The Bowling Green Hot Rods rallied once, but a second comeback fell short in a 4-3, 10-inning loss Sunday to South Bend (Ind.) at Bowling Green Ballpark.

Bowling Green (73-39 overall, 26-17 second half) used a late rally to force extra innings before South Bend pushed across the game-winner on a wild pitch in the 10th.

“We got down early and had a lot of chances but couldn’t get the big hit,” BG manager Craig Albernaz said. “Like they have been doing all year, the guys persevered and keep grinding and battled to put themselves in position to tie the game and have a chance to win it. We battled to the end like we usually do.”

South Bend (53-59, 19-24) was blanked in the series opener Saturday but made the most of the five hits in Sunday’s game to get the win.

Bowling Green starter J.D. Busfield retired the first nine batters he faced on 26 pitches before Jose Gutierrez led off the fourth with a solo homer.

South Bend chased Busfield one inning later – adding an RBI double by Chris Singleton and a sacrifice fly by Gutierrez to build a 3-0 advantage.

The Hot Rods came roaring back in the seventh.

Trey Hair and Devin Davis reached on singles before Emilio Gustave ripped a two-run triple to the gap in right-center to trim the deficit to one. Gustave scored the tying run two batters later on an RBI single by Taylor Walls.

It remained 3-3 until the 10th. Clayton Daniel began the inning at second base and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Christian Donahue.

Daniel scored on a 3-2 pitch in the dirt that got away from catcher Ronaldo Hernandez. Hernandez recovered quickly and flipped to Day, who was unable to apply the tag on Daniel in time.

“It was a close play,” Albernaz said. “It’s a tough pitch for Renaldo to block. He did a good job of getting the ball and getting it to the pitcher. The umpire called him safe and it is what it is.”

Bowling Green was unable to get the tying run home in the bottom of the 10th, despite starting the inning with a runner at second. The Hot Rods were able to get the go-ahead run on first, but Davis struck out on three pitches and Gustave lined out to third to end the game.

Tyler Day took the loss to drop to 0-3. Day didn’t allow a hit in three innings of work and struck out six, with the unearned run the only blemish.

Gustave, Walls and Chester had two hits each. The Hot Rods outhit South Bend 9-5, but were 2-for-14 with runners in scoring position.

STRETCHING IT OUT

Busfield continued his transition back to the rotation with another solid effort Sunday.

The right-hander, who was used almost exclusively out of the bullpen in Port Charlotte (Fla.), followed up four hitless innings in his BG debut Monday with 4 2/3 innings of work Sunday, allowing three runs and four hits with four strikeouts.

“J.D. has been outstanding,” Albernaz said. “We tried to stretch him out a little bit more because he is back starting now. It was good to see him get deep into the fifth.

“He had some high-leverage situations and was able to tread through the water. It was good to see him doing that.”

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Bowling Green dropped to 5-6 in extra-inning games this season, 1-3 at home.

UP NEXT

The series concludes at 12:05 p.m. Monday.

Right-hander Alex Valverde (5-6, 4.66) is scheduled to start for the Hot Rods. Valverde went 0-3 with a 5.32 in five starts in July, failing to go past the fifth inning in all five starts. He took the loss in his only start against South Bend on July 5, allowing two runs and six hits in five innings.

Right-hander Erling Moreno (0-3, 4.76) is scheduled to start for the Cubs. Moreno will be making his eighth start of the season, still looking for his first win. He went at least six innings in each of the last three starts, including a 7 1/3 inning outing in his last start at West Michigan on Tuesday.