The Rochester Red Wings wasted no time jumping on the Louisville Bats Sunday night, scoring four in the first and cruising to a 7-4 win before a Father’s Day crowd of 8,590 at Louisville Slugger Field.
With two on and one out, Matt Carson belted a three-run home run to put the Wings on the board. Clete Thomas followed with a homer of his own to make it 4-0 before the Bats even had a crack at the bat.
Carson, who finished the night with three hits, added another homer in the sixth that made it 6-1.
Louisville (22-49) fought back in the seventh, getting back-to-back RBI doubles from Mike Costanzo and Dioner Navarro to trim the lead to 6-3.
In a microcosm of the Bats’ season thus far, after cutting the lead to 6-3, the Bats gave up a run in the eighth on a freakish play. On an 0-2 pitch, Carson took off for third and scored on a wild pitch that kicked off the screen and rolled along the warning track in front of the Bats’ dugout. The run extended the Wings’ lead to 7-3.
Corky Miller’s RBI single in the eighth extended his hitting streak to four games, tying his longest streak of the season. Felix Perez, who singled in the eighth also tied his season-long hitting streak at seven.
Pedro Villarreal started for the Bats and gave up six runs in six innings of work. It was the first time this season Villarreal has given up more than three earned runs in a game. Since winning his first two decisions of the season, Villarreal (2-4) has lost his last four. Louisville has now lost the last five games Villarreal has started.
The Bats open a four game series with the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees Monday night. Sean Gallagher (5-4, 5.15 ERA) will take the mound for Louisville opposed by John Maine (1-0, 6.00 ERA) of Scranton. First pitch for the game is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.
