BG's Four-Run Fifth Inning Pivotal In 6-4 Win Over Dayton
July 7, 2015 - Midwest League (MWL1)
Bowling Green Hot Rods News Release
Bowling Green, Ky. - Bowling Green (7-6, 44-39) secured four two-out runs in the fifth inning and fended off a late-inning comeback from Dayton (5-8, 44-39) in a 6-4 victory over the Dragons in front of 2,495 fans at Bowling Green Ballpark on Tuesday afternoon.
The Hot Rods won their third straight game for the first time since winning five in a row from June 6-11 and clinched a 3-1 homestand in the process. As part of the back end of this four-game split series, both teams journey to Dayton for 6 p.m. CDT tilts on Wednesday and Thursday.
With Bowling Green leading 1-0 with two outs in the bottom of the fifth inning, Sean Smedley fell behind starter Tejay Antone 0-2 before working a walk that jumpstarted the two-out rally. Back-to-back singles followed from Thomas Milone and Cristian Toribio to load the bases, then Alec Sole stroked a 3-2 pitch to deep centerfield over the head of Jonathan Reynoso, clearing the bases for a three-run triple, giving the Hot Rods a 4-0 lead.
Justin Williams doubled down the left-field line in the next at-bat to score Sole and move the Bowling Green advantage to 5-0.
Antone (4-7) induced a flyout to end the inning, which proved to be his last, allowing five runs and 10 hits over 5.0 innings of work, while striking out three and walking one in the loss.
Yonny Chirinos (1-0) made his Bowling Green debut, and aside from a hit batter to lead off the game, a double to Gavin LaValley and a single to Jonathan Reynoso, rolled through 5.0 innings of work, allowing just the two hits with four strikeouts.
Chirinos gave way to Edgar Gomez in the top of the sixth inning, who promptly labored through two innings of relief. After getting Reynoso to flyout to start, Gomez walked Cory Thompson, and a misplay at second base by Toribio allowed Shed Long to reach, setting the table for LaValley, who doubled to deep right field to score the pair and trim the Hot Rods lead to 6-2.
Two more Dayton runs scored in the top of the seventh, also against Gomez, when Argenis Aldazoro singled home Jimmy Pickens, who reached on a leadoff bunt-single, to bring Dayton within 5-3. Thompson's ensuing deep drive to right was flagged down by Williams on the warning track, but it scored Aldazoro on the sacrifice fly, cutting the Hot Rods lead to 5-4.
Brian Miller came in for the eighth and worked out of a two-on, two-out jam inducing a Jose Ortiz foul out to first baseman Carter Burgess to end the frame.
In the bottom of the eighth, Bralin Jackson reached on a leadoff error by Thompson at shortstop, stole his 12th base of the year and scored on a two-out RBI single by Grant Kay - his fifth in the last six games - giving the Hot Rods some much needed insurance at 6-4.
Miller once again worked into some trouble in the ninth, surrendering consecutive one-out singles to Reynoso and Thompson, but Long's flyout and LaValley's groundout ended the game, as Miller picked up his fifth save of the season in six opportunities.
Bowling Green collectively tallied 12 hits, including multi-hit efforts from four Hot Rods, led by three knocks from Williams, who is now hitting .465 (20-for-43) over his last 10 games.
The Hot Rods stranded six men on the bases, but hit a solid 5-for-14 with runners in scoring position. On the other side, Dayton left eight and swung at a paltry 2-for-13 clip with runners in scoring position, moving the Dragons' total line to 2-for-22 in such situations over the first two games of the series.
Bowling Green now shifts its sights back to the road, starting a six-game road trip on Wednesday at 6 p.m. CDT for the first of a two-game set at Dayton before heading to West Michigan for four. Greg Harris (5-5, 2.25) will look to repeat his June 26 performance against the Dragons (career high 7 IP, 3 H 0 R, 0 BB, career-high tying 9 K), opposing Dayton left-hander Junior Morillo (1-3, 5.57), whom the Hot Rods scored nine runs against over 4.1 innings in a 10-2 win on June 28.
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