Dragons finish sweep of Loons
Dayton outscores Great Lakes 30-2 in four-game series.
The Dayton Dragons DAYTON — used more pitchers than manager Luis Bolivar wanted to Sunday afternoon, but all were successful in frustrating Great Lakes’ batters. Five pitchers took the mound, and they gave up three
hits in a 7-1 win over the Loons at Fifth Third Field.
The victory completed a dominating series sweep for Dayton, which outscored Great Lakes 30-2 in four games. “The guys went after good pitches at the plate, and our pitchers have been outstanding,” Bolivar said. “It’s good to see when you use that many pitchers in a game. They’ve all been working hard, and it’s a good group of guys. They know what they want, and
they go after it.” As effective as the Dragons’
pitchers were Sunday, it was the team’s performance at the plate that turned the game into a blowout in late innings. The Dragons got eight hits but also drew four walks.
“It’s good for guys as they’re learning to not swing at those balls,” Bolivar said. “If they take the walks, we can take advantage of the situation to score more runs.”
Game-changer: Dayton led 2-1 heading into the seventh but quickly put the game away. Brantley Bell got the Dragons going with a one-out double to left field, and Great Lakes pitcher Austin French then walked Avain Rachal and Luis
Gonzalez to load the bases.
Michael Beltre followed with a single to center field to score Bell. After Taylor Trammell struck out, French walked Jose Siri on five pitches with the bases loaded to score Rachal.
The Loons took French out of the game and put in Patrick Duester, but he threw a wild pitch against his first batter, which allowed Gonzalez to score from third to give Dayton a 5-1 lead.
Dragons tales: Gonzalez hit his first home run of the season in the eighth inning. Cassidy Brown led off the inning with a double, but the next two batters struck out. Gonzalez then smacked his first pitch against Duester over the left field wall and into a party area.
Starting pitcher Alex Webb struck out five and allowed two hits in 4⅓ innings for Dayton. He gave up a double in the fourth and was replaced by Ryan Hendrix. Hendrix threw a wild pitch that allowed Great Lakes to score its only run, but he got out of the inning without further damage. Hendrix picked up the win to improve to 2-1.
Before the series against the Loons, Dayton had lost five of its last seven games and in the process fell out of first place in the Midwest League Eastern Division. It’s now back in first place and tied with Western Michigan, which has won nine of its last 10.
On deck: The Dragons are off today and will spend the next six days on the road against a pair of Western League teams in Wisconsin. They’ll travel to Beloit for a three-game series against the Snappers and then to Appleton for a three-game weekend series against the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers.
Dayton will return home May 8 for the first of a threegame series against Cedar Rapids.