The Bowling Green Hot Rods won their first ever Midwest League Championship Sunday, defeating the Peoria Chiefs by a score of 7-2. Bowling Green won the best-of-five series three games to one.
The Hot Rods jumped on Peoria and their starter- RHP Angel Rondon- in the first inning. 2B Vidal Brujan led off with a walk. RF Moises Gomez then followed with a line drive double to straightaway center, scoring Brujan from first, making it 1-0 Hot Rods.
Bowling Green blew the game open in the second, scoring five runs- their largest offensive inning of the postseason. They took advantage of two Peoria errors and sent nine batters to the plate. The inning was highlighted by RBI base knocks from Brujan, SS Taylor Walls, and LF Jim Haley, and it was 6-0 Hot Rods.
DH Trey Hair led off the bottom of the third inning with a line drive home run to right field, making it 7-0 Bowling Green.
Peoria scored twice in the top of the sixth on a two-run double from C Dennis Ortega, but Bowling Green still led 7-2.
RHPs Tyler Day, Jhonleider Salinas, and Matt Seelinger closed out the game, combining for three innings of relief.
RHP Paul Campbell earned the win, throwing six innings. He allowed just five hits and two runs, walking one and striking out four.
LHP Resly Linares was named Playoff MVP.
The Championship is the first for Bowling Green in franchise history. 2018 was their ninth in the Midwest League. The Hot Rods are the third Tampa Bay affiliate to win a League Championship in 2018, joining the Dominican Summer League Rays and the Durham Bulls. The Hot Rods finish the postseason with a 7-1 record.