Hunt Goes Deep Twice in 9-3 Hot Rods Win Over Ironbirds

Aberdeen, Maryland– Blake Hunt hit two home runs and drove in four for the Bowling Green Hot Rods (51-22) in a 9-3 victory over the Aberdeen Ironbirds (38-34) at Leidos Field at Ripken Stadium in Aberdeen, Maryland. The Hot Rods and Ironbirds will play the second game of a six-game set on Wednesday with a 6:05 PM CT first pitch.

The Hot Rods jumped on Aberdeen starter Ignacio Feliz in the second inning to take an early lead. Evan Edwards singled to center and with two outs Grant Witherspoon singled to center, moving Edwards to third. Jordan Qsar doubled off a corner wall in left, scoring both runners to give the Hot Rods a 2-0 lead.

Greg Jones led off the third inning with a walk against Feliz and scored when Curtis Mead singled to center, making it a 3-0 game. Edwards blasted his 13th homer of the season, a two-run shot, onto a rooftop in right to extend the lead to 5-0 while Blake Hunt followed with a solo shot of his own to give the Hot Rods a 6-0 advantage.

The Ironbirds scored three in the bottom of the fifth, but Hunt gave the Hot Rods a six-run cushion again. Mead singled to center and went to second on a wild pitch before Edwards walked. Hunt hit his second home of the game and eighth of the season, with his three-run shot extending the Hot Rods lead to 9-3. Bowling Green eventually went on to win by the same score.

Zack Trageton tossed 4.2 innings while allowing three runs on five hits with three walks and six strikeouts in a no-decision. Ezekiel Zabaleta (3-2) earned a win after working 2.1 scoreless innings while holding Aberdeen to two hits and a walk with two strikeouts. Trevor Brigden got the final nine outs of the game with a hit batsman and two strikeouts.

*Notes: *Hunt hit two homers for the second time both this season and in his career… He and Edwards went back-to-back in the third… BG has gone back-to-back twice this month… Hunt also had his 14th multi-hit and 11th multi-RBI game of the season… He also extended his hitting streak to seven games… Witherspoon extended his hit streak to nine games… He also had his 13th multi-hit game of the season… Mead had his sixth multi-hit game of the year… He’s got a four-game hit streak… Edwards has six multi-hit efforts in 2021… Qsar extended his hit streak to six games while logging his 10th multi-RBI game this season… Trageton picked off his second baserunner of the season in the first inning… The Hot Rods will send RH Michael Mercado (1-4, 5.90) to the mound against Ironbirds RH Brandon Young (0-0, 0.00)… The second game of a six-game set begins with a 6:05 PM CT first pitch on Wednesday… 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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