Dragons lose to Loons 9-3

Midland, Mich. - Leon Landry collected three hits including a two-run home run and starting pitcher Angel Sanchez allowed just one run over seven innings as the Great Lakes Loons defeated the Dayton Dragons 9-3 on Wednesday night. The Dragons' second half record dropped to 39-29. Their magic number to clinch a playoff berth remained at five pending the completion of the Lake County at West Michigan game.

Great Lakes took the lead with two runs against Dragons starting pitcher Mitch Clarke (3-2) in the second inning. Dayton scored in the fourth on Juan Duran’s RBI single to make it 2-1.

But the Loons’ Michael Pericht belted a solo home run in the fourth and Great Lakes added four runs in the fifth to take a commanding 7-1 lead. Landry connected on a two-run home run in the sixth to make it 9-1.

Dayton scored two late runs in the eighth when Ronald Torreyes singled and scored on Kurtis Muller’s double to right-center, then Muller scored on Donald Lutz’s single to center to make it 9-3. But the Dragons could get no closer and lost for just the fourth time in the last 18 games.

Clarke worked four and one-third innings, allowing seven hits and six earned runs with no walks and three strikeouts to suffer the loss.

The Dragons collected 10 hits, reaching double figures for the fourth time in five games on the current road trip. Billy Hamilton, Tucker Barnhart, and Juan Duran each had two hits.

Hamilton stole his 92nd base of the season, which ranks tied for 14th in Minor League Baseball history and the most for any player since 2001. Hamilton has stolen bases in six straight games and has 10 steals in five games on the road trip. He has led off every game on the road trip by reaching base in the first inning and stealing second and in four straight games, he has stolen second on the first pitch to the second batter of the game. Hamilton is six stolen bases short of the all-time Cincinnati Reds organizational record for a single season, set in 1988 by Ramon Sambo of Cedar Rapids with 98.