Hot Rods Motor Past Paxton, Kings

Clinton, IA - The Clinton LumberKings twice rallied from one-run deficits, but the Bowling Green Hot Rods scored twice in the fifth inning and once more in the sixth against left-hander James Paxton as they drove off with a 6-4 win Friday night at Alliant Energy Field.

The Hot Rods scored against Paxton in the first inning as Hector Guevara doubled off the wall padding in left and scored on a flare single to left by Phil Wunderlich. The Kings quickly tied the score at 1-1 in the second at-bat of the first inning as Mickey Wiswall sent a pitch from Bowling Green right-hander George Jensen into the right-field Lumber Lounge for his sixth home run of the season.

Paxton yielded a double to Robby Price and RBI single to Nick Schwaner in the fourth as the Hot Rods went back ahead, 2-1. Again, Clinton found a way to tie the score quickly thereafter as Wiswall opened the bottom of the fourth with a single, moved to second on a single by Tim Morris and scored on a single back up the middle by Kalian Sams.

Bowling Green took their permanent lead with two runs off Paxton in the fifth. Wunderlich coaxed a two-out walk and scored from first on a double by Julio Cedeno. Derek Dietrich then lined a ball out of the reach of diving shortstop Anthony Phillips, scoring Cedeno.

Guevara added an RBI single off right-hander Keli'i Zablan, scoring Alejandro Torres who had walked against Paxton, raising the Hot Rods' lead to 5-2. Paxton (L, 2-3) yielded a career-high five earned runs on eight hits over 5.1 innings and struck out six.

Jorge Agudelo opened the sixth inning with a double off Jensen and scored two batters later on an RBI single by Morris. Jensen (W, 5-2) exited with three runs on six hits over 5.1 innings and struck out six. Robbie Anston and Kevin Rivers joined Morris on the base paths on one-out walks from right-hander Nate Garcia, but Jabari Blash flied out to shallow center field for the second out and Morris was thrown out at the plate by center-fielder Kevin Kiermaier as he attempted to tag and score.

The game was halted by rain for an hour and 17 minutes heading into the top of the eighth with the Hot Rods leading, 5-3. When the action resumed Bowling Green extended their lead to 6-3 on a second RBI single by Wunderlich off right-hander Stephen Kohlscheen.

Down by three, the Kings would not go away easily. With two outs, Matt Browning beat out an infield single and moved to third on a single by Phillips. Right-hander Austin Hubbard replaced left-hander Jimmy Patterson and struck out pinch-hitter Stefen Romero, but a wild pitch on strike three scored Browning and put runners at the corners. Finally, Hubbard (S, 3) was able to induce Agudelo into a groundout to Dietrich at short, ending the game.

Wiswall went 2-for-4 with the home run, two runs scored and an RBI, while Morris added an RBI on 2-for-4 hitting for the LumberKings. Guevara went 4-for-5 with a run scored and an RBI and Wunderlich drove in two runs as he finished 2-for-4 for the Hot Rods. Bowling Green's win moves them into the Wild Card spot in the East Division, just a half-game behind first-place Lansing.

The LumberKings (21-41) continue the series against the Hot Rods (34-28) with game two tomorrow nigh at 6:00 PM. Right-hander Forrest Snow (2-7, 3.77) gets the starting nod for Clinton, while Bowling Green counters with left-hander C.J. Riefenhauser (3-5, 2.45). Listen to the game on AM 1390 KCLN in Clinton or live on the web at 1390kcln.com.