Louisville Bats Fall Short in 3-2 Loss to RailRiders

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Louisville Bats lost 3-2 to the Scranton Wilkes-Barre RailRiders on Sunday afternoon at Louisville Slugger Field, ending their series with a split of three wins each.

Brian Van Belle made his debut for the Bats after being traded from the Red Sox organization, but ended up with the loss, bringing his record to 5-2. He started strong, throwing two scoreless innings before giving up a run in the third inning.

Alex Jackson led off with a double and scored on a single by Jorbit Vivas for the RailRiders. Brendan Beck, making his Triple-A debut, held the Bats scoreless through the first three innings, allowing only two hits.

In the fourth, Van Belle faced trouble with back-to-back singles but managed to get a double play. However, in the fifth, he allowed another run when Braden Shewmake doubled and later scored on another double by Vivas, extending the RailRiders’ lead to 2-0.

The Bats struggled offensively until the sixth inning when Bryson Brigman broke Beck’s streak of 11 consecutive outs with a double. Ismael Munguia followed with a single and stole second, allowing Bryan De La Cruz to drive him in, making the score 3-1.

Van Belle finished his outing allowing three runs on nine hits with four strikeouts over 5.1 innings. Hunter Parks took over pitching duties for the Bats. Reiver Sanmartin threw a scoreless seventh as the Bats attempted a comeback.

In the bottom of the seventh, the Bats started to rally with five consecutive singles that brought two runs home, capped off by an RBI from Blake Dunn. However, they couldn’t capitalize further as Brigman flew out with the bases loaded, ending the inning with the RailRiders ahead 3-2.

In the ninth, the Bats sought to tie the game against RailRiders closer Zach Messinger. Levi Jordan’s single followed by a stolen base placed him in scoring position, but the Bats were unable to bring him home, sealing the loss.

Jordan and Will Banfield led the offense, both going 2-for-4 with Banfield getting one RBI. The Bats (32-43) will face the St. Paul Saints (32-40) in a six-game road series starting Tuesday night at 8:07 p.m. at CHS Field.