SAL Bowling Green Hot Rods

Hot Rods Game Notes

Published on June 27, 2021 under South Atlantic League (SAL)
Bowling Green Hot Rods News Release


Yesterday... Bowling Green and Hickory combined for four home runs in an 8-5 slugfest of a loss for the Hot Rods on Saturday night. Hill Alexander clubbed two long balls on the night while Connor Hollis hit his first of the season and Evan Edwards beat another over the right-field wall. All four homers were solo shots, but it wasn't enough to overtake Hickory in BG's second-straight loss.

Curse of Three... Friday and Saturday night's games were the first of BG's 2021 season decided by three runs, both resulting in losses. It's the only scenario between one run, two run, three run, and four-plus run games the club has a losing record. The Hot Rods are 5-5 in one-run contests and a perfect 10-0 in games decided by two runs.

Amongst the Best... Hot Rods pitching has done an incredible job this season in keeping mistakes to a low. Bowling Green is tied for the lowest WHIP in all of the Minors and own the lowest walk total. The staff has also uncorked the third-lowest wild pitch total and are, of course, have one of the highest win totals in the minors this season. The hitters have put on a massive power display, and are fifth in homers across the Minors, leading the High-A level. Ten of the top 12 teams in homers this season are all AAA clubs, who use the MLB ball.

898 and Counting... Jeff Smith is in his first season as Hot Rods manager and second with the Tampa Bay Rays but it's his 13th season managing a minor league team. The BG skipper has compiled 898 career wins dating back to 2006 when he managed the Beloit Snappers, then Class-A affiliate to the Minnesota Twins. Smith owns a 415-316 record at the A-Advanced/High-A level, having managed the Twins A+ teams in Fort Myers ('08, '09, '15, '16) and the Charlotte Stone Crabs ('19) where he skippered the club to an 82-53 record, the most wins for a club under his charge in his career.

Hurling Away From Home... Bowling Green pitchers have been sharp on the current road trip. The Hot Rods are 7-3 since hitting the road on June 13th. Over that span, pitchers have held opponents to four runs or less in four games, going 5-0 over those games.

Stay Hot... The Bowling Green Hot Rods have been one of the best clubs in all of the minors this season, and have the best record in the High-A East. With their win on Thursday, they became the third team in the minors and the first in High-A to reach 30 wins in 2021. Maybe even more staggering is the fact that BG is 20-8 when facing clubs with a record of .500 or better while maintaining a run differential of +73, by far the best in the High-A East.

Yesterday's Notes... Alexander hit two homers in a game for the second time in his career... The other time was on June 6 of this year with Charleston... He had his second multi-RBI game of the year for the Hot Rods... It was also his second multi-hit effort with BG this season... Both Hollis and Alexander hit their first homers for BG of the season... With their home runs, every active player on the roster has hit at least one this season... Hollis had his fifth multi-hit game of the season... It was also his third multi-RBI game of the year... The Hot Rods lead the series 3-2... BG is 0-3 in three-run games this season... Bowling Green has hit 76 homers in 2021... The club record is 106...

Now pitching: Zack Trageton... Trageton makes his seventh start and 10th appearance of the 2021 season on Sunday for the Hot Rods, his second appearance of the series after a relief outing on Tuesday in the series opener. Trageton leads the league in called-strike percentage (22.8%) and owns the second-lowest walk percentage on the team (3.6%) behind John Doxakis who's made two starts in BG. Opponents are stranding baserunners 77% of the time against the righty who also throws 63.9% first pitch strikes to work ahead of opposing hitters. He also hasn't allowed a walk in the last 15.0 innings.

Check out the Bowling Green Hot Rods Statistics

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South Atlantic League Stories from June 27, 2021


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