Dragons Press Box Notes for September 10

Dragons GameDay
Sunday, Sept. 10, 2017 l Game 2, East Division Championship Series
Fifth Third Field l Dayton, Ohio l 7:00 p.m.
Radio: Fox Sports 980 WONE
Fort Wayne TinCaps (68-72) at Dayton Dragons (71-69)
RH Reggie Lawson (4-6, 5.30) vs. RH Matt Blandino (4-4, 5.38)

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Today's Game: The Dayton Dragons (affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds) meet the Fort Wayne TinCaps (affiliate of the San Diego Padres) in the second game of the Midwest League Eastern Division Championship Series. This is a best-of-three series. The winner of this series will advance to the league championship series.
Current Series: Dayton 1, Fort Wayne 0.    Regular Season Series: Dayton 7, Fort Wayne 7 (in Dayton: Dragons 6, TinCaps 1).
Reaching this Series: The Dragons advanced to this round of the playoffs (2nd round, MWL Semi-Finals) by defeating West Michigan in the first round, 2 games to 1. Fort Wayne advanced by defeating Bowling Green, 2 games to 0. This is the fourth time in Dragons history that the club has reached the second round of the playoffs and the first time since 2008. The Dragons have never won a second round series.
Reaching the Playoffs: The Dragons earned the first half Midwest League East Division wildcard spot by finishing in second place in the division. The Dragons are making their first playoff appearance since 2011 and entered the playoffs as a first half qualifier for the first time since 2007. The Dragons have made the playoffs as a first half qualifier two previous times in franchise history, in 2001 and 2007.
Last Game: Saturday: Dayton 2, Fort Wayne 1. Three Dragons pitchers combined to allow only one unearned run in the series opener. The score was tied 1-1 until the Dragons took advantage of an error to score the tie-breaking run in the eighth inning. Dayton starter Wennington Romero went the first six and one-third innings, allowing one run (unearned) on six hits with eight strikeouts. Jesse Stallings earned the win with 1.2 innings of relief, and Dauri Moreta worked a perfect ninth for the save. Moreta struck out the last two batters of the game. Taylor Trammell had an RBI single in the first inning for Dayton.                 
Individual Notes

• Michael Beltre is 8 for 16 (.500) in the playoffs after closing out the regular season by going 9 for 11 with three walks in the final series at Lansing. Over the last two sets including playoffs (seven games), he is 17 for 27, .630.

Team Notes

• Dragons pitchers have posted an 0.95 ERA in the four playoff games, allowing eight runs (four earned) in 38 innings. Opponents are batting just .191 with just three extra base hits. Dragons pitchers have 9 walks and 45 strikeouts.
• The Dragons have trailed for only one inning in the playoffs (end of 9th Wednesday). They have not led by more than two runs at any time.

Upcoming Probable Pitchers (Game times are Dayton time) (All games on WONE 980 AM and www.daytondragons.com)
Midwest League Eastern Division Playoffs (2nd Round)
Game 3 (if necessary): Monday, Sept. 11 (7:00 p.m.): Fort Wayne TBA at Dayton RH Andrew Jordan (7-8, 4.66)