Lockwood’s return sparks Hot Rods

Published 10:11 pm Friday, May 8, 2015

Hunter Lockwood made an instant impact in his return to the Bowling Green Hot Rods lineup.

Playing for the first time since April 14, when he was sidelined with a leg injury, Lockwood hit a go-ahead homer in the seventh Friday and added an RBI single in the eighth as the Hot Rods evened the series with South Bend (Ind.) with a 5-2 victory.

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It was Lockwood’s first homer as a Hot Rod, after leading Hudson Valley (N.Y.) with 13 homers last season.

“It’s great to come back,” Lockwood said. “It’s great to get that first game back in there and get that under your belt. It’s also great to be able to contribute to the team and help us get the W tonight.”

Bowling Green (18-11) trailed most of the night, with South Bend (15-14) scoring two in the first.

The Hot Rods got a run back in the bottom of the first and had the bases loaded with no outs, but three straight strikeouts kept the deficit at 2-1.

Grant Kay scored on a wild pitch to tie the game in the fourth to set the stage for Lockwood in the seventh – a towering opposite field homer into the South Bend bullpen in right field that made the score 3-2.

“Lockwood was rehabbing and he was ready to play, so I put him in,” BG manager Reinaldo Ruiz said. “I know he is a strong kid. He can hit one out and he did.”

Thomas Milone added an RBI single in the seventh and Lockwood capped the scoring with an RBI single in the eighth.

Milone joined Lockwood with two hits to lead the Hot Rods, which finished with eight hits.

Chris Pike earned the win to improve to 4-1, while Kyle Bird tossed two scoreless innings to earn his fifth save.

SEVENTH HEAVEN

Pike became the first pitcher to go seven innings this year, surviving a rocky first to win his third straight start.

The right-hander scattered seven hits and struck out two with one walk, becoming the first BG starter to go seven innings since Jacob Faria went seven shutout innings Aug. 2.

“Outstanding job by Chris,” Ruiz said. “He had one bad inning, but other then that he settled down and gave us seven innings. It was really needed because our bullpen went six innings last night. He saved some rest time for our relievers.”

After being limited to six innings previously, Ruiz said starters will be allowed to work longer going forward as long as they remain under their pitch count.

FOUR IS THE MAGIC NUMBER

The Hot Rods improve to 14-3 when scoring at least four runs, 7-1 at Bowling Green Ballpark.

Bowling Green has scored at least four runs in nine of the last 10 games, going 7-2.

UP NEXT

The Hot Rods will conclude the series with Cubs, and the six-game homestand, at 6:05 p.m. Saturday.

Right-hander Enderson Franco (2-1, 4.29) will start for the Hot Rods, with righty Ryan Williams (2-0, 0.35) scheduled to start for South Bend.

— Follow Bowling Green Hot Rods reporter Micheal Compton on Twitter at twitter.com/mcompton428 or visit bgdailynews.com.