The Louisville Bats won game one of their double header with the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs on Monday. The fourth inning was the most crucial in both games.
In game one, the Bats stormed to a 5-0 lead in the fourth. Willie Harris walked, Kristopher Negron singled, Denis Phipps singled, and Bill Rhinehart doubled to make it 3-0 before the Bats even had an out in the inning. Neftali Soto produced a run when his sacrifice fly scored Rhinehart. After Danny Dorn doubled, Bats starter Sean Gallagher helped himself by singling home Dorn, capping the Bats’ big inning.
Lehigh Valley would attempt to come right back in the fifth. After Rich Thompson singled home Tug Hulett, Andres Blanco singled to put runners at the corners with one out for the Pigs. Gallagher would get Kevin Frandsen to ground into a double play to end the inning, preserving the Bats’ 5-1 lead, the final margin of game one.
Gallagher went six strong innings in game one, giving up just the one run on seven hits. He walked three and struck out three. Travis Webb pitched a scoreless seventh inning to give the Bats the win (minor league double headers are two seven inning games).
Game one was the first time the Bats had scored first in a game since May 3. They are now 9-3 in games in which they crack the scoreboard first.
Bats catcher Dioner Navarro stayed hot at Slugger Field, going 2-for-3 in the first game.
The Iron Pigs flipped the script on the Bats in game two, getting a big fourth inning of their own en route to a 4-3 victory. After three straight singles from John Suomi, Michael Spidale, and Derrick Mitchell that scored one run, Hulett ripped a two-run double giving the Iron Pigs a 4-1 lead in the fourth inning of game two.
Louisville battled back in the seventh, and had the tying run ninety feet away. After a two-run home run from Chris Valaika that made it 4-3, Dioner Navarro reached on an error and Corky Miller walked. After Miguel Rojas bunted the runner up, the Bats had two cracks at winning the game.
Brian Peacock, who pinch ran for Navarro, was thrown out at the plate trying to score on a ground ball off the bat of Danny Dorn. Willie Harris then flew out to end the inning and the game.
Lehigh Valley got the critical first run of the game in the very first inning of game two on an RBI double by Suomi. It was the 27th time the Bats have given up the first run of the game. They are now 3-24 in such games.
The Bats knotted things up in the second inning on Bill Rhinehart’s solo blast. It was Rhinehart’s third homer of the year. Rhinehart was 2-for-3 in game two with two runs batted in.
Bats starter Wirfin Obispo, who was promoted to Louisville Monday, went two innings giving up one run of three hits. Scott Carroll, who relieved Obispo, suffered the loss and was charged with three runs over 1.1 innings of work. Josh Judy recorded the final out of the fourth and a clean fifth, and Kanekoa Texiera pitched perfect sixth and seventh innings for Louisville.
The Bats went to 12-27 on the season while the Iron Pigs are now 21-16. Louisville hits the road for a ten-game road trip starting Tuesday in Rochester. The Bats are scheduled to send Triple-A rookie Pedro Villarreal (1-0, 3.18 ERA) to the mound against the Red Wings’ Luke French (0-0, 6.55 ERA). First pitch for Tuesday is set for 7:05.
