The Louisville Bats continued to struggle offensively Thursday night and fell to the Indianapolis Indians 2-1 in 15 innings.
With one out in the 15th, Alex Presley tripled to right field. Two pitches later, Matt Hague singled home Presley ending the longest game of the season for the Bats at four hours and 33 minutes.
The Bats once again struggled in the clutch, going 0-for-15 with runners in scoring position. They had a runner reach second in three of the six extra frames but failed to produce. The one run the Bats got didn’t even come from a base hit.
In the fifth inning, with the bases loaded and nobody out, Dioner Navarro scored on a wild pitch by Indians starter Rudy Owens. After Kristopher Negron flied out, Willie Harris and Neftali Soto both struck out to end the frame with the Bats getting just one run.
Indianapolis came right back in the bottom half of the inning. Jeff Clement scored on a Starling Marte single to center to knot the game up at a run apiece.
The Bats once again wasted a quality start by their starting pitcher. Jeff Francis went seven innings giving up just the one run on four hits while walking two and striking out four.
Since being tied 6-6 in the fifth inning on Monday night in Lehigh Valley, the Bats have scored just one run in their last 26 innings. The Bats had scored 22 runs in 23 innings in Lehigh Valley when the drought started.
The Bats (15-33) and Indians (26-20) hook up again Friday for game two a split four game series. Pedro Villarreal (2-0, 3.32 ERA) will take the bump for the Bats opposed by Justin Wilson (3-3, 3.14 ERA). First pitch is set for 7:15 p.m.
