Hot Rods twice as grand in romp

It's the rare kind of day for an offense when the opposing team scores 10 and it still manages to plate twice as many runs.

Fueled in part by a pair of grand slams by Alejandro Segovia and Jeff Malm, Class A Bowling Green thumped Dayton, 20-10, on Sunday. The Hot Rods strung together 18 hits, three home runs, two doubles and four walks.

Catcher Segovia's shot came with two outs in the first inning. The second came from first baseman Malm with one out in the seventh.

"It's pretty neat to see two grand slams in one game," said Malm, a fifth-round pick in the 2009 Draft. "That pretty much got the game to where it was out of hand, and you don't want to show anyone up, so we weren't getting too wild. But it's a pretty good accomplishment for our offense."

Sunday's outburst didn't even result in the most runs the Hot Rods have scored in a single game this season. They put up 22 on the road against Lake County in a 22-15 win over the Captains on April 15.

This particular big day, though, vaulted Bowling Green to third in the Midwest League in runs scored with 379. The Hot Rods also lead the circuit in average (.275), on-base percentage (.347) and slugging percentage (.419).

Four batters in the Hot Rods' lineup had at least three hits. Malm went 3-for-5 with five RBIs. Segovia crossed the plate three times.

Todd Glaesmann added a perfect day at the plate, going 4-for-4 with his 12th home run -- good for third in the league -- four RBIs and four runs scored. Cameron Seitzer went 3-for-4 with two doubles and two runs.

First in the league with a .324 average, No. 14 Rays prospect Ryan Brett, went 4-for-6 with three runs and two RBIs out of the leadoff spot, while No. 2 hitter Jake Hager added four runs, three walks and an RBI.

Malm said it was the kind of game in which the guys at the top of the lineup got on base to set things up for the rest of the hitters throughout the order.

"It's one of those things where it's contagious. It starts at the top of the lineup and works its way down, snowballs," he noted. "It's like a chain reaction really. No one is having any worries at the plate, everyone's relaxed. The hits keep coming and coming. You put up five runs, then seven runs and it all just adds up."

The first baseman, hitting .299 and slugging .517 in 73 games, also credited the Tampa Bay organizational philosophy with enabling the kind of offensive success Bowling Green has had this season.

"Without a doubt, we're just buying into what the Rays organization preaches," Malm said. "We have great coaches, great instructors. They tell us all year, 'Don't throw at-bats away.' Whether you're down big or up big, you still want to battle. On nights like tonight when we get up six or seven we just keep hitting.

"You can see the results. We scored 20 runs."

For Dayton, Juan Perez fell a double short of a cycle, scoring four times and driving in three. Joe Terry went 3-for-5 with three runs and two RBIs, and Ryan Wright added three hits -- including two doubles -- and three RBIs.