Break out the brooms: Louisville Bats feast on Iron Pigs, sweep series

Bats' outfielder Danny Dornhas been cleaning up like
Chazz Reinhold in 'Wedding Crashers,' reaching safely
in nine straight games and hitting the go-ahead homer
on Saturday.

Fresh off a 5-3 road trip against two of the top teams in the league, the Louisville Bats came home for a four-game series and punked out the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs, sweeping a four-game set against the Philadelphia Phillies' triple-A affiliate. With the four-game winning streak, the Bats have now won eight of their last nine to run their season record to 30-28, putting them a half-game up in the International League West Division, setting up a four-game showdown series against the second-place Columbus Clippers starting on Thursday night. Here's what you missed the past four nights at Louisville Slugger Field, as the Bats continue to make it happen with timely hitting and ice cold pitching from its starting rotation and bullpen.

Saturday-Bats 5, Iron Pigs 4: In front of over 11,000 fans at Louisville Slugger Field, Danny Dorn was the hero in this comeback win for the Bats, as he hit the go-ahead, two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth to put Louisville up 5-4. Dorn was in the zone all night, also making two spectacular catches in left field to save extra bases, and getting three hits to stretch his hitting streak to a season-high seven games. Louisville fell behind 4-1 by the time they came to bat in the fourth, as Bats' starter Ramon Ramirez had some early control problems, but settled down to finish his night with six innings pitched, giving up five hits and four runs, although only two were earned. He walked a season-high five and struck out two.

In the fourth, Louisville tightened things up when Dorn and Danny Richar both reached on singles before Craig Tatum ripped a double into the right field corner to score both runs, and make it a 4-3 game. It remained a 4-3 contest until Dorn's heroics in the eighth, as Ben Jukich (4-2, 4.86) pitched a perfect seventh and eighth to get the win. Jukich apparently digs Slugger Field, as he has a 2.08 ERA at home this year, while posting an ERA of over 11 on the road. Josh Roenicke worked a flawless ninth for the save.

Sunday-Bats 4, Pigs 1: For his second consecutive outing, Homer Bailey didn't allow a run, this time going 6.2 innings to help lead the Bats to the victory over the Iron Pigs. Bailey hasn't been scored on in over 14 innings, as he scattered seven hits and fanned six in this outing, while not walking a batter. Louisville pounded out 14 hits in this one, as Drew Stubbs and Drew Sutton each had three hits. RBI singles by Tatum and Wes Bankston had the Bats up 2-0 in the seventh when Lehigh Valley loaded the bases against Bailey. Manager Rick Sweet made what has become a no-brainer decision in 2009, inserting reliever Robert Manuel to perform damage control. The right-handed Manuel got a strikeout to get Louisville out of another jam, as he has not allowed any of his 16 inherited runners to score this season. That is what we call sick relief.

Bankston added his second RBI of the game, and his team-leading 32nd of the season, in the seventh inning to make it 3-0, and Norris Hopper plated Luis Bolivar in the eight with an RBI groudout to make it a four-run game. Stubbs also stole his 19th base of the season, which is tied for the league lead. Bankston already has seven RBIs in the month of June.

Monday-Bats 8, Pigs 5: Bats' starter Justin Lehr (7-2, 4.22) beat the team he was playing for just a few weeks ago, as Lousiville got at least one hit from every spot in their lineup to help get them over the .500 mark. While Lehr wasn't spectacular (5.2 IP, 8H, 4R, 1BB, 5K), he did enough to earn his seventh win, which is tied for the league lead. The righty was a member of the Pigs earlier in 2009 before being dealt to the Reds' organization for cash and some box seats at next year's derby.

After falling behind 1-0 in the opening stanza, Louisville responded in the bottom half of the inning when Kevin Barker showed why he is Louisville's all-time home run leader, blasting a 418-foot moon shot that also scored Sutton, putting the Bats up 2-1. In the fourth, Louisville added a few more when Michael Griffin singled to score Bankston, followed by Dorn continuing his torrid hitting with an RBI double to the gap in right-center. The Bats got their third two-run inning in the next frame when Stubbs plated Hopper with an RBI single. Later in the inning, Bankston drove in another run with his third hit of the night, making it a 6-2 game.

Lehigh Valley added three runs in the sixth to make it a one-run game, then loaded the bases in the seventh and appeared poised to take the lead until Pedro Viola came in and got two consecutive batters to pop out and keep the Bats' lead intact. Barker and Hopper added insurance RBIs in the seventh and eighth, respectively, to give Louisville a little more wiggle room before Roenicke came in to slam the door for his ninth save of the year.

Tuesday-Bats 7, Pigs 4: Almost 10,000 humans and 600 dogs came out to the Park and saw the Bats put on another offensive clinic, cranking out 11 hits. Louisville made it 4-1 in the second when Hopper plated Tatum on an RBI single, followed by Drew Sutton going deep for the third time this season. Tatum kept the pressure on in the third when he lined a two RBI single to center, making it a 6-2 game. Four of Tatum's 13 RBIs this season have come in this series. Bankston's team-leading 10th homer of the season, a solo shot, led off the fifth inning and had the Iron Pigs already thinking about the long flight back to steel country.

After a rocky start, Bats starter Sam LeCure (3-5, 5.49) settled down to get the win, and had one of his better starts of the season, going a career-high eight innings, giving up just three hits and two earned runs, while walking two and fanning five. Hopper had three singles in the game to push his average to a team-leading .294.

Louisville will have an off day on Wednesday before heading to Columbus for the four-game series against their division rivals. Thursday's matchup will pit RHP Ramon Ramirez (0-4, 5.10) against former Cincinnati Reds RHP Kirk Saarloos (3-7, 5.62) with a 7:05 eastern start time.