Bowling Green Dealt First Loss of Season in 11-1 Blowout

Greenville, South Carolina– The Bowling Green Hot Rods were held to one run on four hits in an 11-1 loss to the Greenville Drive on Saturday night at Fluor Field. The Hot Rods and Drive will play the series finale on Sunday afternoon with a 2:05 PM CT first pitch.

Greenville got to Hot Rods starter Michael Mercado early and chased him from the game in the third. Tyler Esplin plated Cam Cannon in the first to give the Drive an early 1-0 lead. In the second, Kole Cottam and Tyler Dearden homered on back-to-back pitches, extending the Drive’s lead to 3-0. Nick Sogard added a homer of his own later in the inning and Danny Santana hit a deep sacrifice fly to center field, scoring Cannon to bring the Greenville lead to 5-0.

The Hot Rods got on the board in the top of the fourth after being shut out for the first three innings by Drive starter Brayan Bello. Jonathan Aranda singled to second, and Cannon made a throwing error that allowed Aranda to advance to second base. With one out, Blake Hunt doubled to left to score Aranda and cut the Drive lead to 5-1.

Mikey York K’d the first two hitters he faced to close out the third, but the Drive more than doubled their lead in the fourth. Two three-run homers off the bats of Tyreque Reed and Dearden quickly turned it into an 11-1 Greenville advantage. BG saw 14-straight hitters retired between the fourth and eighth innings and sent the minimum to the plate thanks to a double play in the ninth as Greenville secured their first win of the season.

Mercado (0-1) allowed five runs on eight hits with a strikeout over his 2.1 innings of work in a loss. York pitched 1.1 innings while allowing six runs on four hits with a walk and two strikeouts. Christopher Gau came out of the bullpen and hurled 2.1 innings without allowing a baserunner with three strikeouts. Ezekiel Zabaleta allowed one hit over his 2.0 innings of work with three strikeouts.

Notes: Bowling Green’s 4-1 record is the best start to a season in team history… The second-best start is 3-2, completed six times including each of the last four season… Mercado made his first start since 2018 after missing 2019 due to injury… The eight hits he allowed ties a career-high… He also tied a career-high in allowing three homers… Bowling Green’s four hits and one run are both season lows… The Hot Rods hadn’t scored less than seven runs in any game prior… Saturday marks the first game of the season BG didn’t hit a home run… The last time Bowling Green pitching allowed 10 or more runs in a game was July 11, 2019 in a 13-9 loss to the Beloit Snappers in the Midwest League… The Hot Rods and Drive will play the final game of the series with a 2:05 PM CT first pitch on Sunday… BG will send RH Miller Hogan to the mound to face RH Chase Shugart… Fans can catch all of the action 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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