Hot Rods Use Long Ball To Blast Lansing, 6-1

Lansing, Mich. - Casey Gillaspie, Justin Williams and Nick Ciuffo all cranked solo home runs off Lansing starter Starlyn Suriel, while Henry Centeno penned 6.0 shutout innings en route to a series-opening 6-1 victory over the Lugnuts in front of 8,464 fans at Cooley Law School Stadium Friday night.

Bowling Green (13-9) has posted a 3-1 mark on the Michigan road trip thus far, while winning 11 of its last 14 games and improving to 3-1 against Lansing (14-8) this season. The Hot Rods are now within one game of the first-place Lugnuts in the Eastern Division.

Gillaspie opened the scoring in the top of the second inning with a leadoff home run that caromed off the top of the right-field wall before leaving the park for his second homer of the trip and fourth of the season for a 1-0 lead. In the very next at bat, Williams cranked a 1-1 pitch over the left-field wall for his second of the year - both against Lansing - and a 2-0 lead.

The Hot Rods were not done in the frame, though, as Coty Blanchard knocked a two-out double down the left-field line and came home on a RBI single from Bralin Jackson to give the Hot Rods a 3-0 lead after an inning and a half. Jackson increased his on-base streak to 16 straight games in the process.

Ciuffo put all of his weight into the first pitch of the fourth inning, clobbering his first Midwest League home run over the right-field wall, making for a 4-0 Hot Rods advantage.

After Ciuffo's home run, Suriel (1-1) retired nine of the last 10 batters he faced, before seeing his day come to an end after a career-high tying 6.0 innings pitched, permitting a season-high eight hits and four runs.

Centeno's whitewashing did not come easy, as the Venezuelan right-hander worked around three walks and stranded the bases loaded on two different occasions, leaving eight total Lugnuts on base over 6.0 innings of five-hit ball with a pair of strikeouts in earning his first Midwest League win. In two road starts this season, Centeno has given up just one run in 12.0 innings of work.

Edgar Gomez impressed out of the Hot Rods bullpen, striking out six consecutive batters after a leadoff single in the seventh by Tim Locastro to keep the Lugnuts off the scoreboard.

Following Blanchard's one-out single to right field in the ninth- his career-best fourth hit of the game - Thomas Milone bounced his season-high tying third hit of the game to right-centerfield. After a perfectly executed double steal to place runners at second and third, Riley Unroe delivered some insurance against Bowling Green native and former Warren East High School standout Mark Biggs, beating a Lugnuts shift with a two-run single to left-centerfield, giving the Hot Rods a 6-0 cushion.

Lansing broke the shutout threat in the bottom of the ninth inning - and Bowling Green's stretch of 17 straight scoreless frames - on a RBI single by Anthony Alford for a 6-1 score, but Gomez fanned Rowdy Tellez with two men on for his seventh strikeout to earn his first save of 2015 and third of his professional career.

Not only did the Hot Rods register a new season standard with 14 base hits, but in his final at-bat in the ninth inning, Jace Conrad legged out an infield single to increase his hitting streak to 12 games.

Bowling Green looks to clinch the series on Saturday, when Chris Pike (2-1, 3.86) takes the bump against Lansing southpaw Shane Dawson (2-1, 1.50) in a 6:05 p.m. CDT start from Michigan's capital.

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