The Bowling Green Hot Rods came out of the wrong side yet again on Friday evening, dropping its sixth straight game with a 13-2 loss to the Fort Wayne TinCaps in their series opener at Bowling Green Ballpark.
The Hot Rods — who started the season 3-0 — dug themselves into an early hole, as Fort Wayne (2-7 overall) scored three runs in the top of the first inning to incorporate all of the momentum from the start. Bowling Green (3-6 overall) went on to be out-hit 12-9 and committed two errors on the night.
Fort Wayne — on the other hand — had seven different players finish with hits as Esteury Ruiz went 3-for-6 with a pair of RBI to lead the way. Mason Thompson started on the mound for the TinCaps and tossed four strikeouts and allowed just one run in 5.2 innings.
Mac Seibert led the Hot Rods with two hits.
The two sides will return to action on Saturday at 6:35 p.m. in Game 2 of the three-game set. Saturday’s game will be Hall of Fame Night at Bowling Green Ballpark, as the Hot Rods will honor their first two Hall of Fame inductees — Matt Moore and Kevin Kiermaier — with promotions throughout the evening.
Fort Wayne couldn’t have asked for a better start.
After Ruiz flied out to center to begin the game, Justin Lopez followed up with a single to record the first hit — and the TinCaps were hot from that point on. With the bases loaded and just one out, Juan Fernandez doubled into left center to clear the bases and put Bowling Green in an early 3-0 hole.
The Hot Rods plated their first run in the bottom of the third as Seibert scored on a wild pitch, but Fort Wayne continued to play at a high level on the offensive end.
Leading 3-1, the TinCaps added another pair of runs of to their side of the scoreboard in the top of the fourth. With Jack Suwinski on after reaching on a walk, Jalen Washington sent a two-out shot over the left center wall to score Suwinski and himself, which pushed their advantage to 5-1.
Suwinski’s sacrifice fly in the ensuing inning plated Jeisson Rosario and put Fort Wayne up 6-1. From that point, the TinCaps took advantage of their five-run lead and continued to build on it throughout the remainder of the contest, never allowing Bowling Green to get into a rhythm.
–Senior writer Tyler Mansfield can be reached at mansfield.sportingtimes@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter at @TMansfieldST.–
