Bulls top Bats in Leake's debut, 7-4
By Nick Evans / Louisville Bats
05/18/2011 2:50 PM ET

DURHAM, NC - It took Mike Leake a season-plus to make his minor league debut. It took him just seven batters to give up his first ever minor league grand slam.

The first inning for Leake was seamless. He received an early 1-0 lead, courtesy of a two-out solo shot to right field by Juan Francisco, prior to putting the Bulls down in order in the bottom half of the inning.

But, the second inning is where things got dicey for the 23-year old righty. He allowed three consecutive singles to start off the inning prior to facing Lobaton with nobody out. Lobaton then took the first pitch he saw from Leake and drilled it down the line and over the right field wall, giving the Bulls a 4-1 lead.

Leake would settle in from that point on, but Durham starter Alex Cobb was already in the process of shutting down Louisville's hot bats.

After allowing three hits and an earned run in the first, the righty Cole was outstanding the rest of the way. Through the next six innings he would allow just four hits and kept Louisville off of the scoreboard.

Cole (5-0, 1.31) left the game after seven innings of work, allowing just seven hits and one earned run, while walking one and striking out seven. His five wins are tied for the third most in the International League.

Leake (0-1, 8.44), who became just the 21st player in ML history to play in the majors without appearing in a minor league game a year ago, took the loss in his minor league debut. He allowed eight hits and five earned runs in 5.1 innings of work. He struck out four and did not walk a batter.

On Tuesday night, the Bats put up two runs in the eighth inning and three more in the ninth to tie the game and force extra innings prior to pulling out the victory.

Trailing 5-1 in the 8th on Wednesday afternooon, Louisville looked to rally once again as Hermida launched 1-1 pitch from reliever R.J. Swindle over the right-center field wall, cutting the lead to 5-4.

But, the Bulls would add two more in the bottom half of the inning off of David Johnson and Daniel Rey Herrera, making the score, 7-4.

Mike Eckstrom then shut down the Bats in order in the ninth to secure the win and record his second save of the year.

Hermida and Francisco finished with two-hit games for the Bats and were joined by Todd Frazier. Francisco extended his hitting streak to nine games in the loss and Yonder Alonso's 12-game streak came to a close as he went 0-for-4. The 12-game streak is the longest of the season for a Louisville Bat.

The Bats and Bulls go at it again tomorrow night at 7:05 as LHP Matt Maloney (2-0, 2.96) will be opposed by LHP Alex Torres (2-3, 2.21).

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