Hot Rods bullpen tosses 5.0 scoreless innings in 5-3 loss
Spartanburg, South Carolina – Jackson Lancaster, Chandler Murphy, and Derrick Edington combined for 5.0 scoreless innings of relief, but the Bowling Green Hot Rods (5-5) couldn’t find runs late, falling to the Hub City Spartanburgers (6-4) on Tuesday and Fifth Third Park.
The Hot Rods jump started the scoring in the top of the first against Spartanburgers starter Leandro Lopez. Adrian Santana led off with a walk and stole second. He advanced to third on an Emilien Pitre single. Pitre stole second, and both runners scored on a Tony Santa Maria double, giving the Hot Rods a 2-0 lead. Daniel Vellojin added another run with an RBI base hit, pushing the lead to 3-0.
Hub City responded in the bottom of the first against Bowling Green starter TJ Nichols. Dylan Dreiling lifted a solo homer to right, cutting into the Bowling Green lead, 3-1. Anthony Gutierrez singled, stole second and third, and scored on a throwing error from Vellojin, making it a 3-2 game.
The Spartanburgers added to their score in the bottom of the second with Nichols still on the mound. Quincy Scott worked a one-out walk and came in to score on a Danyer Cueva RBI double, tying the game, 3-3. In the bottom of the third, Hub City jumped out to a 5-3 on a Malcolm Moore two-run homer.
Both bullpens held the game scoreless for the rest of the game, ending in a 5-3 Spartanburgers win.
Joey Danielson (1-0) earned his first win of the season, tossing 2.2 scoreless innings, allowing two hits while striking out three. Nichols (0-1) was given the loss, allowing five runs (four earned) on five hits, walking one and striking out five. Seth Clark (2) picked up his second save of the season over 2.0 scoreless innings while allowing just one hit.
The Hot Rods and Spartanburgers play the second game of a six-game series on Wednesday with a 5:35 PM CT first pitch at Fifth Third Park in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Bowling Green will send out RHP Marcus Johnson (0-2, 8.00) against Hub City LHP Josh Trentadue (0-0, 0.00).
