Bowling Green Hot Rods pitcher Yoniel Curet (32) pitches to Winston-Salem Dash catcher Colby Smelley (14) in the Hot Rods’ 8-3 win over the Dash at the BG Ballpark on Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023. (Grace Ramey/grace.ramey@bgdailynews.com)

Yoniel Curet struck out eight hitters, but the Bowling Green Hot Rods were held to two hits in a 9-3 loss to the Wilmington Blue Rocks on Thursday at Bowling Green Ballpark.

The Hot Rods (26-22) logged the first runs of the game in the bottom of the third inning off Blue Rocks starter Cade Cavalli. Jhon Diaz was hit by a pitch, while Ryan Spikes and Brayden Taylor worked back-to-back walks to load the bases. A wild pitch from Cavalli allowed Diaz to score from third and make it a 1-0 ballgame. Xavier Isaac drove in Spikes on a sacrifice fly, extending the Hot Rods’ lead, 2-0.

Wilmington (22-24) answered back in the fourth and fifth innings against Bowling Green starter Curet. Daylen Lile socked a solo homer in the fourth and Phillip Glasser ripped a two-run homer in the fifth to make it 3-2.

Wilmington opened it up in the bottom sixth, scoring six runs to extend the lead, 9-2.

Brock Jones drove in a run on an RBI double in the bottom of the sixth against Blue Rocks reliever Brendan Collins, but the Hot Rods were scoreless the rest of the way to lose 9-3.

Wander Arias (2-0) earned the win, walking one and striking out one over 2 1/3 scoreless innings. Curet (2-6) took the loss, allowing eight runs (six earned) on five hits, three walks and eight strikeouts over 5 1/3 frames.

Bowling Green and Wilmington play game four of a six-game series on Friday with first pitch set 6:35 p.m.