The Louisville scored twice in the first inning and again in the third to defeat the Gwinnett Braves on Sunday at Gwinnett Stadium. The Bats improve to 41-35 on the season while the G-Braves fall to 42-36.

Gwinnett scored twice in the second inning on back-to-back RBI base hits from catcher Alvin Colina and third baseman Van Pope. Pope’s RBI double pushed Colina across and tied the game at two.

But Bats first baseman Kevin Barker blasted a two-run homer in the third inning to retake the lead that

Louisville didn’t relinquish the rest of the afternoon, adding runs in the fourth and fifth innings to take a 6-2 lead.

Barbaro Canizares hit his ninth home run of the season in the fifth inning, but the solo shot only made it 6-3.

Shortstop Chris Burke doubled in Clint Sammons in the ninth to bring the tying run to the plate in Canizares.

But the big first baseman popped out to Stubbs to end the rally.

Jordan Schafer was 2-for-5 in his first start since being activated from the disabled list yesterday. Chris Burke and Brooks Conrad also picked up a pair of hits in the loss.

Bobby Brownlie allowed all six runs on Sunday in his first start with Gwinnett. Brownlie falls to 0-1 with a 12.46 ERA.

The G-Braves bullpen held the Bats scoreless over the final 4Ã innings. Mariano Gomez pitched 1Ã innings while Stephen Marek, Juan Perez and Luis Valdez each had a scoreless inning on Sunday. Marek, who was promoted from Double-A Mississippi prior to the game, made his Triple-A debut.

Louisville starter Matt Maloney allowed three earned runs in 6 2/3 innings to earn his fifth win of the year.

Maloney is now 54 with a 2.30 ERA. Chris Heisey was 3for5 to lead the Louisville offense. Kevin Barker and

Edwin Encarnacion each had two hits in the win.

The GBraves and Bats will play game three of the fourgame series on Monday night. Gwinnett will send LHP

Jonny Venters (00, 7.63 ERA) to the mound where he will face Louisville RHP Justin Lehr (102, 3.38 ERA). First

pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.