Mud Hens fall to Bats in series opener

Jun. 9—The Louisville Bats entered Tuesday's game against the Toledo Mud Hens with a team batting average of .212, among the worst in Triple-A East.

In the first, second, third, and fifth innings Tuesday, however, the Bats' offense came alive, scoring two runs in each of those innings as Louisville defeated Toledo 9-3 in the opening game of their series at Fifth Third Field.

Eight batters that appeared in Louisville's lineup recorded a hit off of Toledo.

Riley O'Brien, the Cincinnati Reds' No. 14 prospect, only gave up two hits, both home runs, over six innings. He struck out eight and walked two en route to his first win of the season.

Mud Hens starter Logan Shore's command was shaky early on, and he only lasted two innings. Shore walked three across the first two innings and allowed four runs on four hits.

What happened:

Louisville took an early 2-0 lead just three batters into the game. Lead-off man Alejo Lopez walked to start the inning and was driven in by Aristides Aquino on a double. Dwight Smith, Jr., drove the right fielder home on a base hit.

After the first two Bats players were retired in the second inning, Smith drove in a pair of runs, TJ Friedl and Lopez, to widen Louisville's lead.

Aquino, who is on a major league rehab assignment for Cincinnati, went 1-for-3 with a double and two walks.

The Mud Hens narrowed the Bats' lead to 4-2 in the second. Zack Short led off with a home run to left field and Aderlin Rodriguez followed with a solo shot to dead center.

Michael De Leon drove in Louisville's runs in the third and fifth innings, connecting on doubles both times. Errol Robinson added an RBI single in the seventh for the Bats.

Daz Cameron tacked on another run for the Mud Hens in the eighth inning with a solo shot.

Game MVP: Rodriguez continued his hot streak at the plate, going 2-for-3. He had two of the Mud Hens' four hits.

He said it: "You play these guys 12 games in 18 days, seen your stuff. You just go out and compete," Mud Hens manager Tom Prince said. "Every one of our guys did that tonight. The walks hurt us a little bit. Then I think they had some two-strike counts and we didn't put the guys away. And that's part of the game."

Make note of it: Rodriguez began Tuesday's game 16th among all Triple-A players in on-base plus slugging (.927), tied for 17th in batting average (.300), 18th in slugging (.544), and 19th in on-base percentage (.382).

Yariel Gonzalez entered the day second amongst Triple-A players in slugging percentage (.671), fourth in batting average (.356), fifth in OPS (1.069), and 13th in OBP (.397).

Comings and goings: Derek Hill, Isaac Paredes, Jason Foley, and Bryan Garcia were all recently promoted to the Tigers. From the group, it was Foley's first call-up to the majors, and he made his big-league debut Sunday against the Chicago White Sox.

Foley pitched one inning against the White Sox. After two hit batters, he settled in and ended the half-inning without allowing a run.

Dustin Garneau and Kody Clemens were activated from the injured list.

Brady Policelli was placed on the 7-day IL with a concussion. Daniel Pinero was reinstated from Canada's Olympic qualifying team and also placed on the IL.

Two players were called up from Double-A Erie. Right-handed pitcher Angel De Jesus was assigned to Toledo and Jacob Robson was reinstated from the temporary inactive list (Canada Olympic qualifying team) and promoted to Toledo.

A look ahead: The second game of the Mud Hens' six-game set against the Bats is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. Wednesday. Matt Manning will get the start for Toledo against Louisville's Bo Takashi.

First Published June 8, 2021, 10:32pm