The Durham Bulls took the fourth and final game of a four game series with the Louisville Bats 7-1 Friday to win the series 3-1. The Bats fell to 10-19 as Durham improved to the same record. The two teams are now tied for the worst record in the International League.
Scott Carroll, who relieved starter Ron Mahay in the fifth, was charged with six runs on seven hits in the loss. Mahay pitched four scoreless innings before giving way to Carroll and Josh Judy pitched the final 1.1 scoreless innings while striking out three.
It was Carroll’s worst outing of the season by far. After hitting Cole Figueroa with a pitch with one out in the fifth, Carroll gave up the eventual game-winning single to Jesus Feliciano. Two more runs would score in the inning, but the big blow that put the Bats away came in the seventh.
After getting the first two outs in succession to start the seventh, Carroll gave up back to back singles to Brandon Guyer and Leslie Anderson. Two pitches later, Stephen Vogt drilled a three-run home run to left field for the final 7-1 margin.
The Bats’ lone run came in the fifth on Kristopher Negron’s RBI single.
Louisville, who have lost five of their last six games, were forced into a ‘bullpen-by-committee’ game after the decision was made for Andrew Brackman to move from the starting rotation to the bullpen. The move of Brackman pushed Chad Reineke (1-0, 3.58 ERA), the scheduled starter for Friday, back to Saturday’s game against the Indianapolis Indians.
Saturday’s game is scheduled for a 7:05 first pitch. Reineke will be opposed by Jeff Locke (2-1, 2.89 ERA). It is the eleventh of twelve straight road games for the Bats in which they are 3-7. After playing two in Indy, the Bats come home for a four game series with each the Norfolk Tides and the Lehigh Valley Ironpigs.
