Dayton Daily News

Game changer:

- NBA PLAYOFFS

James Vasquez is DAYTON — proving to be an all-around talent. On Wednesday at Bowling Green, the Dragons first baseman pitched an inning in a blowout loss to the Hot Rods. On Thursday he resumed his usual power-hitting mode, launch- ing two home runs in a 9-1 defeat of the visiting Great Lakes Loons (Dodgers) at Fifth Third Field.

It was a welcome win for Dayton, which fell out of first place in the Midwest League Eastern Division for the first time in two weeks with Wednesday’s setback.

“It’s nice to be home,” beamed Dragons manager Luis Bolivar. “As they say, sweet home. It feels good to be back after a rough road trip and everybody feels the same way.”

Dragons pitching was supreme, but it was Vasquez who provided the punch. He had a solo homer in the second inning to begin the Dragons’ scoring and added a two-run bomb in the fourth. Last year’s Dragons leader in homers and RBIs entered play with one homer.

That was the first two-ho- mer game for the Dragons since Narciso Crook put two on Lake County in August 2015.

Wednesday at Bowling Green, Vasquez was called upon to pitch in the eighth inning after Dayton trailed 9-1. Instructed to throw fast- balls only, he topped out at 85 mph and struck out two.

“It was pretty exciting,” said the Palm City, Florida, product.

“We needed to give our pitching a little break. I was on the bench that day and they asked me if I could pitch. I wasn’t really ner- vous as I thought I was going to be. It was fun to get on the mound.”

Vazquez hadn’t pitched since high school, “five or six years ago,” he said. “I struck two guys out and they told our catcher, oh, man, this is unbelievab­le, or something like that.”

Dragons catcher Tyler Stephenson also had two hits, scored twice and pro- duced two RBIs. John Sansone added a triple and collected three RBIs.

Dragons starting pitcher Tony Santillan (1-1) allowed two hits and struck out six over a scoreless five innings and earned his first win. Jesse Adams surrendere­d the shutout in two middle innings and Jesse Stallings worked the final two scoreless innings.

Dragons tales:

The win snapped a two-game losing skid for Dayton (12-9). The Dragons are tied for second in the division, one game behind South Bend (Cubs).

Scott Moss (1-1, 4.05 ERA) is ticketed as Friday’s starting Dragons pitcher. He’ll oppose Leo Crawford (0-1, 4.60 ERA). That will be followed by games on Saturday and Sunday, both of which will be televised on CW Ch. 26.1, Spectrum Ch. 13 and 1013, Direct TV and DISH Ch. 26.

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