McGowan Blasts Second Slam of Series in 15-6 Loss 

Greenville, South Carolina– Jacson McGowan hit his second grand slam of the season in the Bowling Green Hot Rods (4-2) 15-6 loss to the Greenville Drive (2-4) on Sunday afternoon at Fluor Field at the West End. Monday is a scheduled off-day across Minor League Baseball, but the Hot Rods return to action on Tuesday to start a six-game homestand against the Asheville Tourists at Bowling Green Ballpark with a 6:35 PM CT first pitch.

Greenville scored first for the second-straight night with a two-spot in the second inning against Bowling Green starter Miller Hogan. Cole Brannen connected with two outs and a runner on for his first hit and homer of the season, a two-run shot, giving the Drive a 2-0 lead. They added another when Tyler Dearden, who doubled earlier in the frame, scored on a dropped third strike-wild pitch to make it a 3-0 game.

Chase Shugart gave up three hits to Bowling Green in a three-inning start, but BG didn’t get on the board until the fifth against reliever Dylan Spake. Erik Ostberg drove the second pitch he saw from the righty over the left-center field wall, bringing the Hot Rods within two runs. The solo shot was Ostberg’s third of the season and made it a 3-1 game.

Tyreque Reed hit a two-run homer in the fifth to extend the Greenville lead to 5-1 against Carlos Garcia. With two on and two out later in the inning, Eric Sogard hit his second homer of the series to give the Drive a commanding 8-1 edge. A three-run homer by Devlin Granberg with Cristofer Ogando on the mound buried the Hot Rods even further, with an 11-1 score.

Evan Edwards hit a solo homer to lead off the eighth off and Bowling Green loaded the bases on three walks. With one out, Mcgowan hit a long homer over the green monster and off the brick building in left for his second grand slam of the series. The homer cut the BG deficit to five runs at 11-6. Greenville added four in the bottom of the frame and went on to win 15-6.

Hogan (0-1) took the loss after allowing two runs on a hit with two walks and two strikeouts over 2.2 innings of work. Tanner Dodson lasted 1.2 innings with two runs on two hits with a walk and two strikeouts. Garcia allowed a game-high six runs on four hits with two walks and a strikeout.

Ogando gave up five runs with four hits three walks and two strikeouts over his 1.1 innings. Osmy Gregorio pitched 0.2 innings as a position player, without a run, walk, or hit.

Notes: Gregorio became the first Hot Rods position player to pitch in a game since Jake Palomaki on April 10, 2019 against the Lake County Captains… With the season-opener rained out in Greenville, BG’s home opener will be the Hot Rods first Tuesday game of the year… The two homers against Garcia are the first two he’s given up in his career… Bowling Green has hit at least one homer in all but one game this season… Bowling Green and Greenville won’t play each other again until August 10-15 at Bowling Green Ballpark… McGowan hit his second grand slam of the season… It’s Bowling Green’s third of the year already… It was also the second time a Hot Rods hitter blasted a grand slam after the bases were loaded on three walks… After holding the Drive to seven runs over the first four games of the series, Greenville scored 26 runs over two games… Monday is an off-day across Minor League Baseball… The Hot Rods home opener will be on Tuesday against the Asheville Tourists… First pitch will be at 6:35 PM CT… 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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