Bats' home opener: Nelson's dribbler is just enough

Chris Nelson didn't hit the ball far, but it was far enough to make the Louisville Bats a winner in their home opener Thursday night.

Nelson's infield hit scored the winning run in the ninth inning for a 6-5 victory over the Columbus Clippers before a Louisville Slugger Field crowd of 9,532. He collected three hits and three RBIs as the Bats (4-2) scored a season high in runs, and redeemed themselves after blowing a 5-2 lead after seven innings.

"We made it interesting, that's for sure," manager Jim Riggleman said. "It was a good win in front of a good crowd, but we have to play better than that."

Ruben Gotay led off the bottom of the ninth with a double and moved to third base on Felix Perez's sacrifice. Nelson hit a groundball to first baseman Jesus Aguilar, who couldn't handle the ball. Gotay scored to end the game.

"I thought it was going to be an out, but I put it in the right spot," Nelson said.

Louisville is lucky to have Nelson, the No. 9 pick in the 2004 draft by the Colorado Rockies. He played last year for Colorado, the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Angels. He was invited to the Cincinnati Reds' camp in the spring but asked for his release to seek other opportunities.

When he couldn't find a major league job, Nelson returned to the Reds.

"I wanted to be in the big leagues," he said. "I wanted a big league job. I explored my options, and rosters were pretty much full anyway. The Reds welcomed me back."

Riggleman is happy to have Nelson in the lineup. Louisville has been starved for offense the past few years and had scored 18 runs in the first five games this season. Nelson entered this game slugging .883 with a 1.167 OPS, and he improved his batting average to .500.

"He's a good player," Riggleman said. "He had a really good spring. He thought about some options about what he was going to do. He decided to join us here. We're real fortunate that he did. He's a good hitter and a good defender. He's a big league ballplayer. He's going to get back there."

Louisville went ahead 5-2 with a three-run seventh on RBI singles by Perez and Mike Costanzo sandwiched around Nelson's run-scoring groundout.

Columbus answered with a three-run eighth to tie it, though the Bats came close to getting out of a bases-loaded jam with only one run scoring. First baseman Costanzo snared a hot shot from Jose Ramirez and started what could have been an inning-ending 3-6-3 double play, but Ramirez beat the relay throw as a run scored on the fielder's choice.

The Bats still should have ended the inning nursing a 5-4 lead. Ryan Rohlinger hit a grounder to third, but Costanzo dropped the throw for an error that allowed the Clippers to score the tying run.

"Mike made a nice play at first to almost get the double play," Riggleman said. "We were almost out of it. Unfortunately, we dropped one at first base. It's baseball."

Mayor Greg Fischer threw out the ceremonial first pitch.

Tonight right-hander Tim Crabbe (0-0, 1.50) will start for the Bats against Columbus' Tyler Cloyd.

Contact Michael Grant at (502) 582-4069, and on Twitter @MichaelGrant_CJ.

Today's game

Clippers at Bats

6:35 p.m., Louisville Slugger Field