Matt Gorski extends hit streak to 10 in Hoppers loss to Hot Rods

GREENSBORO ― Jared Triolo hit his 13th home run of the season, and Matt Gorski returned from the injured list and extended his hitting streak to 10 games, but the Greensboro Grasshoppers lost to the Bowling Green Hot Rods 10-2 in a matchup of the High-A East's top two teams Wednesday at First National Bank Field.

Winning pitcher Taj Bradley (2-0, 3.60 ERA), a 20-year-old right-hander promoted to Bowling Green on Aug. 3, struck out six in five effective innings, allowing both Greensboro runs but pitching out of a bases-loaded jam in the fourth inning to limit the damage.

Greensboro stranded 10 baserunners in the game.

Curtis Mead, Bowling Green's 20-year-old third baseman, went 2-for-3 with a home run, a double and four RBIs. Evan Edwards ― a Greensboro native who starred at Southern Guilford and N.C. State ― finished 2-for-5 with a triple, a double and two RBIs.

Bowling Green, the league's best offensive team all season, has faced eight Hoppers pitchers in the opening two games of this series and scored at least one run off seven of them. Right-hander Santiago Florez (1-2, 7.76 ERA) started and took the loss, allowing six earned runs in two innings.

Enmanuel Mejia made his second appearance for Greensboro since his promotion Aug. 10 from Class-A Bradenton, and the right-hander struck out two in two scoreless innings to finish the game.

Gorski, who was activied from the 7-day IL before the game, returned from a leg injury suffered in a rundown in the Hoppers last homestand. Gorski went 2-for-4 in his return and is 13-for-34 (.382) with three home runs, three doubles and eight runs scored during his 10-game hitting streak.

Lolo Sanchez and Liover Peguero had two hits apiece for the Hoppers. Peguero, a 20-year-old shortstop rated by MLB Pipeline as Pittsburgh's No. 4 prospect, doubled in the fifth inning and scored on top prospect Nick Gonzales' RBI single up the middle.

The series is a matchup of the top two teams in the High-A East's South Division. Bowling Green (65-27) leads Greensboro (58-34) by seven games in the standings, but the Hoppers hold a one game lead over North Division leader Hudson Valley (57-35) in the race for the league's second playoff spot.

Hudson Valley coughed up a five-run lead and lost 11-7 to Brooklyn on Wednesday.

The teams with the top two records, regardless of division, qualify for the 12-team league's championship series in September. Greensboro has four more games at home against Bowling Green this week, and the Hoppers play 12 of their last 18 games against Hudson Valley.

Notes

• Greensboro has won 17 of its last 24 games and is 30-12 since July 1. The Hoppers have won or split all 15 of their six-game series this season.
• Hoppers third baseman Jared Triolo went 1-for-5 with a solo home run Wednesday. He has hit safely in 34 of his last 36 games, batting .356 (53-for-149) with eight doubles, eight home runs, 32 RBIs and 13 stolen bases in that span. He ranks second in the High-A East (behind promoted teammate Matt Fraizer) with a .304 batting average, and Triolo is third in the league with 63 RBIs.
• Lefty-hitting catcher Blake Sabol went 1-for-4 with an opposite-field single to beat Bowling Green's defensive shift. Sabol has hit safely in 21 of his last 26 games, going 33-for-99 (.333) with five home runs, six doubles and three triples during that span.
• Second baseman Nick Gonzales, who was the seventh overall pick in the 2020 draft and rated by MLB Pipeline as the Pirates' top prospect, went 1-for-5 with an RBI, and he has batted .333 (32-for-96) with four home runs, five doubles and a triple in his last 22 games, raising his season batting average to .281.