MWL1 Bowling Green Hot Rods

Hot Rods Game Notes

Published on May 31, 2019 under Midwest League (MWL1)
Bowling Green Hot Rods News Release


Lansing has won their last two games while Bowling Green has lost their last two, finding themselves 1.5 games out of first place and 0.5 games behind Lake County for the second playoff-spot in the MWL Eastern Division with 16 games left to play in the first half.

About Last Night... On Thursday night, the Bootleggers offense was unable to get going against the Great Lakes Loons, and lost ground in the first-half standings. The Loons took and early lead, plating two runs in the top of the first, but the Hot Rods responded with a run of their own in the bottom of the frame. BG managed to plate three more in the second to take a 4-2 lead despite not logging a hit, but runs in the third and fifth to tie the game. The Loons scored a run in each of the final five innings while holding the Bootleggers to just two hits in an 8-4 drubbing to close out the series and fall 1.5 games out of first place, a spot they secured after a win the series opener.

Active Streaks... Multiple Hot Rods have active streaks heading into the weekend series with Lansing. Chris Betts has a seven-game streak, batting .370 over that stretch with five homers and 12 RBI. Wander Franco has one just as long, batting .483 with three doubles. Tony Pena has reached base in 13-straight games with a .429 OBP and a .396 BA over that span with just one walk. Beau Brundage has reached safely in 10-straight while Chris Betts has an eight-game streak.

Feel Good Fridays... Bowling Green is 4-3 on Fridays this season and are batting .263 with two homers as a team. The pitching staff has an ERA of 3.09 on Fridays this season with 96 strikeouts over 70 innings of work. Five players have batting averages over .300, led by Chris Betts who has an average of .348 and an OBP of .500. Shane McClanahan leads the team with 27 Friday strikeouts while Easton McGee, who gets the ball for the first game of the series, has logged one inning in relief on the day.

Streak is Gone... The Hot Rods have lost their last two games, which abruptly ended a seven-game win streak for the team that dated back to May 22nd. The win streak stands as the Hot Rods' longest of the season, surpassing the previous high of three. It included a four-game sweep of the Dayton Dragons, the first by the Hot Rods at Bowling Green Ballpark since August of 2017.

About the Season Series... Friday begins the second series of the season against the Lugnuts following a 3-1 series win in April. Easton McGee, Caleb Sampen, and Alan Strong all earned quality starts in the first installment of the season series, while Connor Hollis (IL) and Wander Franco each had multi-homer games in that series. Lansing was led by DJ Neal, who has a .444 batting average through three games against BG while Nick Podkul is batting .400 against Hot Rods pitching with a .500 OBP. Josh Winckowski led the Lugnuts to their lone win, K'ing eight Hot Rods in seven scoreless frames.

What's New with Lansing... Lansing has added a big bat to their lineup in Griffin Conine since the last series. Conine was the Blue Jays second rounder in 2018 and has made a splash in his first two games, going 5-for-9 with four extra-base hits. The son of a former big leaguer (Jeff Conine), Griffin ended Lansing's previous series against Dayton with a two-homer performance, going 4-for-5 with two doubles, two homers, three runs, and three RBI. The Lugnuts are sixth in the Eastern Division at 23-29, 9.5 games back with an elimination number of three, but have won their last two games.

Yesterday's Notes... The two hits are the fewest by Bowling Green this season...It is the fewest hits they've had since being two-hit on August 18, 2018 at Dayton...Betts now has a seven-game hitting streak...Witherspoon had his five-game hitting streak come to an end...Franco extended his hitting streak to seven games...Strong allowed a season-high four runs...Bowling Green starting pitchers have made 20-consecutive starts (since May 12) without taking a loss...Bowling Green is 6-2 all-time as the Bootleggers...The Bootleggers are 6-2 in series rubber games, having dropped their last two...BG is 10-4-2 in series this season...The Bootleggers fell to 3-16 when getting out-hit this season. Bowling Green is 18-10 at home...BG is 26-14 against right-handed starters...

Check out the Bowling Green Hot Rods Statistics

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Midwest League Stories from May 31, 2019


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