Dragons Pound Bees, Go 8-2 on Trip
Dayton (R-H-E): 12-11-1
Burlington (R-H-E): 2-7-4
WP: Curtis Partch (3-3)
LP: Tim Melville (1-1)
Sv: None
HR: Dayton: Byron Wiley (2nd, 1 on base in first inning); Cody Puckett (9th, 0 on base in ninth inning.
Burlington: None
Burlington, Iowa-Cody Puckett hit a home run and added two doubles and Byron Wiley drilled a two-run home run as the Dayton Dragons completed an outstanding road trip with a 12-2 victory over the Burlington Bees on Monday afternoon. The Dragons went 8-2 on the trip and improved their season's record to 17-27. Burlington fell to 17-26.
The Dragons outscored their opponents 63-24 on the 10-game road trip. Their only two losses came by scores of 2-1 and 1-0.
The Dragons scored twice in the top of the first inning on a single by Dave Sappelt and a two-run home run to center field by Wiley, his second of the season.
The Dragons added four more runs in the fourth and five in the fifth to put the game out of reach. Puckett had run-scoring doubles in both innings. Humberto Sosa added RBI singles in both the fourth and the fifth. Puckett launched a long home run to left in the ninth, his ninth homer of the year and fourth of the road trip, to close out the Dragons scoring.
Dragons starting pitcher Curtis Partch tossed five scoreless innings to earn the win (3-3). Partch allowed only one hit with one walk and three strikeouts.
Burlington scored their only two runs in the eighth against Dragons reliever Oscar Castro. Dragons pitchers limited the Bees to just three runs on 13 hits in the three-game series.
The Dragons finished with 11 hits. They established a season-high for runs in a game in the win. Sappelt and Puckett each had three hits. Sosa had two hits and Wiley had one hit with two walks.
Puckett is batting .411 with five home runs and nine doubles over his last 13 games. He has raised his batting average from .230 to .290 over that stretch.
Dayton will return to Fifth Third Field to begin a 10-game home stand on Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. against the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers. Lance Janke (1-1, 2.45) will start for Dayton against Wisconsin's Michael Bowman (1-1, 3.03).
Notes: Sappelt extended his hitting streak to eight straight games, going 3 for 5...The Dragons have scored at least eight runs in five of their last eight games. They had scored eight runs in a game only once in their first 36 games previously.
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