The Bowling Green Hot Rods made Fort Wayne (Ind.) pay for its mistakes in Saturday’s 7-0 win at Bowling Green Ballpark.

Four TinCaps errors led to five unearned runs for Bowling Green (76-54, 38-24 second half). With the win, Bowling Green trimmed its magic number to four with eight games remaining.

“We scored enough runs and capitalized on their mistakes,” BG manager Jared Sandberg said. “It’s a good win. We are inching our way towards our end goal, (a playoff spot).”

After being unable to hold the lead in the ninth in a 5-3 loss to West Michigan on Friday, Bowling Green had few problems with Fort Wayne (68-62, 25-36) in Saturday’s series opener.

The Hot Rods got a run in the second inning thanks to a Fort Wayne miscue.

With Ryan Dunn at first after a single and two outs, Oscar Hernandez hit a fly ball to left-center. TinCaps center fielder Mallex Smith appeared to make the catch, but he dropped it when he almost collided with left fielder Alberth Martinez, allowing Dunn to score from first.

Justin O’Conner gave Bowling Green a 2-0 lead in the fourth with his team-leading 14th home run.

BG used a two-out rally to take control in the fifth.

Joey Rickard singled, and Tommy Coyle walked to put two runners on. Tyler Goeddel singled home Rickard, and O’Conner’s grounder to third was misplayed by Fort Wayne’s Gabriel Quintana, allowing two more runs to score.

“We didn’t shy away,” Sandberg said. “Rickard gets the base hit and steals second right away. That was a big at-bat by Justin O’Conner. He gets to two strikes and fouls off a couple of pitches, not trying to do too much, and then he puts the ball in play and makes something happen. That is what team baseball is all about.”

The TinCaps committed two more errors in the sixth, with the Hot Rods adding two more runs to cap the scoring.

Stone Speer earned the win, improving to 3-0, with four scoreless innings of relief. Speer allowed two hits, striking out two and walking two, picking up starter Blake Snell. Snell exited after three innings, striking out four and walking six.

“Stone Speer really changed the whole complexion of the game,” Sandberg said. “He changed the tempo of the game … that was four really big innings for us. Snell with the six strikeouts, but four walks, just ran out of pitches. It’s one of those things for Blake where things kept snowballing and he kept trying to do too much.”

Ryan Dunn paced the offense with three hits, while O’Conner added two hits.

“It was a good game for us,” O’Conner said. “It was a confidence booster, especially after (Friday). I think our confidence is growing. We’re just trying to take every game one game at a time and try to win today.”

The series continues at 2:05 p.m. today with left-hander Kevin Brandt (1-0, 1.58) making his home debut for the Hot Rods. Lefty Max Fried (6-5, 3.58) is scheduled to start for Fort Wayne.

NOTES — Andrew Toles stole a base to equal Ty Morrison’s franchise record of 58 steals in a season. … Former BG Hot Rods pitcher Victor Mateo, who threw the first BG no-hitter in franchise history on July 8, 2011, tossed his second career no-hitter in Double A Montgomery’s 3-0 win over Jacksonville (Fla.) on Saturday. Mateo faced the minimum, striking out five and walking one.

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