Bowling Green Hot Rods second baseman Abiezel Ramirez (3) runs to first base in the Hot Rods’ 10-1 win over the Braves in game two of playoffs at the Bowling Green Ballpark on Thursday, Sept. 15, 2022. The Hot Rods will play the Braves again on Friday to close out the three-game playoff series. (Grace Ramey/gramey@bgdailynews.com)

The Bowling Green Hot Rods live to play another day after a 10-1 win over Rome in Game 2 of the Divisional Round of the South Atlantic League playoffs on Thursday at Bowling Green Ballpark.

Bowling Green powered up for four homers, while Anthony Molina and two relievers combined to the limit the Rome offense to four hits. The Hot Rods bounced back after a heartbreaking loss in 10 innings to open the series on Tuesday,  evening the best-of-three series 1-1.

“That last game we had in Rome was a great baseball game,” BG manager Jeff Smith said. “We came up on the wrong side, but it was a really good baseball game. To bounce back like that, you had the right guy on the mound in Molina. He’s been doing it all season, continues to do it. We came out and got some big hits in the first inning and kept it going all game.”

Bowling Green came out swinging on Thursday.

Tanner Murray started the scoring two batters in with an opposite-field homer that landed in the Rome bullpen in right field. Two batters later, Heriberto Hernandez unloaded a no-doubt, two-run homer to make the score 3-0.

“That’s what we have been used to doing,” Murray said. “Whenever we start early we usually keep the gas pedal down and end up scoring a lot of runs. We did that today.

“I got a ball out to right field. It felt good. Heriberto followed that up and we just kept going.”

The home run barrage continued with a Nate Soria solo shot in the second and a two-run homer by Mason Auer during a three-run fourth that pushed the lead to 7-0. The four homers in a game was a franchise record for most homers in a single postseason game.

Rome got on the board with a Jacob Pearson homer in the sixth, but the Hot Rods added insurance late with a three-run eighth — capped by a two-run triple from Johan Lopez.

Bowling Green finished with 13 hits. Auer and Murray tied a single-game franchise postseason record with three hits, while Lopez added two hits.

“We knew coming into today that our backs were against the wall, but we knew what we had to do,” Murray said. “I felt like we should have won the other day, but that’s baseball. We came out here, played the game we should have played and came out with the win.”

Molina earned the win, allowing one run and four hits with seven strikeouts in 5⅔ innings.

Bowling Green and Rome will face off in a decisive third game at 6:35 p.m. on Friday, with the winner advancing to the South Atlantic League Championship series.

Smith said he hopes the Hot Rods can build off the momentum from Thursday’s win.

“That’s what we have to do tomorrow, strike first and apply some pressure and keep swinging the bats,” Smith said. “It’s going to be a battle. They’ve got their good arms down there in the bullpen. They have a lot of good bullpen arms. We have a bunch of good bullpen arms. It will be fun to see this game tomorrow.”