Bats outlast Redbirds in 11 innings, Lowder fans eight in rehab start

The Louisville Bats kept getting punched, kept answering and finally left AutoZone Park with a 6-5, 11-inning road win that felt like more than one game on a Tuesday night in Memphis. In the opener of a six-game series, Louisville lost three separate leads before making the fourth one count, a grind that turned on extra-base hits, a resilient bullpen and Rhett Lowder’s strongest outing of the season.

Louisville set the tone right away when Michael Toglia ripped a double off the wall in left-center to bring in Ivan Johnson in the first inning. Memphis answered immediately against Lowder, the 24-year-old Cincinnati first-round pick out of Wake Forest, when Joshua Báez doubled in a run and Leo Bernal followed with a two-out single to put the Redbirds in front. That early swing of momentum might have unraveled a lesser start, but Lowder settled in and gave the Bats the innings they needed.

The Bats reclaimed the lead in the third when Hector Rodriguez and Noelvi Marte got on to set up another Toglia double, and they added to it in the fourth on Francisco Urbaez’s double and a Will Banfield sacrifice fly. Lowder’s line told the rest of the story: five innings, three runs, six hits, no walks and eight strikeouts. It was his most strikeouts in a regular-season game at any level since Aug. 14, 2024 against Rocket City, a clear sign that his stuff was sharp enough to matter immediately on rehab.

Memphis would not go away. Báez, who entered the night as St. Louis’ No. 4 prospect and MLB Pipeline’s No. 87 overall prospect, delivered another RBI double in the fifth to pull the Redbirds back within reach. That kept the pressure on Louisville through the middle and late innings, and the Bats had to lean on their bullpen to hold the line after Lowder exited.

That mattered in a game that doubled as a prospect showcase. Memphis opened the season with eight Cardinals top-30 prospects, including Báez and Bernal, while Louisville began 2026 with six Reds top-30 prospects on its 30-man roster under returning manager Pat Kelly. Toglia, a 27-year-old former Rockies first-round pick with major league experience, continued to look like a bat that can change a game with one swing.

After three leads vanished, Louisville finally made the fourth one stick in extras. The win was the kind that can carry forward, not because it was clean, but because it showed the Bats can survive pressure innings, answer swings from top prospects and still close the door on the road.