Dragons crush Captains 12 to 6

Dayton, Ohio (WDTN) - Sammy Diaz and Junior Arias each belted a home run and collected three hits to lead the Dayton Dragons to a 12-6 victory over the Lake County Captains on Thursday night before a crowd of 8,647 at Fifth Third Field.  The two clubs have split the first two games of the series that concludes on Friday night.  The win pulled the Dragons to within four and one-half games of the wildcard slot with 18 games to play.

The Dragons scored in five consecutive innings and scored at least two runs in five of their first six innings at the plate.  Diaz and Arias both had a single, double, homer, three runs scored, and two runs batted in to lead a 15-hit Dragons attack.  Kyle Waldrop also enjoyed a three-hit night and Yorman Rodriguez drove in four runs.

After Lake County took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning, Rodriguez tied the game with a high chopper that just cleared the glove of the leaping third baseman to bring in two runs.  In the third, Rodriguez delivered a nearly identical high bouncing two-run single over the third baseman to make it 4-2.

Dayton took a 6-3 lead with two runs in the fourth, including a solo homer by Diaz, his first of the season.  They added three more in the fifth, getting a two-run home run from Arias, his fourth of the year, to make it 9-3.  Waldrop drove in a run with a single in the sixth and Diaz delivered a run-scoring double in the seventh to highlight the rest of the night.  The 12 runs were the most for the Dragons since July 4 when they scored 17.

Dragons starting pitcher Radhames Quezada worked the first two innings in his first game since missing a month with shoulder soreness.  He allowed three hits and two runs with three walks and two strikeouts.  Wes Mugarian (2-3) followed Quezada and was credited with the victory.  He tossed six innings, the longest relief outing of the year for a Dayton pitcher.  He allowed six hits and three runs with one walk and four strikeouts.  El’Hajj Muhammad worked the final inning and allowed a solo home run for his only hit.

The Dragons (22-28) host the Captains (27-24) again on Friday at Fifth Third Field at 7:00 p.m. in the finale of the three-game series.  Robert Stephenson (2-0, 3.00) will start for Dayton against Lake County’s Mason Radeke (5-6, 3.77).  The Dragons begin a seven-game road trip at Fort Wayne on Saturday night at 7:05.