It was a first game to forget for the Louisville Bats.
Visiting Toledo bombed the Bats 13-0 - the worst season-opening loss in franchise history - Thursday night at Louisville Slugger Field.
The Mud Hens pounded out 18 hits - led by Xavier Avery, Jefry Matre and Wade Gaynor - against their International League West Division-rival and starter Buck Farmer no-hit Louisville for the first 5 and 1/3 innings.
Avery went 5-for-5 with three singles, two doubles and three runs scored; Matre was 3-for-5 with a three-run homer and six RBIs and Gaynor went 3-for-6 with a trio of doubles and RBIs to lead Toledo’s assault on five Bats pitchers.
Meanwhile Farmer crop-dusted Louisville’s lineup. The 6-foot-4 right-hander, who is the Detroit Tigers’ No. 2 rated prospect, struck out the first five batters he faced and retired the first 13 in a row before walking Josh Satin (who was subsequently erased on a double play) with one out in the fifth. Farmer gave up a one-out single to Irving Falu, then a double to Tucker Barnhart, before leaving in the sixth. In addition to those two hits - the Bats’ only ones of the game - Farmer struck out eight while walking one in 5 and 1/3 innings to pick up the victory.
The Mud Hens, who finished third (69-74, one game ahead of the Bats) in the IL West last year, hit Louisville starter David Holmberg, and the Bats’ four relievers, hard.
Toledo tallied five runs in the fourth inning, one each in the sixth and seventh before tacking on three in both the eighth and ninth frames.
Gaynor got things started by leading off the fourth with a double to left field. He moved to third on a one-out wild pitch by Holmberg, then scored on Josh Wilson’s single to center. After Holmberg struck out Dixon Machado, Wilson stole second, then scored on Avery’s single to right.
Avery advanced to second on a wild pitch before Holmberg walked Jason Krizan. Another Holmberg wild throw moved Avery to third and prompted a coach’s visit to the mound. Louisville likely should’ve made a pitching change then, because the next batter, Matre, blasted a three-run homer to left-centerfield. That was all the offense the Mud Hens would need. Hopefully Bats fans were bleary-eyed from the $1 beers by that point.
Louisville and Toledo continue their four-game series at 6:35 p.m. Friday night. Right-hander Dylan Axelrod is scheduled to start for the Bats. He’ll face Mud Hens lefty Kyle Ryan.
Photos Courtesy of Tim Girton.
