MWL1 Bowling Green Hot Rods

Hot Rods Game Notes

Published on August 21, 2019 under Midwest League (MWL1)
Bowling Green Hot Rods News Release


About Last Night... The Bowling Green Hot Rods survived a late TinCaps rally for the second-straight night to get a series split and secure a season-series win. The TinCaps went up by a run early against Shane Baz in the first and held on until the seventh. The Hot Rods offense fired up entering the final third of the ballgame with the team plating six runs during the inning to come roaring back to take a 6-1 edge. The TinCaps got a run back in the eighth but scored three in the ninth and brought the winning run to the plate before Nick Padilla recorded the final out of the ballgame to give the Hot Rods a 6-5 winner on Tuesday.

Playoff Race... Bowling Green's win on Tuesday extended their lead in the Eastern Division to two games thanks to a Great Lakes loss to South Bend. While the Cubs remain two-back of first place with a win over the Loons to close out their series, the Lansing Lugnuts dropped their final game to the Dayton Dragons (7-2) to fall four games out of first and two back of the final playoff spot. While the Loons and Lake County Captains have already punched their ticket to the postseason, the second-half eastern division race remains close. As it stands heading into Wednesday, Bowling Green would be the one-seed while the Cubs would enter as the Wild Card.

Ruben's Return... Ruben Cardenas plays his first game at Classic Park as a member of the Hot Rods after playing in 84 games for the Lake County Captains. The outfielder posted a .284 batting average over that time with 10 home runs and 54 RBIs and a .818 OPS. Those numbers have dropped off with BG in 19 games, albeit slightly. He's batting .270 with BG, including a homer with a .733 OPS since joining the Rays organization in a trade at the deadline for RHP Hunter Wood and INF Christian Arroyo. Cardenas and future considerations were the hauls Tampa received in return.

(Almost) All Wins with Alvarez... Roberto Alvarez began the 2019 season as a 19-year old playing with his first full-season affiliate, and at times it showed. Since August 2nd, not only has Roberto lowered his catcher's ERA below 4.00 (it's 3.79 after Monday's game) but the Hot Rods have won eight of Robbie's last nine starts behind the plate.

Aranda horn... Jonathan Aranda has led the charge for the BG offense and extended his hitting streak to 12 games, a new season-high for the infielder. It's Aranda's third hit streak of seven or more games this year and is tied for the second-longest by a Hot Rods batter in 2019. He's tied with Wander Franco (12 games in April) and trails Osmy Gregorio (15 games in June-July) and has the second-longest active streak in the MWL. Since August 8, Aranda is 15-44 with two triples and two doubles, posting a .341 batting average with a .396 OBP. He's struck out eight times while collecting four walks over that stretch. The Hot Rods are 8-3 since August eighth, as well.

About Lake County... The Captains secured a spot in postseason play in the first half, edging out the Hot Rods by 1.5 games to win the Eastern Division Wild Card with a record of 40-29. LC is a game above .500 at this point in the second half, posting a 29-28 record. Against the Hot Rods, Lake County is 8-6 despite BG having a better staff ERA and a higher batting average in the season series. There are just eight active position players left on Lake County that the Hot Rods have seen this season, with Jose Fermin and Quentin Holmes having played in 11 games against BG this season. Fermin leads LC in HR and RBI against the Hot Rods while Kellen Rholl has pitched in parts of three games (a total of four innings) in relief and hasn't allowed an earned run in the series.

Yesterday's Notes... Jonathan Aranda has a 12-game hitting streak... Gregorio extended his hit streak to three games... Witherspoon also had a hit in three-straight games... Ford Proctor had his team-leading 33rd multi-hit game of the season... He also had his 10th multi-RBI game of the year... Baz struck out seven for the third time this season... He's gone five-or-more innings in five-straight starts... Eight Hot Rods had hits... BG was 4-for-8 with runners in scoring position... The Hot Rods are 2-2 on this road trip... They close out the season series against the TinCaps with a record of 9-7... BG is 22-21 in one-run games... The team is 17-17 in games started by an opposing southpaw... BG is 20-12-6 in series this season... They're 22-32 when the opponent scores first... They won their 14th game of the year when getting out-hit by their opponent...

Check out the Bowling Green Hot Rods Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Midwest League Stories from August 21, 2019


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central