Battles and Seymour Blast Off, Hot Rods Lose Series Opener 10-6
Greenville, South Carolina – Jalen Battles crushed a three-run homer in the seventh for the Bowling Green Hot Rods (18-20) that cut the deficit to four, but the comeback fell short to the Greensboro Grasshoppers (21-19) in a 10-6 loss on Tuesday at First National Bank Field. Bob Seymour crushed
Greenville, South Carolina – Jalen Battles crushed a three-run homer in the seventh for the Bowling Green Hot Rods (18-20) that cut the deficit to four, but the comeback fell short to the Greensboro Grasshoppers (21-19) in a 10-6 loss on Tuesday at First National Bank Field.
Bob Seymour crushed a solo home run off Greensboro starter Po-Yu Chen that put Bowling Green up 1-0 in the top of the first. The Grasshoppers responded with four runs off Hot Rods starter Haden Erbe in the bottom half of the inning. Tre Gonzalez walked and Tsung-Che Cheng singled to put runners on first and second. Gonzalez scored and Cheng moved up to third on a base hit from Jackson Glenn that tied the game 1-1. Cheng was plated on a fielder’s choice groundout off the bat of Jase Bowen that moved Greensboro ahead, 2-1. Mike Jarvis scored Bowen on a two-run home run that increased the Grasshoppers lead 4-1.
The Grasshoppers offense continued to dominate, scoring a run in each of the next three innings, as well as two runs in the fifth on a two RBI double from Will Matthiessen that made it a 9-1 ballgame.
Bowling Green got back on the board in the top of the sixth against Greensboro reliever Dante Mendoza. Nick Schnell reached on a fielder’s choice and Kenny Piper singled to put runners on first and second. Blake Robertson singled to left, plating Schnell and moving the score to 9-2. The Grasshoppers regained their eight-run lead in the bottom half of the inning with an RBI single from Bowen off Hot Rods reliever Austin Vernon.
In the top of the seventh, Bowling Green pushed towards a comeback against Greensboro reliever Michel Miliano. Carson Williams singled and moved up to second on a wild pitch to put a runner in scoring position. Schnell drove in Williams on a base hit to right, making it a 10-3 ballgame. Piper was hit by a pitch and Battles launched a three-run homer over the left center field wall to cut the deficit to four. The Hot Rods offense was silent in the next 2.0 frames, dropping the opener by a score of 10-6.
Chen (1-3) earned the win, striking out six while letting up a run, four hits, and a walk over 5.0 innings. Erbe (0-1) took the loss, lasting just 1.0 inning while allowing four runs on three hits and two walks.
Bowling Green and Greensboro play game two of a six-game series on Wednesday with first pitch set for 11:00 AM CT. The Hot Rods are starting RHP J.J. Goss, while the Grasshoppers are sending out LHP Anthony Solometo.
Fans can catch all the action by watching on MiLB.tv or listening through the MiLB First Pitch App, tuning into Talk 104.1 FM and 930 AM WKCT, or visiting https://www.milb.com/bowling-green/fans/audio-listen-live.
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Hot Rods Baseball