Louisville Bats vs. Columbus Clippers (International League)

Louisville Slugger Field-Louisville, KY:  After the long drive back from Michigan, you’d think we’d take it easy for a bit, but no, not while the Bats are in town.  We took the weekend to recover and unpack, however, and then took in a Monday night game.  Despite the weather actually being pretty nice, there was a pretty sparse crowd at Slugger Field.  That would come into play later, as Brian was lucky enough to take home a couple of game balls.

The first ball he got was thrown to him by right fielder Rosell Herrera.  After the third out, he tossed the ball to Brian as he was coming off the field.  We were really surprised that this was a Major League ball in play here in the minors, but I’ll explain that momentarily.

As for Herrera, he went 1-3 on the night, driving in the lone Bats run.  Louisville didn’t have much in the way of offense this game.  Oh, and the reason why the game ball was a Major League one was because the Reds’ Brandon Finnegan was on the bump in a rehab stint, and that’s what the rehabbing pitchers use (thanks to Jeff Perro/@MiLBClubbie for that info off Twitter).

Ok, and speaking of Finnegan, he took the loss for the Bats, throwing five innings while giving up eight hits, four runs, and striking out two.  On a lighter note, Brian got another game ball, this time just a normal International League one, from the Clippers relief pitcher Jeff Beliveau, who threw him a foul ball that came his way while warming up.  As I said, there wasn’t much of a crowd, and there was a group of kids who got way more than Brian!  Final:  Bats 1, Clippers 7.

A rough outing for our first Bats game of the season, but we’re still looking forward to more to come.  The weather turned a little cool once that sun went down, but I’m sure we’ll have some hot days at the ballpark this summer.  Don’t forget to follow me on Snapchat: @MinorBaseball for live game action!

Photos property of Minoring In Baseball