Schultz's Nine Strikeouts Not Enough in Loss to Loons

Midland, Mich. - Jaime Schultz struck out nine batters and pitched into the fifth inning in his season debut, but the Bowling Green Hot Rods (Class-A/Tampa Bay Rays) were unable to hang onto a 3-0 lead as they fell on Friday night to the Great Lakes Loons (Los Angeles Dodgers), 5-4.

Schultz was making his first start of the 2014 campaign, and allowed just four base runners in his four and two-thirds shutout innings. He picked off two of the four that reached, and walked just one while piling up nine strikeouts.

The Hot Rods gave Schultz an early lead with two runs in the second. With one out, Johnny Field hit a hard-single through the left side. One out later, Ariel Soriano doubled to left field to drive home Field. Juniel Querecuto would follow with a single up the middle, and Soriano scored to give Bowling Green a 2-0 lead.

That was lead was stretched further in the fourth. Oscar Hernandez led off with a triple to the right-center field gap, and would advance home on a sacrifice fly by Field.

Great Lakes would break through and tie the game in the sixth. Dillon Moyer led off with a single, and Marcus Holland was hit by a pitch. Jacob Scavuzzo followed with a double to left, plating both Moyer and Holland. Kyle Farmer tied the game with a sharp-single to center field.

A wild pitch helped the Loons go in front in the seventh. Alex Santana led off with a double to right field, and Brandon Trinkwon followed by reaching on a fielder's choice. The bases were then loaded by a walk to Moyer, but Stone Speer nearly got out unscathed after a great play that resulted in two outs by Kean Wong. However, with runners at second and third, a wild pitch plated Santana to give the Loons a 4-3 lead.

Bowling Green would tie it with a run in the eighth. Granden Goetzman doubled to left field, then came around to score on a single by Hernandez.

The Loons would score the final run of the game, the go-ahead run, in the eighth. Farmer started with a single, then moved to second on a wild pitch. Josmar Cordero would later drive him home with a base knock to center.

Speer (2-1) picked up the loss after allowing two runs over his two and two-thirds innings pitched. Greg Harris (3-4) compiled four innings in relief to get the win.

Bowling Green will play game three of a four-game series on Saturday night at the Dow Diamond against the Loons. The Pepsi Pre-Game Show will get underway at 5:50 p.m. CT on 1340 WBGN - The Ticket, and first pitch will be tossed at 6:05 p.m. Blake Snell (2-2, 2.54) will get the starting nod for the Hot Rods.

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