Hot Rods Fall Late, Drop Finale to Tourists 8-5

Asheville, North Carolina – The Bowling Green Hot Rods (17-13, 51-43) dropped an extra-innings thriller, 8-5 to the Asheville Tourists (12-17, 41-53) on Sunday at McCormick Field in Asheville, North Carolina.

Bowling Green plated the first run of the game in the top of the fifth inning against Asheville reliever Andrew Taylor. With one out, Jhon Diaz, Adrian Santana, and Aidan Smith worked consecutive walks to load the bases. Emilien Pitre hit a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Diaz, making it 1-0 Hot Rods. Noah Myers walked to reload the bases, and a wild pitch brought Santana in to score, increasing the lead to 2-0.

The Tourists responded in the bottom of the eighth against Hot Rods reliever Seth Chavez. Walker Janek led off the inning with a solo homer to right, making it a 2-1 game.

In the top of the ninth, Bowling Green scored a run against Asheville reliever Hudson Leach. Diaz walked, Santana singled, and Smith walked to load the bases. Pitre brought in Diaz with a sacrifice fly, giving the Hot Rods a 3-1 lead.

Asheville forced extra innings, scoring two runs against Bowling Green reliever Junior William in the bottom of the ninth. With two outs, Cristian Gonzalez reached on a fielder’s choice, Alejandro Nunez doubled, and a wild pitch scored both runners, tying the game at 3-3 and forcing extra innings.

The Hot Rods scored two runs in the top of the 10th against Tourists reliever Nick Swiney. Ryan Spikes started as the extra-innings runner, and with two outs, Carlos Colmenarez doubled him in to make it 4-3. Jhon Diaz walked, and Santana beat on an infield single, letting Colmenarez score, bringing the score to 5-3.

Asheville powered through in the bottom of the 10th against Bowling Green reliever Adam Boucher. Lucas Spence started as the extra-innings runner, Kenni Gomez singled and stole second, and Jack Blomgren singled home both runners to make it 5-5. Drew Vogel walked, and one out later, Cristian Gonzalez hit a walk-off, three-run homer to end the game, 8-5.

Swiney (3-4) got the win, pitching 1.0 innings, allowing two runs (one earned) on two hits while walking one and striking out one. Boucher (2-2) was given the loss, allowing five runs (four earned) on three hits over 0.2 innings, walking one and striking out one.

The Hot Rods enjoy an off day on Monday before returning home to take on the Aberdeen IronBirds in a six-game series, starting Tuesday at 6:36 PM CT at Bowling Green Ballpark.

Fans can catch all the action by watching on MiLB.tv, listening through the MiLB First Pitch App and BGHotRods.com. Fans can also secure their seats for future home Hot Rods games by calling (270) 901-2121, visiting the Bowling Green Ballpark box office during normal business hours, or going to www.bghotrods.com.

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Hot Rods Baseball