Late Rally Leads Hot Rods to Second Straight Win

Midland, MI - Riding high from their first shutout victory of the 2016, the Bowling Green Hot Rods continued the strong play with a 7-3 victory over the Great Lakes Loons on Saturday afternoon at Dow Diamond.

After holding the Loons to just three hits and five total baserunners on Friday night, the Hot Rods carried that momentum in and scored a run on a wild pitch in the second inning and got a 2-run double from catcher David Rodriguez in the third inning to take a 3-0 lead.

Meanwhile, the pitching staff kept on silencing the Loons bats into Saturday with starting pitcher Henry Centeno.

In his first start of 2016, Centeno retired the first 15 batters he faced and carried a perfect game into the sixth inning. The 21-year-old righty gave up a single to Loons first basemen Nick Dean to begin the bottom of the sixth and left the game that inning without recording an out, giving up a run on two hits while striking out eight batters.

Centeno was tabbed with a no-decision, with Great Lakes scoring two runs in the seventh inning against Hot Rods reliever Reece Karalaus to tie up the game at 3-3. In his second year with the Hot Rods, Centeno has now just given up one run in 17.1 innings pitched this year, striking out 21 batters over those four outings (three out of the bullpen).

With the game still tied 3-3 in the ninth inning, the Hot Rods lineup with a game-changing rally that gave them their second straight victory. After Loons righty Chris Powell gave up a leadoff single to shortstop Peter Maris, Powell issued back-to-back walks to outfielder Angel Moreno and designated hitter Michael Russell to load the bases with nobody out. Powell left the game in favor of righty Brian Bass, who then gave up a RBI single to outfielder Zacrey Law and a two-run double to outfielder Joe McCarthy to give the Hot Rods the lead for good.

Bowling Green tacked on another run in the ninth on a wild pitch by Bass to make the score 7-3.

For the Hot Rods, righty Ian Gibaut earned the win in relief, tossing 1.2 innings of hitless baseball to earn his first win of the year. Gibaut is now 1-0 on the season with a 1.17 ERA, striking out 16 batters in 7.2 innings pitched.

The win for the Hot Rods gives them back-to-back victories on the road for the first time since August 25-26 last year against Great Lakes.

Bowling Green will look to take the series victory and come out of their seven-game roadtrip with a record over .500 on Sunday as they face the Loons at Dow Diamond Ballpark.

The Hot Rods will send LHP Michael Velasquez to the bump while the Loons will counter with LHP Michael Boyle. First pitch is set for 2:05 p.m. All seven games of the Hot Rods current roadtrip will be in the eastern time zone.  

You can also listen in to Play-by-Play Broadcaster Alex Cohen for all the games on www.bghotrods.com via the MLB TuneIn Radio Application or on 1340 The Ticket in Southcentral Kentucky.

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