(Lexington, KY) – Isaias Velasquez missed a home run by a foot in the top of the third inning, instead settling for his fifth triple of the season to provide the Hot Rods (36-38) with their only run in a 9-1 loss to Lexington (38-36) on Sunday afternoon. The Hot Rods split the four-game series with Lexington while the Legends won the season series at Applebee’s Park by a 5-4 margin.

Facing the Legends for the second straight start Dyer allowed a run right away in the first inning. Jay Austin hit a groundball double to right field, advanced to second on a wild pitch, and then scored when Dyer balked him in to make it 1-0.

In the third, the Hot Rods tied it thanks to the Velasquez triple. With two outs against starter Robert Bono (W; 7-4), Anthony Scelfo to right field before Velasquez tripled off the left-center field wall to tie the game at 1-1. In what would be a continuous trend on the afternoon, Velasquez was stranded at third base when Jake Jefferies grounded out to shortstop.

Lexington wasted no time tying the game in the last of the third. Austin delivered a lead-off single before moving to second on a ground out. After Albert Cartwright flied to right field Dyer induced a pop-up from Brian Pellegrini to shallow left-center field. That pop-up, however, found its way to the ground between Hot Rods defenders, scoring Austin to give the Legends a 2-1 lead.

They scored another solo run on consecutive two-out base hits in the fourth before breaking it open with a three-run fifth. In the big frame, Cartwright smacked a two-out double to left in front of a walk to Pellegrini. Ebert Rosario followed with another double off the left field wall to score Cartwright for a 4-1 Legends lead. Two batters later Steve Brown singled up the middle to drive in two more to make the difference 6-1.

That was more than enough for Bono, who worked into and out of jams over the middle innings against the Hot Rods. In the fourth they loaded the bases with one out, but Jeremy Beckham grounded into a 4-6-3 double play. An inning later they had two base runners with one out but couldn’t score again, stranding runners at second and third. They finished the game 0-7 with runners in scoring position, stranding three men at third base.

Dyer took the loss allowing a career-high six runs, falling to 1-6 on the season. He also tied a season and career-high by surrendering ten hits to the team with the lowest batting average in the South Atlantic league. Dyer finished June with a 1-3 record, allowing 33 hits and 19 earned runs over 25 innings (6.84 ERA).

For the Legends, Jay Austin led the attack with a four-hit game, including two of the Legends six doubles. Pellegrini also added two more doubles to go along with three RBI.

After an off-day Monday the Hot Rods continue their second-half opening road trip with a four game series beginning Tuesday night in Rome, GA. Right-hander Joe Cruz (1-5, 4.65) will open the series for Bowling Green, making his first start since June 15.