Red-Hot Siani Leads Dragons to 8-5 Road Win

Davenport, Iowa-Michael Siani collected three hits and drove in five runs to lead the Dayton Dragons to an 8-5 victory over the Quad Cities River Bandits on Thursday night. The win was the fourth in the last five games for the Dragons and evened their series with Quad Cities at one win apiece.

Siani had a triple, two singles, and a stolen base while setting a team high for most RBI in a game with five. He is batting .500 over his last six games, going 13 for 26.
Dragons relievers Carlos Machorro and Matt Pidich were outstanding combining to face 17 batters in the game, and retiring all 17 including seven on strikeouts. Machorro (2-0) picked up the win with three and two-thirds innings of perfect relief. Pidich earned his fourth save with two perfect innings.
The Dragons took a brief 2-0 lead in the top of the third when Siani delivered a two-run single to right field. But Quad Cities responded with three runs in the bottom of the same inning to jump ahead, 3-2.
The Dragons then produced back-to-back three run innings in the fifth and sixth take an 8-3 lead. Mariel Bautista had a two-run triple in the fifth, and Siani drove in two runs with a triple in the sixth. Quad Cities scored two runs in the seventh to make it 8-5, but Pidich entered the game to start the eighth and did not allow a base runner over the rest of the contest.
The Dragons had 10 hits including five with men in scoring position. Along with Siani's three-hit night, Brian Rey and Randy Ventura each had two hits.
The Dragons have scored at least eight runs in three of their last four games. With the win, they remained two games behind Lansing, the wildcard leader in the East Division.
Dragons starting pitcher Lyon Richardson was perfect through the first two innings, retiring all six batters he faced, but he could not get through the third. He left after two and one-third innings, allowing three runs on four hits with no walks and one strikeout.
Notes:  Prior to Thursday's game, the Dragons made several roster changes. They placed starting pitchers Alexis Diaz and Ricky Salinas and first baseman Bren Spillane on the injured list. They received from Greeneville (Appalachian League) first baseman Cameron Warren and starting pitcher Andy Fisher. 
Warren was the big hitter this spring for Texas Tech, which advanced to the College World Series and finished the year as the #4 team in the nation. He led Texas Tech in batting average (.355), home runs (18) and runs batted in (79) while playing in all 66 games for the Red Raiders. He was selected as 1st Team All-American by Perfect Game and 2nd Team by D1Baseball. 
Fisher was a 2019 1st Team All-Big Ten starting pitcher with Illinois, going 7-1 with a 2.75 ERA in 101 innings.  After signing with the Reds as a free agent following the 2019 draft, Fisher went to Greeneville and posted an ERA of 0.87, allowing just two earned runs in 20.2 innings while striking out 26, walking only three, and allowing an opposing batting average of .173.  Fisher will start Saturday night's game for the Dragons at Kane County.
Up Next:  The Dragons (12-14, 40-56) will close out the three-game series at Quad Cities (15-10, 58-33) on Friday night in Davenport, Iowa at 7:35 p.m. (EDT). Adrian Rodriguez (4-2, 4.58) will start for the Dragons against Jose Bravo (1-2, 3.78) of Quad Cities.
The next home game is Wednesday, July 24 against the Great Lakes Loons at 7:00 p.m. at Fifth Third Field.
On the Air: All Dragons home and road games are broadcast on radio on Fox Sports 980 WONE AM. 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. All Saturday and Sunday home games are televised on Dayton's CW (channel 26; Spectrum cable channels 13 and 1013). 
For Dragons 2019 ticket information, call (937) 228-2287.
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