Bowling Green Wins 9-3 Over Fort Wayne

FORT WAYNE, Ind. - The Bowling Green Hot Rods slugged out 14 hits on Saturday night as they defeated the Fort Wayne TinCaps 9-3 at Parkview Field. The hit total yielded by Fort Wayne tied a season high for the team, which has lost three straight.

Bowling Green (24-19) began the scoring with a run in the first inning against TinCaps starter Adys Portillo (3-2). Jeff Malm doubled home Todd Glaesmann to put the Hot Rods on the board. In the bottom half of the inning, a Casey McElroy single to center field was misplayed by Bowling Green center fielder Todd Glaesmann, allowing Fort Wayne's Travis Whitmore to score and tie the game at one.

The game remained tied until Fort Wayne (19-24) scored in the fourth inning. Newcomer Yeison Asencio, in his second Midwest League at bat, tripled to right-center field, and Austin Hedges followed by plating him with a double to put the TinCaps in front 2-1.

In the fifth and with the bases loaded, Portillo allowed a one-out single to Josh Sale that scored both Ryan Brett and Drew Vetterlson, catapulting Bowling Green to a 3-2 advantage. Portillo departed after that base hit, and Ruben Mejia entered from the bullpen.

Mejia worked three and two thirds of an inning, allowing six earned runs on eight hits, walking one and striking out three. Bowling Green struck for five of those six runs in the seventh inning, starting the frame with four consecutive hits. The Hot Rods tacked on their final run in the top of the eighth on a Glaesmann RBI single.

Fort Wayne was quiet from the third through the seventh innings, putting just three men on base against Bowling Green reliever Felipe Rivero (3-3). He tossed five innings in relief of starter Parker Markel. Rivero allowed three hits, one run and struck out five.

The third and final run for the TinCaps came on a Mike Gallic solo home run in the bottom of the eighth. Gallic has now recorded a hit in seven consecutive games and is hitting .390 through 16 games with Fort Wayne. During the hitting streak, the second longest this year by a TinCaps player, he has gone 15-26 with five runs batted in. TinCaps reliever Johnny Barbato, who was reinstated from the disabled list prior to the game, pitched a perfect ninth inning in his first action since April 28th.

Game two of the three-game series is scheduled for 3:05 PM on Sunday afternoon at Parkview Field. The scheduled starters are Colin Rea for Fort Wayne and Ryan Carpenter for Bowling Green.