Connor Phillips struck out 13 batters, Jose Torres hit a home run to the moon, and Justice Thompson crushed a walk-off home run as Dayton picked up a sweep in a doubleheader, Eduardo Salazar allowed just one run over 6.0 innings in Chattanooga’s win, and a wild scene took place in Nashville between the Bats and the Sounds.
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The Louisville Bats lost 4-0. Box Score
- Mike Minor (rehab) allowed 4 runs on 9 hits (1 home run) in 4.2 innings with no walks and 3 strikeouts.
- Jose Barrero (rehab) went 0-4.
- Juniel Querecuto went 2-4 with a double.
- Cristian Santana went 2-4.
- Michael De Leon went 1-3.
- Kyle Zimmer threw a hitless inning with 2 walks and a strikeout.
- Phillip Diehl threw a perfect inning.
- Buck Farmer threw a shutout inning with 3 strikeouts.
A wild scene took place in the 6th inning. Michael De Leon was down 1-2 in the count with the bases loaded. The catcher then called time on back-to-back pitches and the umpire seemed to call an automatic ball on the second one. He even showed the count as 2-2 after. The umpire and someone in the Bats dugout had a brief conversation at this point. The next two pitches were balls, which the Bats took as a walk. Except the Nashville catcher fired the ball to first base where the first baseman then tagged the runner at first and he was called out.
Louisville was quick to argue the situation. The umpires then got together to meet and after discussing things they agreed it was ball four and the inning would continue. Except then Rick Sweet came out of the dugout to talk to the umpires about the situation, and they got together again. This time the home plate umpire got on a walkie talkie and after about a minute they decided that the count was not full at the time of the final pitch of the inning and the runner was out and the inning was over. Pat Kelly came out and lost his mind and was ejected from the game.
The Chattanooga Lookouts won 4-2. Box Score
- Isiah Gilliam went 1-4.
- Quin Cotton went 1-3 with a double, run, and 2 RBI.
- James Free went 1-3 with a 2-run home run (1).
- Eduardo Salazar allowed a run in 6.0 innings on 3 hits with a walk and a strikeout.
- Julio Pinto threw 2.0 shutout innings with a walk and 3 strikeouts.
The Dayton Dragons won a doubleheader.
Game 1: 7-1 win. Box Score
- Jose Torres went 2-4 with a home run (7), steal (9), and 2 runs.
- Elly De La Cruz went 1-3 with a walk, steal (10), and a run.
- Mat Nelson went 1-4 with a double, run, and 2 RBI.
- Alex McGarry went 3-3 with a double, run, and 2 RBI.
- Rece Hinds went 1-2 with a walk and an RBI.
- Nick Quintana went 1-3 with a home run (4).
- Jack Rogers went 1-3 with a steal and a run.
- Thomas Farr allowed a run in 4.0 innings with 2 walks and 5 strikeouts.
- Jake Stevenson threw a perfect inning with 2 strikeouts.
- Donovan Benoit threw 2.0 shutout innings with 2 walks and 3 strikeouts.
Game 2: 5-3 win. Box Score
- Ashton Creal went 1-4 with a run.
- Elly De La Cruz went 2-4 with a run and an RBI.
- Justice Thompson went 1-2 with a walk, 3-run walk-off home run (1), and 4 RBI.
- Rece Hinds went 1-3 with a double.
- Jonathan Willems went 1-3.
- Connor Phillips allowed 1 earned in 6.0 innings on 4 hits, walked no one, and he struck out 13.
The Daytona Tortugas lost 4-0. Box Score
- Daniel Vellojin went 1-2 with a walk.
- Gus Steiger went 1-3.
- Ruben Ibarra went 1-3.
- Chase Petty allowed a run in 3.0 innings with a walk and 3 strikeouts.
5/21 Game Preview
| Team | Record | Time (ET) | Probable | Box Score | Listen | Watch |
| Louisville | 14-25 | 7:35pm | Sanmartin | Here | Here | Here |
| Chattanooga | 20-17 | 7:15pm | Williamson | Here | Here | Here |
| Dayton | 25-11 | 7:05pm | Roa | Here | Here | Here |
| Daytona | 16-21 | 7:05pm | Aguiar | Here | Here | N/A |
Read a tweet on Phillips that I liked. Said his slider was so nasty it should have to use a turn signal
LOL
That situation with the messed up count in Nashville? Well that—it—it’s messed up.
If I was in Pat Kelly’s shoes I’d be missing the top of my head right now.
Where do they get these umpires that can’t reason correctly?
I dream of Reds being soon in the majors like the Dragons are in A+ right now, very strong winner team
I know hope is not a strategy or whatever the case may be, but if you can get some kind of top prospect almost major league ready bat out of Castillo and/or Mahle, you’ve gotta pull the trigger.
A possible 2024 rotation of Greene, Lodolo, Ashcraft / Williamson / Abbott / Phillips / Gutierrez / Boyle (strike zone permitting) / Spiers / Farr / Bonnin / Roa has all kinds of possibilities. Especially if some of those names join the “failed starter” list and pitch well out of the pen.
Oof. I just now realized that for some reason I didn’t have the Louisville situation explained here. It was still saved in the draft (I initially published this without it, but realized it immediately and went to add it in…. then never hit “update”.)
Apparently life itself now has a paywall so you can extend your day by up to four or more hours, Doug.
Can I just retire instead? I like that idea so much better.
Just clone, dude. We all have.
Seems like Phillips may be in the rotation as early as 2023. Pretty impressive stuff .
Definitely makes Seattle trade look much better
Watching on the computer, Minor looked much better than his line shows. He just ran out of gas trying to get the pitch count up.
Speaking from actual experience,with all the technology available it would be great if they would create a communication device between the home plate umpire and the official scorer, especially at minor league level. Then you would be sure a time lock violation was called rather trying to interpret hand signals, or if there are substitutions (especially position players), and other things as well.
I suspect it would have helped with the Louisville situation.
Pat Kelly said (and pointed up to the press box) while talking (screaming) at the umpire: I DON’T GIVE A (four letter word) WHAT HE SAID UP THERE – HE (points to the home plate umpire) SAID BALL FOUR.
It was a show and a half.
Where was Senzel?
Nevermind, I see that it was a scheduled off day.
I was at the Bats game. Doug accurately stated what happened. After the 2 timeouts, the ump flashed a 2-2 count with his hands, and I looked at the scoreboard to see what it said. It then changed from 1-2 to 2-2. Very superb performance by Kelly, who went nose to nose with at least two of the umps and mocked the the umps and booth for the radio/cell phone act. Trey Amburgey, who got stuck with a nonsense pickoff, was completely exasperated with the ultimate call.
Minor wasn’t nearly as bad as his numbers may look. Of the 9 hits, 4 were bloopers into no man’s land, and another was a bunt single that De Leon couldn’t make the play on. The 9th hit was a long home run on his 79th and last pitch. (He gestured to the dugout as he came out that he had pushed that pitch rather than throw it.)
He did only top out on the stadium gun at 90, but was primarily throwing breaking balls.
Barrero tuned a dazzling double play, by doing a backhanded flop to the second baseman. He looked rusty at the plate, especially with breaking pitches.
Senzel basically another day off as he is ejected while on defense early in the game today.