TOLEDO, OH.: The Toledo Mud Hens registered their first inside-the-park home run of the season at Fifth Third Field courtesy of Ryan Kreidler to take an early lead, but the Louisville Bats crawled back to tie the contest twice before going ahead in the sixth for good in a 5-4
TOLEDO, OH.: The Toledo Mud Hens registered their first inside-the-park home run of the season at Fifth Third Field courtesy of Ryan Kreidler to take an early lead, but the Louisville Bats crawled back to tie the contest twice before going ahead in the sixth for good in a 5-4 victory on Thursday evening.
Kreidler got his big night started right away in the bottom of the first with an infield single. Josh Lester quickly drove him in with a double to the right field corner to give Toledo an early 1-0 edge.
With that double, Lester moved his hit streak to six-consecutive games. He has now hit safely in 35 of his last 40 assignments, a stretch dating back to game two of a Mud Hens twin bill played in Omaha on July 6.
Cristian Santana began his big 3-4 night at the plate for Louisville with a one-out single in the second. He scored later in the frame on a groundout by Ronnie Dawson to even the score at 1-1.
Kreider’s loudest hit of the night came in the third, when he came inches away from clearing the fence in left center field, but the ball bounced away from both outfielders and enabled him to scamper around all the bases for the Hens second inside-the-park homer of the season and a 2-1 lead. Kody Clemens also notched an inside-the-park home run for Toledo on May 19 at Indianapolis.
Kreidler finished the evening 3-5 at the dish, recording his second three-hit effort of the season in the process and first since April 6 against Rochester. He has hit safely in three straight assignments and in six of his last seven.
Chi Chi Gonzalez offered another strong start for Toledo, hurling five innings of two-run baseball and matching his season-high strikeout total of seven for the third time.
Louisville bounced back to tie the game opposite Gonzalez on a solo blast from Isiah Gilliam in the fifth. Before he got the chance to bat again in the next stanza, Dawson singled in Santana off Cody Sedlock to give the Bats the lead for good at 3-2 in the sixth. Gilliam’s two-run triple brought in Juniel Querecuto and Michael Papierski to inflict some serious damage and balloon the margin to 5-2.
Gilliam went 3-4 for Louisville and finished a double short of the cycle.
Sedlock (5-3) took the loss in his first appearance since August 3, yielding three hits and three runs across seven batters and three outs.
The Hens chipped away in the home half of the sixth with two key runs. A free pass issued to Brendon Davis, a single for John Valente, and another walk to Jamie Westbrook loaded the sacks and forced Bats reliever Julio Pinto out of the game. Dustin Garneau delivered with a sacrifice fly against new pitcher Eddy Demurias, and Jack Lopez followed with an RBI double to trim the deficit to 5-4.
Valente is 6-15 at the dish during his four-game hitting streak, which he extended during that busy sixth inning.
Another Kreidler knock and a walk to Lester set up Toledo for success against former Mud Hens closer Derek Law in the bottom of the seventh, but a rocket of a line drive hit by Spencer Torkelson was caught by Bats first baseman Spencer Steer, who successfully completed a 3-6 triple play to eliminate Toledo’s threat.
Law kept Toledo off the board in the seventh and the eighth in his second appearance against the Mud Hens since joining the Reds organization. Deck McGuire (3-3) permitted three hits and two runs over five innings to earn the win. Fernando Cruz slammed the door rapidly in the ninth to pick up his 23rd save of the year.
Nolan Blackwood, Shea Spitzbarth, and Nick Vincent each twirled scoreless stanzas out of the Mud Hens bullpen.
NEXT UP: The Mud Hens will look to even their series with the Bats on Friday evening at 7:05 p.m.