Dragons Escape 10th Inning Jam, Top Loons 2-1
Dragons 2, Great Lakes 1 (10 innings) Click here for the box score Dayton (R-H-E): 2-4-0; Great Lakes (R-H-E): 1-4-0 Win: Donovan Benoit (3-2); Loss: Braydon Fisher (2-2); Save: None HR: Dayton: None; HR: Great Lakes: Diego Cartaya (4th, 0 on base in sixth inning). Midland, Mich.—Dayton’s Donovan Benoit pitched
Dragons 2, Great Lakes 1 (10 innings)
Click here for the box score
Dayton (R-H-E): 2-4-0; Great Lakes (R-H-E): 1-4-0
Win: Donovan Benoit (3-2); Loss: Braydon Fisher (2-2); Save: None
HR: Dayton: None; HR: Great Lakes: Diego Cartaya (4th, 0 on base in sixth inning).
Midland, Mich.—Dayton’s Donovan Benoit pitched out of a bases loaded, one-out jam to protect a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the 10th inning as the Dragons held on to defeat the Great Lakes Loons on Wednesday night. The Dragons win snapped a six-game head-to-head losing streak against Great Lakes. The loss was just the third in the last 19 games overall for Great Lakes.
Dragons starting pitcher Joe Boyle was sensational, striking out a career-high 12 batters without allowing a walk in five innings. Boyle surrendered only one hit and no runs and left the game with the score 0-0. Boyle finished his night just two strikeouts short of the Dragons club record of 14.
*Game Recap: *The Dragons got the scoring started in the top of the sixth inning when Ashton Creal singled to left, stole second, and scored on Quin Cotton’s single to right to make it 1-0. Creal’s lead-off single in the inning marked the first hit of the night for the Dragons.
Great Lakes tied the game in the bottom of the sixth on a solo home run by Diego Cartaya off Dragons reliever Myles Gayman to make it 1-1. Gayman recovered and worked into the eighth before Benoit came in to get the final out of the inning with two men on base and keep the score tied.
The game went to extra innings. Dragons free runner Mat Nelson was at second base to start the inning and advanced to third on a wild pitch with no one out. After Jonathan Willems popped out, Creal drilled a long sacrifice fly to center field to bring in Nelson and give the Dragons a 2-1 lead.
In the bottom of the 10th, Benoit started the inning with a strikeout with the free runner at second, but he followed that with a walk and a hit batsman to load the bases with one out. Benoit struck out Loons cleanup hitter Jose Rojas for the second out, and then got a game-ending groundout to preserve the Dayton win.
Dragons pitchers struck out 17 batters in the game while allowing just three walks and four hits after giving up 18 runs to the Loons in the series opener on Tuesday.
Notes: Boyle lowered his earned run average on the year to 0.65 with his five scoreless innings. He has allowed only 15 hits in 55.1 innings…The Dragons have won three of their five second half games despite being outscored in those five games, 41-20. The have allowed 35 runs in their two losses, but only six runs in their three wins.
Up Next: The Dragons take on the Loons on Thursday night at 7:05 p.m. Miguel Medrano (1-0, 1.93) will start for Dayton against Kendall Williams (1-3, 3.43).
The Dragons return to Day Air Ballpark in the heart of the Water Street District on Monday, July 4 to open a six-game series with the West Michigan Whitecaps. For ticket information, go to daytondragons.com/tickets or call (937) 228-2287.
On the Air: All Dragons home and road games are broadcast on radio on FOX Sports 980 AM WONE. Games can be heard on smart phones, iPads, and other mobile devices via the free Dragons Mobile App, or on a computer at wone.com. Games are also available on HD Radio on 104.7 WTUI HD 2.