Mud Hens go deep, but fall to Louisville

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LOUISVILLE - After Monday night's 11-0 loss to Louisville, Mud Hens manager Larry

Parrish considered his team's upcoming pitching prospects.

"We need a pitcher to go deep. Real deep," Parrish said.

Last night, Toledo ace Eddie Bonine couldn't go deep enough. The right-hander, who came in tied for second in the International League with 12 wins, gave up nine hits and six runs in 61/3 innings. Then the Hens' bullpen didn't do him any favors, yielding four runs over the final 12/3 innings as Louisville overcame a quartet of Toledo two-run homers for a 10-8 win in front of 8,945 at Louisville Slugger Field.

The loss dropped Toledo seven games behind the Bats in the IL West. It also marked the Mud Hens' fourth four-game losing streak of the season. Toledo lost six straight from July 1-6.

Timely hitting was the name of the game last night as 11 runs were scored with two outs, including the first seven.

Five of the six runs Louisville scored against Bonine came with two out.

"Bonine wasn't sharp," Parrish said. "He gave up some runs early, then we put him back out there in the seventh, but we probably shouldn't have. But he only left one guy on first and they scored three runs [after he left]. We didn't get a very good job from our bullpen tonight."

Toledo kept it close, though.

Jeff Larish hit a pair of two-run homers and Brent Clevlen and Dusty Ryan each hit one.

"We stayed in it, we had some guys come to hit pretty good, but we just never caught up," Parrish said.

Kevin Barker's two-run homer to left-center in the first gave Louisville a 2-0 lead.

The Bats doubled their lead in the third with three straight two-out hits.

However, hot-hitting call-up Ryan got Toledo back into the game in the fourth with a two-out, two-run home run to straightaway center field. It was the first Triple-A homer for Ryan.

Louisville added another run in the fourth on a two-out RBI-single by Danny Richar.

The Mud Hens cut the Louisville lead to 5-4 in the sixth on Larish's one-out, two-run homer off the foul pole in right field. It was the 19th home run of the season for Larish, who came in hitting .125 (6-for-48) against the Bats this season, and the first two runs of the game scored when there weren't two outs.

The loss dropped Bonine to 12-3 and two of those setbacks have been to the Bats.

Clay Rapada came on in the seventh and gave up an RBI triple to Anderson and a two-run single to Luis Bolivar. The Bats added two more in the eighth.

Clevlen's 20th home run of the season in the ninth accounted for the final score.