By Josh Cook
Chad Reineke brought the pitching, while Todd Frazier, Yonder Alonso and Zack Cozart brought the hitting for the Louisville Bats on Tuesday night.
The combination produced a 3-2 win by the Bats over the Toledo Mud Hens in front of 7,049 fans at Louisville Slugger Field.
Reineke, who entered the game fifth in the International League in earned-run average, recorded his second straight strong start. The right-hander gave up six hits and two earned runs, while striking out two and walking one over a career-high-matching eight innings of work to drop his ERA to 2.51. Reineke (4-5) pitched seven shutout innings against Pawtucket in his win over the Red Sox last Thursday.
Frazier and Alonso hit solo home runs, while Cozart's RBI-single in the seventh was the game-winner for the Bats (33-39), who ended a two-game losing streak.
Frazier's eighth homer of the season with one out in the second inning to give Louisville a 1-0 lead against Toledo starter Ryan Ketchner.
The Mud Hens (40-32) tied the score in the third when Casper Wells doubled, then scored on Wilkin Ramirez's single. Toledo took a 2-1 lead in the fifth on Jon Weber's first home run of the season.
But the Bats answered in the sixth when Alonso led off with a solo home run to right field to tie the score.
Then in the seventh Chris Valaika led off with a single against new Toledo pitcher Brendan Wise (2-1). He took second on Chris Denove's sacrifice bunt, then scored on Cozart's two-out single. It was Louisville's lone hit with runners in scoring position in 10 at-bats.
Bats left-hander Bill Bray struck out two in the ninth inning for his first save of the season.
Valaika and Cozart led Louisville's nine-hit attack with two apiece.
Game 3 of the series is at 11:45 a.m. Wednesday, which is YMCA Summer Camp Day at Slugger Field. Right-hander Edinson Volquez, who is down on a rehabilitation assignment from the Cincinnati Reds, will start for the Bats. Volquez, who is coming back from Tommy John surgery, went 1-0 in two starts with Lynchburg, the Reds' Class High-A team.
