Hot Rods use late rally to down Aberdeen
Published 11:59 am Thursday, July 31, 2025
The Bowling Green Hot Rods closed with a bang again, rallying for a 7-4 win over Aberdeen on Thursday at Bowling Green Ballpark.
A night after scoring two runs in the eighth inning to win 6-4, Bowling Green (53-44 overall, 19-14 second half) used another eighth-inning rally to complete a comeback from 4-1 down and make it back-to-back wins over the IronBirds.
“I prefer we score about 10 in the first and coast, but I think it is kind of in the DNA of our organization as a whole,” BG Hot Rods bench coach Perry Roth said. “You are never out of the fight. You play to win and you compete to win. We have a really competitive group of players here. Sometimes the three innings of the game that competitiveness comes out of you. That’s when it should come out because you have the opportunity to finish the day strong.”
Trending
Bowling Green got on the board first with an unearned run in the fourth, but Aberdeen (38-59, 14-18) broke through on the BG bullpen in the sixth.
The IronBirds sent eight to the plate, scoring four times. An Anderson De Los Santos double tied the game 1-1, with Jake Cunningham’s RBI double capping the rally and putting Aberdeen up 4-1.
BG answered with a pair of runs – an RBI single from Raudelis Martinez and an RBI single from Carlos Colmenarez – in the bottom of the inning to pull within a run.
That set the stage for the eighth-inning rally.
With two on out two out, Colmenarez delivered a game-tying single to center. Adrian Santana’s RBI single gave the Hot Rods the lead and Aidan Smith added a two-run single for insurance.
Drew Dowd, who tossed two scoreless innings to earn the win and improve to 4-4 on the season, allowed a leadoff single before retiring the next three batters to close it out in the ninth.
Trending
“I’m really proud of the guys in the pen,” Roth said. “The game could have really got away from us, but it didn’t. And then I am proud of the way the guys really competed at the end.”
Colmenarez finished with three hits, setting the offensive tone in the nine spot in the batting order.
Martinez and Ryan Spikes finished with two hits each, with Martinez driving in a pair of runs.
“You really have to give them credit,” Roth said. “When one through nine you can have good quality at-bats and keep moving the line forward – especially late in the game, getting that next guy up, getting on base and just grinding. It doesn’t always have to be pretty, but man those guys move the ball forward and make a lot of stuff happen. You have to do that to have a successful season and to win games.”
Starter Garrett Edwards tossed five scoreless innings, allowing four hits with five strikeouts.
The series is scheduled to continue at 6:35 p.m. on Friday. Right-hander Marcus Johnson (5-7, 4.81) is scheduled to start for the Hot Rods, while righty Alex Pham is scheduled to make a rehab start for Aberdeen.
TRADE DEADLINE PASSES
The MLB trade deadline passed with the Tampa Bay Rays making a few moves, but none involving anyone on the Hot Rods roster.
When asked if the clubhouse was a little relieved with no upheaval at the deadline, Roth said the team actually embraced the uncertainty leading up to the 5 p.m. deadline on Thursday.
“What is really funny is our guys kind of leaned into it a little bit and joked around with it,” Roth said. “They went so far as to take one player’s locker and clean it out, put a note to come see me in there. They were having fun with it. I think that speaks to the group we have.”
About Micheal Compton
I am a sports reporter and movie critic for the Bowling Green Daily News.
More by Micheal
-
eEdition
-
-
