Phillips delivers six shutout innings as Dragons cruise

LANSING, MICH. — Dayton starting pitcher Connor Phillips struck out nine batters over six shutout innings and Jose Torres hit a home run and drove in three runs to lead the Dragons to a 6-2 victory over the Lansing Lugnuts on Friday night.

The Dragons, who split the first four games of the six-game series in Lansing, extended their lead in the Midwest League East Division to 4 1/2 games over second-place Great Lakes.

Torres blasted a 429-foot home run with a man on to get the scoring started in the third inning. The homer was Torres’ fifth of the season and his second in the first four games of the road trip to give the Dragons a 2-0 lead.

In the fourth, Justice Thompson walked to start the inning and scored from first base on Alex McGarry’s double to right-center field to make it 3-0. The Dragons added two more in the fifth, set up by a pair of singles by Torres and Elly De La Cruz followed by an error and a run-scoring single by McGarry to make it 5-0. Dayton added one more run in the sixth when Jonathan Willems doubled with two outs and scored on Torres’ third hit, a single to center, to give Dayton a 6-0 lead.

Meanwhile, Phillips (2-2) allowed three singles over six innings and one runner past first base. The game marked the second time in Phillips’ last three starts that he has fired six shutout innings. The nine strikeouts were one short of his season high.

Lansing scored single runs in the seventh and eighth before Carson Rudd entered to work the ninth and struck out three in a non-save situation.

Dayton finished with eight hits. Torres was 3 for 5 with two singles, a home run, and three RBIs. McGarry was 2 for 5 with a double, single and two RBIs.

The series with Lansing concludes today. The Dragons open a six-game series at home Tuesday against Quad Cities.