Bootleggers Find Barrels in 10-2 Win on Thursday

Bowling Green, Kentucky– Five hitters had multiple hits for the Bowling Green Bootleggers (80-36) in a 10-2 victory over the Wilmington Blue Rocks (52-62) at Bowling Green Ballpark in Bowling Green, Kentucky on Thursday night. The two teams will play the third game of the series on Friday with a 6:35 PM CT first pitch.

The Hot Rods fell behind in the first inning when Wilmington scored against starter Carlos Garcia, but the righty settled in. After allowing a leadoff walk in the second inning, Garcia recorded 12-straight outs. The Hot Rods offense sparked in the third with a pair of runs to take a 2-1 lead, and never looked back.

Additional runs in the fourth and fifth extended the lead to 5-1, Bowling Green. While Wilmington cut it to a three-run game with a homer in the sixth, Jordan Qsar struck back with a two-run shot off Blue Rocks reliever Gilberto Chu to make it an 8-2 game. The Hot Rods scored two runs in the eighth with Qsar landing an RBI triple to left with Bowling Green going on to win 10-2, evening the series.

Carlos Garcia (8-2) earned a win after tossing 5.0 innings while holding the Blue Rocks to one run on two hits with a walk and five strikeouts. Michael Mercado allowed a run on a hit to the first batter he faced before setting down six-straight in his 2.0 innings of work with four strikeouts. Angel Felipe held Wilmington hitless over his 1.0 inning of scoreless work with a strikeout. Alan Strong allowed two hits in the ninth, but struck out the next three hitters to finish the game.

Notes: The Greensboro Grasshoppers will officially be the Hot Rods opponents in the High-A East Championship series next week… The series begins on Tuesday and Wednesday with two games in Greensboro, NC before returning on Friday and potentially Saturday and Sunday for three games in Bowling Green… Qsar tied Derek Dietrich (2011), Evan Edwards (2021), and Grant Witherspoon (2021) for the most homers in a single Hot Rods season with 22… They’re all tied for the third-most in the league with Greensboro’s Aaron Shackelford… Garcia is tied for the second-most wins in the High-A East… He passes Jayden Murray for the team-lead, who had seven… BG finishes Bootlegger Thursdays 8-2 when wearing the Bootleggers jerseys… The Hot Rods are 29-17 when their opponents score first… They’re 11-3 in September… The Hot Rods finish their 2021 regular-season Thursday schedule 17-7… The Hot Rods and Blue Rocks continue their series with a 6:35 PM CT first pitch on Friday… RH Taj Bradley (3-0, 2.14) takes the mound for the Hot Rods RH Cole Henry (3-3, 1.89) for Wilmington… Fans can catch all of the action by watching on MiLB.tv or listening through the MiLB First Pitch app, tuning into WBGN 94.5 FM and 1340 AM, or visiting https://www.milb.com/bowling-green/fans/audio-listen-live.

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