More late work for Dragons, who fall to Lugnuts

The Lansing Lugnuts scored two runs in the top of the 10th inning and held on to defeat the Dayton Dragons 5-3 on Friday night.

The game featured another late-inning decision for the Dragons. Their last four games have all been tied going to the ninth inning, and the last two went to extra innings. On Friday night, the game was tied at 3-3 after Lansing scored a run in the sixth inning, and remained that way going to the 10th. The Lugnuts got back-toback run-scoring singles in the 10th inning from Brandon Grudzielanek and Ryan Gold to take a 5-3 lead.

The Dragons started the bottom half of the 10th with their free runner at second base. After Hendrik Clementina struck out, Andy Sugilio reached on an infield single off the pitcher’s glove to put the tying run on base. But Leandro Santana struck out and Alejo Lopez flied out to center field to end the game.

Dayton starter Mac Sceroler worked five innings, allowing two runs (one earned) on five hits with three walks and six strikeouts. Ryan Nutof replaced Sceroler and worked three innings, allowing one run on two hits with two walks and three strikeouts. Aneurys Zabala (2-4) pitched two innings and was charged with the loss. He allowed two runs (one earned) on four hits with two walks (both intentional) and one strikeout.

The Dragons collected 10 hits. Alejo Lopez and Jeter Downs each had two. Jose Garcia had one hit to extend his hitting streak to 10 straight games.

In the Standings: The Dragons fell to 24-37 in the second half with the loss. They remained 51/2 games behind West Michigan in the Midwest League’s East Division second half wild-card race with nine games to play.