Miguel Rojas didn’t come through for his team with the game tied in the ninth inning of Thursday night’s game with the Rochester Red Wings. After striking out and leaving the go-ahead run at second, Rojas got another opportunity in the eleventh inning and made sure to make the best of his second chance.
With two on, one out and the game tied at two in the eleventh, Rojas laced a single to center field scoring Cody Puckett and giving the Louisville Bats their first lead of the night. It turned out to be the only lead the Bats would need as they topped the Red Wings 4-2. Dioner Navarro scored on Brian Peacock’s groundout for the final Bats run.
Louisville also got a huge defensive play from Kristopher Negron to save the game in the ninth. After Danny Valencia singled to lead off the ninth, Clete Thomas bunted him over to second with one out. Matt Carson stepped to the plate and singled up the middle. Negron sprinted in, fielded and came up throwing. His throw was a strike to Corky Miller who tagged out Valencia at the plate, keeping the score intact at two apiece.
The Bats won for just the fourth time when their opponents score first and improved their season record to 13-29.
Puckett, who was making his Triple-A debut, went 3-for-5 for the Bats and joined Rojas and Miller with multi-hit games.
Rochester got on the board first when Valencia belted a two-run homer in the second. Bats starter Brett Tomko would only allow four more hits over the next four innings as he notched his fourth quality start of the season and lowered his ERA to 3.48, although he is still winless.
The Bats battled back with a run in the third on an RBI single from Negron and a run in the fourth on an RBI ground out by Navarro to tie the game.
The Bats also received stellar work from the bullpen. Travis Webb, Nick Christiani, Kanekoa Texeira, and Jordan Smith combined to pitch the final five innings scoreless. Jordan Smith picked up his first win of the season.
The teams hook up for the finale of their four game series Friday night. The Bats will send Jeff Francis (2-2, 4.17 ERA) to the mound against Liam Hendricks (1-0, 1.54 ERA). First pitch is scheduled for 7:05.
