In baseball, it is said that things come in bunches. For nine games, the Louisville Bats were getting all the big hits and getting all the breaks while winning nine straight. For the past two nights, it has been the complete opposite.
The Bats went 0-for-4 with the bases loaded in the fourth and fifth innings combined Thursday and fell for the second straight game to the Buffalo Bisons, 4-2.
Back to back doubles in the fourth by Joey Gathright and Mike Costanzo tied the game at one. After Dioner Navarro and Danny Dorn each walked to load the bases, the Bats had a great chance to take the lead. Paul Janish flew out and Bill Rhinehart grounded out to end the inning.
In the bottom of the inning, Bats starter Sean Gallagher walked four straight Bisons to give them the lead back at 2-1. Lucas May then hit a sacrifice fly to score Fred Lewis, giving the Bisons a 3-1 lead.
The Bats battled back in the fifth. After Daryl Jones walked, Willie Harris singled to put runners at the corners. Kristopher Negron followed with a single of his own to make it 3-2. Joey Gathright was then hit by a pitch to load the bases once again, this time with nobody out. It would all be for not as Costanzo lined out to first and Navarro grounded into a double play, ending the best chance the Bats would have the rest of the night.
Louisville (31-51) never pushed a runner past second base the rest of the game and went in order in the sixth, eighth, and ninth innings.
Buffalo added a run in the sixth with an RBI single from Osvaldo Navarro to finish the scoring.
The Bats’ June record dropped to 14-14. They will have to win Friday and Saturday to secure their first winning month of baseball since April of last season.
The will look to start that Friday when they wrap up their series with Buffalo before returning home Saturday. The Bats send Ryan Feierabend (1-1, 4.19 ERA) to the mound against Daniel Cabrera (3-3, 4.78 ERA) Friday. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.
