Bowling Green Hot Rods infielder Brayden Taylor (20) catches a fly ball Sunday, June 16, 2024, during a minor league baseball game at Bowling Green Ballpark. (Daily News photo by Joe Imel/joe.imel@bgdailynews.com)

The Bowling Green Hot Rods’ chances of clinching a postseason spot in the first half took a huge hit on Sunday with Rome taking the series finale 6-0 at Bowling Green Ballpark.

Entering the day in a virtual tie, with Rome (34-27) percentage points ahead in the standings, Bowling Green missed a chance to claim the series and take over first place with three games left in the first half. Instead, it’s the Emperors now in command with Bowling Green (34-29) needing help to have a chance at clinching a playoff spot this week.

The Hot Rods were held to four hits, shut out for the second time in the last three games. The best chance to score came in the bottom of the fourth when BG put two on base with one out, but a pop up and fly out ended the threat and kept the game scoreless.

Rome quickly changed that in the top of the fifth.

Ethan Workman hit a solo homer to open the scoring and Jace Grady added a two-run shot later in the inning to make the score 3-0.

Rome added two runs in the sixth, with the only hit in the inning an RBI single from Adam Zebrowski. Steve Paulino added one more in the seventh with his solo homer to right.

Jeff Hankenson (1-2) took the loss, allowing three earned runs and three hits in 2/3 of an inning.

Brayden Taylor finished with two hits for BG, while Tatem Levins and Cooper Kinney had the other hits.

SERIES RECAP

In a six-game series that ultimately would go a long way to deciding the first half South Atlantic League South Division champion, the Hot Rods had to settle for a split after Rome’s win.

Bowling Green took the first two games to move a game up on Rome in the standings before dropping the next two. A win on Saturday allowed the Hot Rods to pull even with a chance to win the series and take the lead in the standings, but BG fell to 5-2-4 overall in series this season – 3-1-2 in home series.

THE CURET

Yoniel Curet wrapped up a strong week against Rome with his second solid start of the series.

Curet worked four scoreless innings, allowing four hits and two walks with three strikeouts. The right-hander ended his day working out of a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the fourth to – at the time – preserve a scoreless tie.

The outing came five days after Curet tossed seven scoreless innings, striking out a career high 11, in the Hot Rods’ 4-2 win.

NOT THE BEST FOR LAST

Bowling Green’s struggles in the final game of a series continued with Sunday’s loss. The Hot Rods are 3-8 in series finales, including 1-5 in final games of a series at Bowling Green Ballpark. BG has dropped four straight home finales.

By contrast, the Hot Rods are 11-0 in series openers this season.

UP NEXT

Bowling Green opens a six-game series at Hickory. Game one is scheduled for 6 p.m. CDT on Tuesday. Neither team has announced a starter for Tuesday’s opener.{&end}