Bowling Green Hot Rods pitcher Owen Wild (31) pitches to Winston-Salem Dash designated hitter Ryan Galanie (14) in the Hot Rods’ 7-5 win over the Dash at the Bowling Green Ballpark on Tuesday evening, July 23, 2024. Hot Rods take opener of six-game series with Winston-Salem to improve to 14-3 in series openers this season. (Grace Ramey McDowell/grace.ramey@bgdailynews.com)

The Bowling Green Hot Rods continue to make the most of first impressions this season.

Bowling Green opened a six-game series against Winston-Salem with a 7-5 win on Tuesday at Bowling Green Ballpark. The Hot Rods took control with a big inning early and held off a late charge by the Dash to continue BG’s success in series openers. Bowling Green is 14-3 in series openers this season, with two of the losses coming in the opening games of doubleheaders.

“That’s all credit to the players,” BG manager Rafael Valenzuela said. “It’s not easy. We got in at like one in the morning on Monday morning. Credit to them for having the energy and for putting it all together. Our travel is never easy, but all credit to them. All credit to the players.”

Winston-Salem (43-48 overall, 12-13 second half) jumped out to an early 2-0 lead with an RBI single from Wes Kath in the first and an RBI double by DJ Gladney in the third.

Bowling Green (51-39, 15-9) surged in front with a five-run rally in the bottom of the third, sending 11 batters to the plate. Brock Jones started the rally with a solo homer and capped the outburst with a bases-loaded walk. The rally included a go-ahead two-run homer from Xavier Isaac and an RBI single from Cooper Kinney.

Isaac added an RBI single in the sixth to extend the lead to 6-2 before the Dash tried to rally. Winston-Salem scored two in the seventh to cut the deficit in half.

Tatem Levins added some insurance with an RBI single in the bottom of the seventh. Kath got that run back with a solo homer in the ninth, but Winston-Salem was unable to get any closer.

“That was a big-time at-bat there by Tatem Levins with two outs to get us some insurance,” Valenzuela said. “This team is so much fun to watch because they don’t know how to quit. They have so much fight in them and it is really fun to manage.”

Isaac and Jones paced the offense with two hits each.

Owen Wild, who allowed four runs against Winston-Salem in his Bowling Green debut on May 25, earned the win to improve to 4-1 on the season. Wild allowed six hits and two runs, with seven strikeouts and three walks – getting a fly out at the wall with the bases loaded in the fifth to end his night.

“This is the second time he has faced the Dash, and for some reason, they give him fits,” Valenzuela said. “Give credit to him for not giving in during some long at-bats. He battled.”

Derrick Edington closed it out to earn his third save of the season.

HEATING UPIt’s been a bit of a down month for Isaac, who is hitting .235 in the month of July. Bowling Green’s top run producer doubled his RBI total for the month with his four-RBI night on Tuesday. He now leads the Hot Rods with 15 homers and 61 RBIs.

“He’s been battling some injuries, so it was good to see him go out there and put up some good at-bats,” Valenzuela said. “Obviously, it is always good when he homers with people on base. I’m excited to see where he goes. I’m excited for him to keep it going this week, and I am excited to watch him for a couple of more weeks.”

UP NEXTThe series continues at 6:35 p.m. on Wednesday.

Right-hander Roel Garcia III (6-4, 4.23) is scheduled to start for the Hot Rods. Garcia allowed one run in 5 innings in his last start on July 13. He is 1-0 with a 2.31 ERA in two starts in July.

Garcia has faced Winston-Salem four times this season, allowing nine runs – eight earned – in 16 innings.

Left-hander Tommy Vail (1-1, 0.90) is scheduled to start for the Dash. Vail will be making his third start since joining Winston-Salem on July 5. He has allowed one earned run in 10 innings of work in those starts.