The Bowling Green Hot Rods couldn’t keep pace with the Dayton (Ohio) Dragons, who used a late rally to pull away to a 6-0 win in Bowling Green’s home opener Saturday at Bowling Green Ballpark.

Dayton (2-1) held the Hot Rods to five hits, all singles, while the Dragons were able to pile on late – taking advantage of four BG errors – to make it two straight over Bowling Green.

“A lot of credit (to the Dayton pitchers), we couldn’t do much offensively,” BG manager Reinaldo Ruiz said. “We end up with only five hits and then the mistakes we make (defensively). Five of the six runs were unearned. It’s one of those games. Hopefully we don’t have many of those this year.”

Bowling Green starter Michael Plassmeyer nearly matched Dayton starter Jhon De Jesus pitch for pitch, with his lone blemish a no-doubt solo homer to Mariel Bautista in the fourth inning.

Plassmeyer kept Bowling Green (1-2) in the game, throwing 62 pitches – 43 for strikes in six innings. The left-hander allowed four hits and struck out six, but took the loss with Dayton able to pad its lead in the late innings.

“He was very, very good tonight,” Ruiz said. “He was efficient. The only blemish was the home run. Other than that, he threw really well. That was really impressive.

“I saw him in spring training. He throws strikes. He doesn’t waste too many bullets, so that was fun to watch.”

The Dragons added two runs in the seventh on RBI singles by Shard Munroe and Claudio Finol, then broke it open with a three-run eighth – highlighted by a two-run double from Juan Martinez.

All five runs scored in the seventh and eighth were unearned.

“They took advantage of the extra outs,” Ruiz said. “It’s a learning process. Obviously we have a lot of things to work, but I think we are going to be fine.”

Jhon De Jesus earned the win for Dayton, tossing five scoreless innings.

Grant Witherspoon finished with two of the Hot Rods’ five hits.

PACKING THEM IN

Saturday’s attendance was 5,087, the best opening night attendance since 2012 when the Hot Rods drew 5,539 in a 3-0 win against South Bend (Ind.)

“That was a beautiful opening day,” Ruiz said. “It was fun to see all the seats with people in them.”

NOTES

The Hot Rods dropped to 7-4 all time in home openers, 2-2 vs. Dayton in home openers. … Bowling Green pitchers struck out nine Dragons on Saturday, giving the Hot Rods’ staff 39 in the first three games. … Ruiz remains one win shy of 300 as a Hot Rods manager. … The Hot Rods have a losing record for the first time since April 27 last season.

UP NEXT

The two-game series – and homestand – concludes at 2:05 p.m. Sunday.

Right-hander Caleb Sampsen is scheduled to start for the Hot Rods. Sampsen will be making his debut in the Tampa Bay Rays organization after being traded from the Los Angeles Dodgers for Jamie Schultz in January. He was 0-2 with a 5.14 ERA in 13 appearances – 11 starts – for the Ogdon Raptors last season in the Pioneer League.

Right-hander James Marinan is scheduled to start for Dayton. Marinan was 3-2 with a 3.34 ERA in 14 starts for two organizations last season – he was traded to Cincinnati from the Los Angeles Dodgers as part of the Dylan Floro and Zach Neal deal July 4.{&end}