Hoppers lose Game 1 when Bowling Green rallies in 9th inning

GREENSBORO ― So close. So very close.

A few inches here, a few inches there, and a victory turns into a loss.

Such is the nature of playoff baseball, when the last few outs are the hardest to get and every pitch can be a game-changer.

Curtis Mead's clutch single in the top of the ninth inning keyed a three-run rally as the top-seeded Bowling Green Hot Rods came from behind to beat the second-seeded Greensboro Grasshoppers 10-8 in Game 1 of the High-A East Championship series Thursday night at First National Bank Field.

Greensboro will host Game 2 of the best-of-five series at 1 p.m. Friday, before the series shifts to Bowling Green on Saturday.

The Game 1 loss is a heartbreaker for the Hoppers, who came excruciatingly close to winning the critical opener.

How close?

Greensboro led 8-7 to start the ninth and gave the ball to right-hander Enmanuel Mejia, who was 1-1 with a 1.10 ERA in 11 relief appearances since his promotion from Low-A Bradenton on Aug. 10.

Mejia struck out Pedro Martinez to start the ninth, then coaxed a ground ball from Brett Wisely on a 3-2 pitch ― a grounder just out of reach of diving second baseman Nick Gonzales. The Hot Rods' Grant Witherspoon followed with a hard ground ball up the middle, what looked like a double-play grounder toward shortstop Liover Peguero in the Hoppers' shifted defense.

But Witherspoon's grounder was hit so hard and with such top-spin that the ball took a wicked hop over Peguero and into center field. Instead of a game-ending double play, it was a single and Bowling Green had runners at first and second with one out.

That brought up Mead, an infielder ranked by MLB Pipeline as the No. 14 prospect in Tampa Bay's farm system, and he hit a clean RBI single up the middle.

Greensboro center fielder Matt Gorski ― the Hoppers' best defensive outfielder all season ― charged the ball hard to try to prevent the tying run. But the ball skipped on the dew-covered grass and went under Gorski's glove for an error that allowed the go-ahead run to score and Mead to advance all the way to third.

Mead scored an insurance run when Evan Edwards hit a deep sacrifice fly.

Edwards, a first baseman from Greensboro who starred at Southern Guilford and N.C. State, went 1-for-4 with a towering solo home run and his ninth-inning sacrifice fly. Witherspoon finished 2-for-5 with a two-run home run.

The Hoppers tied the game 7-7 in the bottom of the fifth when Will Matthiessen hit the first pitch from Bowling Green reliever Carlos Garcia over the fence in right-center field.

Greensboro took an 8-7 lead in the sixth on Peguero's RBI single. Andres Alvarez led off the inning with a single on a slow roller that trickled down the line and hit the third-base bag. Alvarez took second on a balk, third on a passed ball and scored on Peguero's line drive to left.

But the Hoppers missed out on a big inning when scalded ground balls off the bats of Jared Triolo and Lolo Sanchez were both stabbed by Mead and turned into force plays. Both hard grounder were inches away from being game-breaking hits. Instead, Greensboro left the bases loaded and came away with just one run.

Greensboro's bullpen pitched well in relief of starter Michael Burrows. Right-hander Steven Jennings retired all nine batters he faced in three innings of work, and hard-throwing Colin Selby ― whose fastball topped out at 99 mph ― struck out five in two scoreless innings.

Hot Rods right-hander Angel Felipe, who was 3-0 with 8 saves and a 2.59 ERA for Charleston and Bowling Green this season, retired all six batters he faced to close the game and pick up the win in relief. Felipe's fastball touched 100 mph three times in the ninth inning.

Aaron Shackelford set the tone early for the Hoppers with a two-run home run. Gorski's two-run double in the third gave Greensboro a 5-2 lead. Gonzales had an RBI single, Alvarez finished 2-for-4 with two runs scored, and Triolo went 1-for-4 with three stolen bases.

Hoppers ace Quinn Priester (7-4, 3.04 ERA), a right-hander rated by MLB Pipeline as the Pirates' No. 2 prospect, will get the start in Game 2 on Friday afternoon.