With hitters heating up, Dragons swinging for playoffs
The Dayton Dragons will play 16 more games in their push to win the second-half East Division title and make the Midwest League playoffs. To overcome a 2.5-game deficit to West Michigan and a onegame deficit to Fort Wayne, the Dragons need some hot hitters.
And they have them.
Jack Rogers, Ruben Ibarra, Edwin Arroyo and Mat Nelson have been the guys this month. On Wednesday night, Rogers and Ibarra were the dudes in the fourth and fifth spots in the order accounting for all of the Dragons’ RBIs.
The winning at-bat belonged to Rogers on a tworun, tie-breaking homer in the eighth inning to lift the Dragons to a 7-5 victory over Lansing at Day Air Ballpark.
Rogers also hit a two-run homer in the eighth inning Tuesday to draw the Dragons within a run in their 5-4 walk-off comeback victory. His 13th homer Wednesday was a bender to the opposite field down the left-field line that appeared at first as if it would be a double.
“I hit it really good,” he said. “I kind of stood there, and I was like, ‘Ahhh, get out,’ and it ended up sneaking out of there and it felt good. I just tried to put a good swing on the ball, and I put it on the barrel and it happened to go out.”
The Dragons fell behind 2-0 before Rogers singled in a run and Ibarra hit a no-doubt 394-foot homer (also his 13th) to left-center for a 4-2 lead in the fourth. After the Lugnuts regained a 5-4 lead in the sixth, Rogers walked and Ibarra doubled him in to tie the score in the bottom of the sixth.
Ibarra extended his hitting streak to eight games and is hitting .387 in those games with two homers, three doubles and 10 RBIs.
“I’m taking my faith step a little bit more serious and that’s helping me a lot,” Ibarra said. “I’m trusting His plan and putting all my worries, that I may step into the box with, aside and just give it to Him to take over.”
Rogers entered batting .347 in his previous 20 games with six homers and .720 slugging percentage.
“We’re all just kind of honing in on approach and trying not to pull off the ball and just trying to hit the ball on a line and it’s working out in our favor right now,” Rogers said.
Ibarra said he and Rogers talk about and critique each other’s swings every day, and he hopes the affirmation he gives Rogers makes him feel more comfortable at the plate.
“I’m seeing confidence and I’m seeing that me and him can piggyback off of each other,” Ibarra said. “We can’t keep it to ourselves. He knows what works and I know what works. So it’s picking each other’s brains and always reassuring him when he goes up to go be a great hitter, because he is as you saw today.”
But it doesn’t stop with Rogers and Ibarra. Arroyo, who had the night off at shortstop, is hitting .313 with 18 RBIs and 18 extra-base hits with an OPS of .947 in his last 33 games. Nelson is batting .317 in August with six homers and a 1.028 OPS.
The Dragons know the playoffs are within reach.
“We try not to think about it too much, but we’re trying to make the playoffs and I know it’s close,” Rogers said.