Hot Rods Close First Half With 3-2 Defeat At Fort Wayne
Fort Wayne, Ind. - Bowling Green brought the Midwest League's first half to a close with its seventh consecutive loss, losing 3-2 to the Fort Wayne TinCaps for the three-game series sweep on Father's Day Sunday in front of 5,975 fans at Parkview Field.
Bowling Green concludes the first half with a record of 37-33, while Fort Wayne ends the first half with a 32-36 mark.
Hot Rod starter Henry Centeno surrendered two runs in the first inning via four consecutive one-out baserunners culminating in Luis Tejada's two-run single to give Fort Wayne a 2-0 lead.
Bowling Green evened things up in the top of the third inning against TinCaps starter Brad Wieck, when Grant Kay led off the inning with a walk, Alec Sole singled him to third base, and Riley Unroe drove home the pair on a line-drive single into left field, knotting the game at 2-2.
Wieck (1-0) silenced the Hot Rods after that over 5.0 innings in his Midwest League debut, allowing two runs on just three hits and with on walk while striking out three. The 6-9 southpaw was the player to be named later in the MLB deal that sent Alex Torres from the Padres to the Mets back in March.
Neither team gained the upper hand until the bottom of the fifth inning, when Fort Wayne's Edwin Moreno reached on a fielding error and glided to third on a hit-and-run single from Jose Ruiz. Felipe Blanco grounded into a double play for the first two outs of the inning, but Moreno came in to score, giving Fort Wayne a 3-2 edge.
Centeno (4-4) logged 5.2 innings of work in the first-half finale, with three runs given up - two earned - on five hits with one walk and one strikeout in the loss.
Ryan Pennell and Brian Miller combined for 2.1 innings of shutout ball, giving the offense a chance to come back, but three Fort Wayne relievers combined for 4.0 innings of three-hit scoreless ball to extend the Hot Rods slide to seven games.
Casey Gillaspie led the offensive attack with two singles, finishing with the first half with three straight multi-hit efforts. Bowling Green, though, stranded seven men on base and went 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position, making for a .161 (10-for-62) clip in such situations during the seven-game skid.
Seven Hot Rods will participate in the 51st Midwest League All-Star on Tues., June 23 at Dozer Park in Peoria, Ill. with Brent Honeywell, Chris Pike, Hunter Wood, Jace Conrad, Nick Ciuffo, Casey Gillaspie and Grant Kay partaking on the Eastern Division squad. On Thurs., June 25, the second half of the season commences from Bowling Green Ballpark, as the Hot Rods host the Dayton Dragons for a four-game series, set for a 7:05 p.m. CDT first pitch.
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