COLUMBUS, Ohio - The Louisville Bats (33-55) were defeated by the Columbus Clippers (54-33) by a score of 7-2 at Huntington Park. The teams rebranded as Los Murciélagos de Louisville and Los Veleros de Columbus for the final time this season, with Columbus winning the five-game I-71 Copa Series three games to two.

MLB All-Star Alex Wood (0-1, 6.75) made his first regular-season appearance for the Bats. This was his first in-game outing this season since being traded from the Los Angeles Dodgers to the Cincinnati Reds. Despite dealing with some command issues, Wood got through 1.1 innings of work only giving up one run on two hits and a walk in his rehab start. The score was 1-0 Columbus at the beginning of the third inning when the skies opened up and forced the game into a rain delay.

Once the game resumed, Columbus wasted no time in adding to the lead in the third courtesy of a Brandon Barnes two-run homer. But the Bats responded, with Christian Colón and Aristides Aquino both launching solo homeruns in the bottom of the inning to reduce the deficit to one. The Bats now have two players with 20+ homeruns this season in Aristides Aquino and Brian O'Grady , the first time two Louisville hitters have reached that mark since Brandon Larson and Kevin Witt in 2002.

The rain delay would disrupt the plan for Louisville pitching, as Brad Markey was poised to log multiple innings for the Bats after relieving Wood. Instead, Jackson Stephens was brought in after the delay, and he would go on to give up six runs on five hits in 2.1 innings. With the All-Star break looming, Louisville and Columbus were liberal with their bullpens down the stretch and would combine to use 11 different pitchers. The Bats offense dried up for the rest of the game, unable to mount a comeback and falling to the Clippers 7-2. Jon Edwards (4-0, 3.07) picked up the win for Columbus.

The Bats finish the four-game series with Columbus on Sunday in the last game before the All-Star break. Righty Sal Romano (2-7, 5.44) will make his second start for the Bats after throwing four hitless innings against Indianapolis on Monday. He will face off against right-hander Aaron Civale (2-0, 2.04) for Columbus, with first pitch set for 2:05 p.m.

