to face fellow righty Derek Hankins (2-4, 4.93).
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