The Bowling Green Hot Rods never could find their stride in a 4-2 loss to Lake County (Ohio) on Tuesday at Bowling Green Ballpark.

Bowling Green (6-7) had chances all night, but stranded eight runners and finished 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position.

“It was definitely one of those days where we couldn’t get the big hit and they did,” BG manager Reinaldo Ruiz said. “We have to give a lot of credit to (Lake County starting pitcher Raymond) Burgos. He threw the ball really well and then their bullpen was really good, too.”

Lake County (8-4) struck first with a two-out RBI single by Ruben Cardenas, but the Hot Rods answered when Michael Smith scored on a wild pitch in the bottom of the inning.

The Captains regained the lead in the third on a play that saw Smith exit the game with an injury. With a runner on, Cardenas hit a ball to deep center that Smith went to make a play on at the wall, but he went down after a misstep allowing Cardenas to come around for an two-run inside the park homer.

“He got close to the wall and tried to stop and he twisted his ankle,” Ruiz said. “Hopefully it is going to be a minor injury.

“It definitely affected us the rest of the game because he has been one of the sparks of the team – being the leadoff guy and making the plays in the outfield. It was tough to see him get hurt, but it is baseball and these things happen.”

Smith’s replacement Bryce Brown made an impact with a solo homer in the fifth that cut the deficit to 3-2, but the Captains got the run back on an RBI single by Tyler Freeman in the seventh – which would cap the scoring for the night.

Burgos allowed two runs and five hits in 4 1/3 innings, but the Lake County bullpen was sharper – allowing one hit over the final 4 2/3 innings.

Alan Strong took the loss for the Hot Rods. The right-hander tossed a career-high six innings, allowing three runs and six hits with a career-high eight strikeouts.

“Strong did a good job,” Ruiz said. “He gave us a chance.”

Top prospect Wander Franco paced the offense with two hits.

NOTES

Strong matched Michael Plassmeyer for the longest outing by a BG starter this season… Bowling Green pitchers struck out 11 hitters, marking their eighth game with double-digit strikeouts… Franco stole two bases in a game for the first time in his career… Roberto Alverez had his six-game hit streak snapped.

UP NEXT

The series, and homestand, concludes at 10:35 a.m. Wednesday.

Bowling Green has yet to announce a starter.

Right-hander Juan Mota (0-1, 6.00) is scheduled to start for the Captains. Mota allowed five runs and seven hits in five innings of work in his last start at Dayton (Ohio) on Friday.{&end}