The Bowling Green Hot Rods avoided elimination in dramatic fashion, rallying for an 8-6 win over Great Lakes (Mich.) on Friday at Bowling Green Ballpark.

Bowling Green rallied from four runs down after three innings to even the three-game series at 1 and force a decisive Game 3 on Saturday. It was the Hot Rods’ first postseason win in franchise history, snapping a seven-game postseason losing skid.

“It’s been an unbelievable experience to be a part of this team the whole year,” designated hitter Brett Sullivan said. “We’ve grown as a team. Old players, new players, injuries … we just continue to battle and for us to get the first franchise win in playoff history, that’s a great honor to be on this team. It’s been an incredible year and we are having an absolute blast. Hopefully tomorrow we get another win and move on.”

Down 1-0 in the series, Bowling Green found itself in an early hole when Great Lakes took a 2-0 lead three batters into the game. 

The Hot Rods chipped away with an RBI single from Kewby Meyer in the bottom of the first and a sacrifice fly from Jake Cronenworth in the second to tie the score 2-2.

The Loons quickly regained the advantage with two-run homers from Logan Landon and Darien Tubbs in the third to make the score 6-2. Great Lakes wouldn’t score again and the Hot Rods were able to rally.

Landon Cray hit a sacrifice to shallow center caught by the shortstop that Sullivan was able to score on in the fourth. One inning later, David Rodriguez’s RBI single trimmed the deficit to 6-4.

Bowling Green completed the comeback in the seventh, with more alert base running by Sullivan providing the spark. Two batters after a Rodriguez sac fly cut the lead to one, the Hot Rods had the bases loaded and one out when Brandon Lowe hit a slow chopper between first and second. Great Lakes second baseman Omar Estevez tried to field the ball and tag Sullivan to start a potential double play, but Sullivan stopped and Estevez bobbled the ball. Estevez recovered and rushed a throw to first that got away, allowing three runs to score.

“We work on that since spring training,” Sullivan said. “If a guy hits it to the second baseman and he is coming in, stop. Don’t get tagged and maybe something like that happens. It worked out perfectly to cause some chaos.”

The Loons threatened in the ninth with two on and two out, but Fernando Baez got a fly out to seal the win and force a third game.

Sullivan and Meyer finished with two hits for the Hot Rods, with Sullivan and David Olmedo-Barrera each scoring two runs.

STOPPER

Bowling Green’s comeback wouldn’t have been possible without stellar relief work from Yoel Espinal. The right-hander entered in the fourth and tossed five scoreless innings to earn the win, allowing three hits with six strikeouts.

BG manager Reinaldo Ruiz said Espinal’s performance was the key to Friday’s victory.

“He was the reason why we are going to play tomorrow,” Ruiz said. “He did a really good job for five innings. He kept the game right there and we were able to come back and win it.”

CURSES

After seven postseason games of futility, the Hot Rods finally broke through with a victory on Friday. Bowling Green hadn’t just lost games in the postseason, it never was much of a factor with Friday’s 8-6 lead after seven innings the first time in 70 innings since the franchise moved to BG in 2009 that the Hot Rods held a lead at the end of an inning in the postseason.

“That’s huge for us,” Ruiz said. “The first thing I heard when we made the playoffs was that we’d never won a playoff game, blah, blah, blah, but I am glad we did it today so the curse is broken.”

UP NEXT

The decisive third game is at 6:35 p.m. Saturday at Bowling Green Ballpark.

Right-hander Blake Bivens (8-4, 2.52) is scheduled to start for the Hot Rods. Bivens is 1-0 in two starts against the Loons this season, allowing one earned run in 11 1/3 innings of work.

Right-hander Walker Buehler (0-0, 0.00), a Vanderbilt product, is scheduled to start for the Loons.

— Follow Bowling Green Hot Rods reporter Micheal Compton @mcompton428 or visit bgdailynews.com.