Gillaspie Hits MWL-Best 10th Bomb, BG Defeats Kane County, 7-3
June 4, 2015 - Midwest League (MWL1)
Bowling Green Hot Rods News Release
Geneva, Ill. - Bowling Green scored six consecutive runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings - highlighted by a four-run top of the fourth inning - and Casey Gillaspie re-took the Midwest League lead in home runs with his 10th of the season, as the Hot Rods clinched the series over Kane County with a 7-3 win Thursday night in front of 4,606 fans at Fifth Third Bank Ballpark.
Gillaspie, one of eight Hot Rods (30-24) named to the Eastern Division All-Star squad earlier in the day, led off the top of the fourth inning with the Hot Rods trailing 2-1, and on the first pitch of the frame from Brad Keller, tied the game at 2-2 with a mammoth shot over the right-field party deck. After a Justin Williams groundout, All-Star catcher Nick Ciuffo singled into centerfield and Grant Kay walked to set the table for Bralin Jackson, who reached on an error to bring home Ciuffo, giving the Hot Rods a lead they would never relinquish, this time at 3-2.
Cristian Toribio drove Kay home on a sacrifice fly to centerfield, and Thomas Milone singled home the fourth run of the inning to finish the four-run stanza and make for the 5-2 lead.
Bowling Green added single runs in the fifth and sixth resulting in a 7-2 edge, when Williams singled home Gillaspie, who opened the inning by reaching on a two-base error from Cougars' shortstop Ryan Gebhardt and was walked to third by Keller. Riley Unroe drove a one-out RBI single to right-centerfield in the sixth to plate Toribio home on a single to right field.
Keller (2-6) allowed a season-high eight hits and six runs - only one earned - through 5.0 innings of work.
Kane County (26-28), down 1-0 in the bottom of the second thanks to a first-inning two-out RBI single from Gillaspie to score Milone, took a 2-1 lead in the top of the second. Stryker Trahan homered into right field off Enderson Franco to lead off the inning tie the game at 1-1. Three consecutive singles from Colin Bray, Henry Castillo, Victor Reyes followed to fill the bags, and while a 3-2-3 double play off the bat of Ildemaro Vargas almost got Franco out of the inning, Cody Regis legged out an infield single to give the Cougars a 2-1 lead at the end of the frame.
After that point, Franco (4-4) did not allow another baserunner, though he did match Keller's hit total (eight) through 5.0 innings pitched, striking out just one but did not walk a batter. The Venezuelan retired the final 10 batters he faced - nine on groundouts - needing only 28 pitches over the stretch to cinch his first victory over his last four starts since May 9.
Damion Carroll and Brian Miller combined to allow just one of the final 4.0 innings with the only run given up belonged to Miller in the bottom of the eighth, when Bray singled home Trahan, who set the table with a two-out double to centerfield making the count 7-3 Hot Rods.
Four Hot Rods hitters turned in multi-hit performances - Unroe, Gillaspie, Williams and Ciuffo - while Gillaspie was the lone Bowling Green batter to record multiple RBI increasing his total to a team-best 33. Jackson raised his career-high hitting streak to 12 straight games via a sixth-inning single.
Bowling Green eyes a Kane County sweep on Friday, when Eastern Division All-Star pitcher Brent Honeywell (4-3, 2.81) matches up against Western Division All-Star Markus Solbach (4-2, 2.43) in a 6:30 p.m. CDT start in the series finale from Fifth Third Bank Ballpark.
Midwest League Stories from June 4, 2015
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