Article published July 06, 2007
Mud Hens implode in seventh, fall to Louisville
Bats use 8-hit, 8-run inning to overcome Toledo lead
Mud Hens reliever Preston Larrison and catcher Dane Sardinha confer just before Larrison leaves the game after being hit with a batted ball.
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THE BLADE/AMY E. VOIGT
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By JOHN WAGNER
BLADE SPORTS WRITER
For six innings last night the Mud Hens carefully crafted a 3-1 advantage over Louisville.
But in the seventh inning, that lead was washed away like a sand castle at high tide.
Louisville sent 13 batters to the plate that inning, scoring eight times on eight hits on the way to a 10-7 victory over the Hens. The loss, combined with an Indianapolis victory over Norfolk, squeezed the Hens' advantage in the IL West Division to one game over the Indians and 2 1/2 games over the Bats.
The only smiles in the Mud Hens clubhouse afterwards came from the news that Ryan Raburn, who was removed from the game in the eighth, had earned a promotion to Detroit.
"That whole inning [was out of hand]," Mud Hens interim manager Mike Rojas said. "I thought [Yorman] Bazardo pitched well to keep us in the game, but after him all [heck] broke loose. It wasn't very pretty."
The seventh began innocently enough as Chris Dickerson beat out an infield single and Ryan Jorgensen flied out. Dickerson stole second and scored on a double by Jeff Keppinger that knocked Bazardo out of the game.Preston Larrison came on in relief but offered none. Back-to-back singles by Pedro Lopez and Joey Votto plated the tying run, and Mark Bellhorn slammed a double to deep center that brought both home. Larrison was knocked out of the game when Dewayne Wise lined a single off his right foot.
Corey Hamman came on and also was ineffective, giving up a two-run double to deep center by Jeff Bannon, then issuing a walk and hitting a batter before being replaced by Anastacio Martinez.
Martinez got the second out by striking out Jorgensen, but Keppinger lined a two-run single to left that capped the scoring.
Only one Mud Hen opponent has scored more runs in one inning against Toledo - Louisville scored 10 times in the third inning of a 13-3 win April 8.
"That seventh inning was ugly," Rojas said. "We didn't shut the door. It was disappointing that our bullpen didn't do the job, but they'll have to regroup.
"We'll have to come out in these next three games before the break and play hard so we can hopefully stay ahead [in the standings]."
Before last night's seventh-inning collapse, everything had looked ducky for the Hens.
The Bats had scored an unearned run in the second off Bazardo, but Toledo had bounced back with a pair of runs in the bottom of the inning. With two outs Mike Hessman drew a four-pitch walk from Louisville starter Phil Dumatrait and Jack Hannahan doubled him to third. Henry Mateo followed with a two-run single back up the middle.
Toledo added a run in the sixth when Chris Shelton drilled a line drive just under the scoreboard in left for his eighth home run of the season.
That seemed to be more than enough for Bazardo, who allowed just five hits and one unearned run in his first six innings, at one point retiring 10 of the 11 hitters he faced.
"He's mixing his pitches - his fastball, slider and change-up - very well," Rojas said of Bazardo. "He's locating his fastball to get ahead, and he's moving the fastball and change-up around to keep hitters off-balance.
"It's a shame we didn't protect his lead."
The Bats added an insurance run in the ninth off Martinez, who loaded the bases with two walks and a single but wiggled out of big trouble by allowing just a sacrifice fly to Lopez.
The Hens tried to make it a game in the ninth by scoring four times off Louisville reliever Gary Majewski.
A walk to Hannahan, a single by Mateo and a double by Ramon Santiago resulted in two runs, and Kevin Hooper followed with an RBI single.
Hooper stole second, then ran home on a double down the first-base line by Timo Perez.
Even though the rally fell short as David Espinosa struck out, Raburn said that rally will serve as an enduring memory of this team as he joins the Tigers today.
"This team battles all game," he said. "We just got so far down it was tough for us to come back."
Contact John Wagner at: jwagner@theblade.com or 419-724-6481.
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