Drive allow four in the eighth, fall 6-2 to Hot Rods

Nelly Taylor’s eighth inning homer knotted the game at 2-2 Saturday night, the second time this series the Drive have been able to erase a Hot Rods lead. But Taylor’s heroics were for naught as Bowling Green (38-18, 74-48) downed Greenville (33-26, 59-66) 6-2 with a four-run barrage in the bottom of the eighth.

The loss put the Drive 6.5 games back of the Hot Rods in the South Atlantic League South DIvision, edging closer to being eliminated from the playoff picture.

After a successful seventh inning, reliever Gabriel Jackson’s night turned on its head quickly in the bottom of the eighth as he allowed three hits, two walks and a wild pitch, scoring two Hot Rods in the process to put the Hot Rods ahead for good.

He’d be pulled for reliever Isaac Stebens who promptly allowed a single and a walk to allow the Hot Rods to extend the lead to 6-2 and effectively put the game away.

Starter Elmer Rodriguez delivered five innings of one hit, one run baseball on the mound; the lone blemish coming off a Tatem Levins homer in the fifth. Rodriguez amassed seven strikeouts on the night.

Bowling Green extended the lead to 2-0 on a Home Bush Jr. homer in the sixth off Jackson. Jackson finished the night officially with 2 ⅓ innings allowing four runs on five hits and three walks with a pair of strikeouts.

Greenville, which has struggled as of late to respond to deficits, chipped away in the seventh as Luis Ravelo knocked an RBI-single to cut the lead to 2-1. Nelly Taylor added his homer in the eighth before the Hot Rods poured on four runs.

The Drive return to action on Sunday, September 1st at 2:05 p.m. for the finale of the series with the division-leading Bowling Green Hot Rods. The Drive are currently 6.5 games back of first-place Bowling Green, as the Hot Rods lead the series, 5-0, and have already clinched the series victory.