Dragons Lose Game, Not Ground

DAYTON - Dayton, Ohio—Lansing starting pitcher John Anderson and two relievers combined to pitch shutout baseball into the ninth inning as the Lugnuts defeated the Dayton Dragons 7-3 on Monday night at Fifth Third Field.

The Dragons loss kept them one game behind South Bend in the wildcard race with six games to play. South Bend lost to Great Lakes for the fourth straight night on Monday. They will open a three-game set with the Dragons in Dayton on Wednesday.

Neither team scored until Lansing’s Chris Emanuele belted a home run leading off the fifth inning to give the Lugnuts a 1-0 lead. It was Emanuele’s fifth homer of the year.

In the sixth, Lansing took advantage of a Dayton error to score two runs and jump out to a 3-0 lead. They added four more in the eighth, keyed by a three-run home run by Mike McDade, to go ahead 7-0.

The Dragons scored all three of their runs in the bottom of the ninth. Cody Puckett doubled to the left field fence to start the inning and scored on Carlos Mendez’s single. Humberto Sosa followed with a two-run homer to left, his fourth home run of the season, to make it 7-3 and close out the scoring.

Dayton finished with seven hits. Mendez was 3 for 4 to lead the way.

Dragons starting pitcher Jordan Hotchkiss pitched well but absorbed a loss for the second straight start. He worked six innings and allowed five hits and three runs (two earned) with no walks and eight strikeouts.

The Dragons do not play on Tuesday. They open a big three-game series against South Bend on Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. at Fifth Third Field. Mark Serrano (2-1, 2.28) will start for Dayton against South Bend’s Brett Moorhouse (5-13, 4.41).