Brandon Martin’s one big swing Thursday was enough for the Bowling Green Hot Rods to continue the push toward the postseason.

Martin had two hits, including a grand slam, and pitchers Reinaldo Lopez and Austin Pruitt made it stand to give the Hot Rods a 4-1 win over Dayton (Ohio) at Bowling Green Ballpark in the opener of a nine-game homestand.

It was the second straight win for Bowling Green (64-44, 26-14 second half) over the Dragons (50-59, 22-18), who are currently the first team out in the race for a playoff spot. The Hot Rods, who lead the division by two games over Great Lakes (Mich.), now lead the Dragons by four games.

“Getting wins is always nice,” Martin said. “We’re playing good baseball right now. If we can continue to put it all together the next month or so, we can make the playoffs.”

Martin’s big blow came in the second inning, part of a two-out rally that proved to be the difference.

Bowling Green used an infield hit by Luke Maile and two-out walks to Marty Gantt and Patrick Leonard to set the stage for Martin, who hammered an 0-1 pitch over the wall in left field for his first grand slam as a professional.

“He threw me a fastball up and in,” Martin said. “I just try to work on things I work on in batting practice and it all comes together in a game. It was the first grand slam ever and my first home run at home. It was pretty special.”

BG didn’t score again, despite pounding out nine hits, but Lopez and Pruitt were able to hold the Dragons’ offense in check.

Lopez allowed a run in the third after back-to-back doubles from Beau Amaral and Sammy Diaz, but nothing more in six innings of work. The right-hander scattered six hits, walking two with no strikeouts, and was aided by two double plays and a diving catch from Gantt in the fourth inning that saved a run. Lopez earned his sixth straight win and improved to 7-4 on the season.

“I thought he was up early and was able to overcome that, getting the ground balls when he needed to and getting down in the zone,” BG manager Jared Sandberg said. “A guy that pitches to contact and throws strikes, the defense needs to be ready to go. He was coming off 10 strikeouts in his last outing. He didn’t strike anybody out tonight, and had two walks, but it was still a very effective start.”

Pruitt went the final three innings to earn his first save. The right-hander struck out three, including Zach Vincej to end the game with two runners on.

“That was three very good innings,” Sandberg said. “He showed the fastball for strikes. The curveball was fantastic and the change-up was probably a plus pitch now.”

Maile paced the BG offense with three hits. Coyle added two hits, while Andrew Toles hit his 14th triple of the season to set the franchise record for triples in a season.

The series concludes at 7 p.m. today with a battle of right-handers – Jeff Ames (7-3, 2.69) for the Hot Rods and Sal Romano (6-8, 5.14) for the Dragons.

— Micheal Compton covers the Hot Rods for the Daily News. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/mcompton428 or visit bgdailynews.com.