Peoria’s Irving Lopez (left) dives back safely to the bag before Bowling Green first baseman Devin Davis can make the tag Wednesday during the Hot Rods’ 5-4 loss at Bowling Green Ballpark.

The Bowling Green Hot Rods saw their franchise-record 10-game win streak come to an end Wednesday with a 5-4, 10-inning loss to Peoria (Ill.) at Bowling Green Ballpark.

Bowling Green (20-12) was two outs away from victory before Peoria rallied to tie and win it one inning later – denying the Hot Rods a third straight series sweep. Despite the loss, Bowling Green won the series – its sixth straight series win.

“It’s all about winning series and in every game being in position to win and being competitive,” Bowling Green manager Craig Albernaz said. “It’s tough to win 10 games in a row, but these guys didn’t really talk about it. They just showed up every day ready to compete.

“It was the same thing today. We were right there at the end. We just didn’t come out on top.”

The Hot Rods were plagued by a rough day at the plate with runners in scoring position. Bowling Green finished 1-for-13, while Peoria was 6-for-19.

“Hits are good, but you want to get hits when people are on base and when it matters,” Albernaz said. “It seemed like early in the game, when we had runners in scoring position, we expanded the zone and tried to do too much.

“During the streak, pretty much all season, when we’ve got runners in scoring position we slow the game down a little bit and dictate what is going on. Late in the game, we had some better at-bats.”

It looked like Bowling Green would rally past Peoria (14-16) for a third straight day, but it was the Chiefs’ turn for late-inning heroics Wednesday.

Peoria used four singles in the first inning to take a 2-0 lead. Bowling Green got on the board on a sacrifice fly by Emilio Gustave in the second, but Peoria answered with an RBI single from Dennis Ortega in the third to make the score 3-1.

Carl Chester scored on a double play in the fourth to help the Hot Rods inch closer and Brendan McKay tied the score with a bases-loaded walk later in the inning.

Ronaldo Hernandez’s RBI single in the sixth gave Bowling Green a 4-3 lead that looked like it would hold up until the ninth, when Irving Lopez’s RBI single tied the game.

Bowling Green had a chance to win it in the bottom of the ninth after Hernandez singled with one out and moved to third on a single by Devin Davis.

Chester came up to the plate with a chance to win it, but Hernandez was picked off for the second out and Chester flied out to deep center – a fly ball that would have likely scored Hernandez – to end the inning.

“With Ronaldo getting picked off third, I have to do a better job of letting him know what is at stake and not putting him in that situation,” Albernaz said. “He did a great job going first to third on that base hit to right field by Devin Davis to even put himself in that position, which is great (but I have to do a better job).”

The international tiebreaker came into play in extra innings, with both teams getting a runner at second to start the inning.

Bowling Green’s Hunter Schryver got a groundout before Ortega singled to put runners at first and third. The Hot Rods brought the infield in and had a chance to get the runner at home on a groundout, but Hernandez was unable to hold onto the throw.

“We played the infield in and it was a perfect opportunity,” Albernaz said. “We just didn’t make the play. It’s tough to swallow, but we’ve been making those plays. It is what it is and that’s why we play the game.”

Bowling Green escaped further damage and had a chance to tie in the bottom of the inning. Gustave popped out on a bunt attempt to try and move Chester to third, with the next two hitters grounding out to end the game.

“We’ve been getting the bunt down all year,” Albernaz said. “It’s one of those little things that didn’t happen our way.

“We’ll be back here tomorrow with stuff to work on, stuff to get better on, and that is the beauty of playing baseball and being at this level.”

Bowling Green finished with 13 hits, four from Hernandez and three from Davis.

Schryver took the loss to drop to his first decision of the season.

FREE BASEBALL

Wednesday’s extra-inning game was the sixth of the season for the Hot Rods, with Bowling Green dropping to 4-2 in those games. The Hot Rods had won four straight in extra innings before Wednesday’s loss.

WALK THIS WAY

McKay finished with three walks Wednesday, the third time in 20 games that he has had three walks in a game.

McKay has reached base in 17 out of 20 games this season and leads the Midwest League with a .483 on-base percentage and is third with 26 walks.

He has allowed two walks as a pitcher in 18 2/3 innings of work.

UP NEXT

The Hot Rods will open a three-game series with Cedar Rapids (Iowa) at 6:35 p.m. Thursday at Bowling Green Ballpark. The series will end a stretch of 12 straight games against Midwest League Western Division teams.

Neither team has announced a starter for Thursday’s game.