Thursday night the Louisville Bats were done in by their pitching and lack of hitting in their season-opener.
Friday night it was their faulty fielding that got them.
Louisville committed five errors, which helped Toledo tally four unearned runs as the Mud Hens rallied for a 7-6 win on another beautiful evening at Louisville Slugger Field.
Toledo plated two runs in the top of the ninth to complete its comeback. The Bats threatened in the bottom inning, putting two runners on, but Josh Satin hit into a force out to end the game.
Toledo, which trounced Louisville 13-0 Thursday night, took the early lead by plating one run in the first. Xavier Avery, fresh off a 5-for-5 game in the season-opener, started the game with a line drive single to right field. He stole second, then scored when Dixon Machado singled to left.
The Bats knotted the score in the bottom of the third. Ivan DeJesus doubled with one out, then scored Louisville’s first run of the season on Irving Falu’s single to center.
The Bats took their first lead of the season in the bottom of the fourth. That’s when Donald Lutz doubled with one out, then Jermaine Curtis walked with two down before Steve Selsky drove both in with a triple to center field.
Toledo tied the game in the top of the sixth thanks in part to a pair of Louisville miscues - a throwing error by Satin, the third baseman, and a missed-catch error by Curtis, the second baseman.
Louisville retook the lead, thanks again to Selsky. His two-run homer to left-centerfield drove in Satin, who had led off with a double, and made it 5-3. It appeared that Bats starting pitcher Dylan Axelrod was headed for his first victory of the season. The right-hander, who went 8-9 with a 4.01 earned-run average last year, gave up just one earned run on four hits while walking two and striking out three in six innings.
The Mud Hens had other ideas, though. They plated one run off left-handed reliever Ryan Dennick in the seventh. Manny Pina doubled with two out, then scored on Avery’s single to make it 5-4.
The Bats gave themselves a little breathing room in the bottom of the inning when highly-touted prospect Yorman Rodriguez walked with one out, advanced to second on a balk then scored on Satin’s ground-rule double. However, that was Louisville's last highlight.
Toledo scored once, thanks in part to a throwing error by Bats catcher Ramon Cabrera, in the eighth and twice in the ninth. Louisville reliever Nathan Adcock, a graduate of North Hardin High School, hit the Mud Hens’ first hitter (Daniel Fields) with a pitch then, ironically, Jordan Lennerton reached on an Adcock fielding error, which allowed Fields to move to third. After Pina grounded out, to score Fields, Louisville lost the upper-hand and Donovan Hand replaced Adcock on the mound. That didn’t end the Bats’ troubles, though.
A wild pitch by Hand allowed Josh Wilson, who was running for Lennerton, to reach third. Wilson would eventually score the winning run on Machado’s ground-ball single to left.
The Bats tried to rally in the bottom of the ninth thanks to Eugenio Suarez’s one-out single and a two-out walk to Lutz, but Satin hit into a fielder’s choice to end the game.
Adcock absorbed the loss for Louisville while Alex Wilson picked up the win for the Mud Hens.
Selsky, Satin and DeJesus led the Bats at the plate with two hits apiece while Selsky finished with four RBIs.
Louisville and Toledo will meet again at 6:05 p.m. Saturday night. Right-hander Michael Lorenzen, one of the organization’s top pitching prospects, is scheduled to pitch for the Bats and face righty Tim Melville.
Photo courtesy Louisville Bats Facebook Page
