[Stardust]

The Louisville Bats can’t find any answers to Toledo’s potent offense. The Mud Hens dominated at the plate again in a 10-4 victory in front of 7,521 fans at Louisville Slugger Field on Thursday night.

Since winning at Toledo on April 9, the Bats have lost six in a row to the Mud Hens. Toledo extended its overall winning streak to five, while the Bats have lost three in a row. They entered the game batting .230 and have been outhit in 12 of their first 15 games.

Right-hander Andrew Brackman (1-2), making his third start, was rocked for five runs and six hits in four innings, and four relievers didn’t fare much better. Meanwhile, Toledo’s Brooks Brown blanked Louisville on three hits through four innings.

Designated hitter Denis Phipps was the one bright spot for the Bats. He accounted for three of their four runs with a sacrifice fly in the seventh and a two-run homer in the ninth.

Toledo’s offense went to work immediately. Leadoff batter Quintin Berry, the International League leader in stolen bases, walked, stole second and went to third on Eric Patterson’s fly ball to left. The Mud Hens then pounded Brackman for two straight home runs to left field: a two-run blast by University of Kentucky product Ryan Strieby and a drive to the same spot by Brad Eldred, making it 3-0.

Toledo went on to load the bases, but Audy Ciriaco grounded into a double play.

Brackman settled down and allowed one hit through the next two innings.

“A lot of times when pitchers get into a situation like that, they will stop competing,” Bats manager David Bell said. “He dug himself out of that and competed and figured it out. For the next three innings he really made some good adjustments.

“We got to the fifth and gave up some runs, and that was probably the key to the game. It was tough to recover from that.”

The Bats made a little noise in the third but couldn’t get on the board. Bill Rhinehart led off with a drive to the wall in right-center that was nabbed by right fielder Matt Young. Kristopher Negron followed with a double down the left-field line, but Chris Valaika grounded out and Phipps struck out.http://www.courier-journal.com/section/sports

[Stardust]

[Image: http://cmsimg.courier-journal.com/apps/p...h=465&q=60]

[Stardust]

[Image: http://cmsimg.courier-journal.com/apps/p...h=465&q=60]

[Stardust]

[Image: http://cmsimg.courier-journal.com/apps/p...h=465&q=60]

[Stardust]

[Image: http://cmsimg.courier-journal.com/apps/p...h=465&q=60]

[Stardust]

[Image: http://cmsimg.courier-journal.com/apps/p...h=465&q=60]

[Stardust]

[Image: http://cmsimg.courier-journal.com/apps/p...h=465&q=60]

[Stardust]

[Image: http://cmsimg.courier-journal.com/apps/p...h=465&q=60]

[Stardust]

[Image: http://cmsimg.courier-journal.com/apps/p...h=465&q=60]

[Stardust]

[Image: http://cmsimg.courier-journal.com/apps/p...h=465&q=60]

[Stardust]

[Image: http://cmsimg.courier-journal.com/apps/p...h=465&q=60]

[Stardust]

[Image: http://cmsimg.courier-journal.com/apps/p...h=465&q=60]