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MWL1 Bowling Green Hot Rods

Hot Rods Game Notes

June 26, 2019 - Midwest League (MWL1)
Bowling Green Hot Rods News Release


About Last Night... Playing their first home game in nearly two weeks, the Hot Rods welcomed the Great Lakes Loons to town to open a four-game series. In the first, Easton McGee ran into some trouble issuing a leadoff walk, followed by a single. However, Tony Pena cut down Miguel Vargas trying to go first-to-third, helping to quell a potential first-inning rally for the Loons. Neither team scored until the top of the fourth inning when Great Lakes broke through for a pair of tallies. However, the Hot Rods responded with a two-out rally, with Grant Witherspoon lining a double, then scoring on a single from Chris Betts. An inning later, the Hot Rods took the lead as Tony Pena led off with a double, then scored on Beau Brundage's triple to tie the game. Two batters later, Ford Proctor brought home Brundage with a sacrifice fly, giving Bowling Green a 3-2 lead. After McGee finished off a quality start, the Hot Rods added some insurance in the seventh inning. Grant Witherspoon singled home Ford Proctor, then Seaver Whalen scored on a sacrifice fly from Betts, extending the lead to 5-2. Cristopher Sanchez did the rest on the mound, securing a nine-out save without allowing a hit to nail down the series-opening victory.

It's Great to be Home... Last night marked the first home game for Bowling Green in 12 days, which is the longest span in terms of days between home contests. Nonetheless, the Hot Rods picked up right where they left off in the first half, earning the victory to improve to 23-13 at Bowling Green Ballpark this season. This year, the Hot Rods have posted the fourth-best home record in the league, though the offense in particular has liked the home grounds. Bowling Green has hit a league-best .272 at home, while averaging 4.89 runs per game, compared to a .231 mark with 4.15 runs/game on the road. The pitching staff has also enjoyed life at Bowling Green Ballpark, putting up a 3.17 ERA, the fourth-lowest home ERA in the league, compared a 3.59 mark away from home.

McGee's Bounceback... Easton McGee threw 6.0 innings of two-run ball on Tuesday night, bouncing back nicely from his worst outing of the season. In his last start on June 13, McGee allowed seven runs in just 3.0 innings in a loss to Fort Wayne, with his only appearance since then being 1/3 of an inning in the Midwest League All-Star Game. The lack of work did not seem to faze the right-hander, as he threw his first quality start since May 5 (breaking a string of six starts without one), while also striking out seven batters, which is the second-highest mark of his career. McGee has enjoyed a breakout season, having already set career highs in innings pitched and strikeouts, while posting his best ERA since his rookie season of 2016.

No June Swoon For 'Spoon... While the Hot Rods as a whole have hit just .225 in the month of June, Grant Witherspoon has embraced the official start of summer with a solid month. In 18 games this month, the All-Star outfielder has hit .284 with a pair of homers and eight RBI, while going a perfect 4-for-4 in stolen base opportunities. Over his past seven games, 'Spoon has picked things up even more, going 12-for-29 (.414), including his first career four-hit game on June 15 at Lansing. He kicked off the series with Great Lakes picking up two hits last night, scoring the run BG run of the game while also driving in a key insurance run late in the game.

Good 'D' From Osmy... Bowling Green has steadily seen their defense improve through the season, with an errorless game on Tuesday moving them into third place in the Midwest League in fielding percentage. One key contributor to the improvement has been infielder Osmy Gregorio. After committing errors in four-straight games from May 28-June 1, Gregorio has played flawless defense over his past 13 contests, handling 40 consecutive chances over that span without an error, including last night, when he successfully handled four chances in the victory.

Yesterday's Notes... Pena recorded his fourth outfield assist of the season, the 18th of the season for the Hot Rods...It's BG's second OF assist in the past three games...Pena also recorded his 10th multi-hit game of the season...Betts picked up his 12th multi-RBI game of the season...Proctor's hitting streak ended at six games...Witherspoon had his 18th multi-hit game of the year and his second in a row...McGee recorded seven strikeouts, the second-highest total of the season and his career (behind eight strikeouts on May 6 vs. Burlington)...He also recorded his third quality start of the season, his first since May 6...Bowling Green improved to 23-13 at home...BG is now 35-22 against right-handed starters...Bowling Green is 14-9 in series openers...BG is 33-7 when out-hitting the opposition...

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