The Bowling Green Hot Rods held the Rome Emperors to just two hits, while the offense stole six bases, leading to a 6-0 win Friday at Bowling Green Ballpark.

Both starters cruised early on, with each starter carrying a no-hitter into the fourth inning.

The Hot Rods (4-3) used strong baserunning to take the lead in the fourth off Garrett Baumann. Aidan Smith reached on a fielder’s choice and moved to second on a Mac Horvath infield single. After stealing third, Smith stole home on a double steal, giving the Hot Rods a 1-0 lead.

Bowling Green added four more in the sixth with Baumann still on the mound. Adrian Santana led off the inning with a leadoff double and Émilien Pitre reached on an error. Aidan Smith smacked an RBI single, and a wild pitch scored Pitre, extending the lead to 2-0. Smith stole second, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on a Daniel Vellojin sac fly to give the Hot Rods a 3-0 lead. Horvath also reached on an error and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Later in the inning, he stole third and scored on a wild pitch.

The Emperors’ Joe Olsavsky broke up the no-hitter in the seventh with a single off Hot Rods reliever Dylan Lesko.

Ryan Spikes led off the bottom of the seventh with a walk and moved up to third on two wild pitches from Adam Shoemaker. Spikes later scored off a Smith RBI infield single, securing the Hot Rods win, 6-0.

Hot Rods starter Garrett Edwards posted a strong start, scattering four walks while allowing no hits and striking out four over four frames. Drew Dowd (1-0) tossed two hitless innings in relief, striking out three to earn the win. Baumann (0-2) took the loss, allowing five runs (two earned) on five hits, while striking out four over five innings for Rome (3-4).

The Hot Rods and Emperors play the penultimate game of the series Saturday at 2:05 p.m.. Bowling Green will send out right-hander Gary Gill Hill (0-0, 2.25) against Rome righty Didier Fuentes (0-1, 18.00).

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