MWL1 Dayton Dragons

Dragons Gameday for Tuesday, May 31

Published on May 31, 2011 under Midwest League (MWL1)
Dayton Dragons News Release


Tuesday, May 31, 2011 * Game # 52

Fifth Third Field * Dayton, Ohio * 7:00 p.m.

Radio: WONE-AM 980

Beloit Snappers (24-27) at Dayton Dragons (26-25)

RH A.J. Achter (0-0, 0.00) vs. LH Tanner Robles (3-4, 5.15)

Today's Game: The Dragons (affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds) meet the Snappers (affiliate of the Minnesota Twins) in the first game of a three-game series. Season Series: This is the first meeting of the year between the two clubs.

Streaks: Dayton has lost three straight games after winning four straight. Beloit has won three of four after losing nine straight.

Last Game: South Bend swept a doubleheader from Dayton, winning game one 4-1 and taking game two in extra innings, 5-4 (8 innings). In the first game, South Bend starting pitcher Jeff Shields tossed five perfect innings for the win. In game two, South Bend broke a 4-4 tie by scoring the winning run on a wild pitch with two outs in the bottom of the eighth. Billy Hamilton led the Dragons in the DH, going 3 for 7 with two doubles and a triple.

Today's Dragons Starting Pitchers: Tanner Robles makes his ninth start of the season tonight. Robles started at Great Lakes last Wednesday and earned the win (5 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 6 BB, career-high 10 SO)...Left-handed hitters have gone just 6 for 48, .125 against him on the year...2010: Began pro career with Billings and selected as Pioneer League All-Star...Opposing batters combined to hit just .179 against him....Struggled over first five starts with Mustangs (16.1 IP, 14 ER, 20 BB) but was dominant over final nine starts (44 IP, 6 ER, 1.23 ERA, 21 H, 12 BB, 50 SO)...Spent three seasons at Oregon State University...Went 5-4, 3.43 in 14 starts as junior in spring of 2010...Had incredible high school career at Cottonwood High School in Murray, Utah, posting a perfect 33-0 record over four seasons and earning Utah's Gatorade Player of the Year award two times...Went 10-0 as a high school senior, posting 109 strikeouts in 50 innings.

Manager/Coaches: Delino DeShields is in his first season with the Dragons and third year in the Reds organization. He served as the manager of the Billings Mustangs in the Pioneer League last season, leading the club to a record of 38-37. As a player, DeShields spent 13 years in the Major Leagues from 1990-2002 with the Expos, Dodgers, Orioles, Cardinals, and Cubs. He finished in the top three in the league in stolen bases six times and is 46th on the all-time career list with 463. DeShields hit .290 or higher five times. DeShields finished second in the National League Rookie of the Year voting in 1990...Pitching coach Tony Fossas is in his third season with the Dragons and third year in the Reds organization. Fossas pitched in the Major Leagues from 1988-1999 as a relief pitcher, appearing in 567 big league games with Boston, St. Louis, and five other clubs...Hitting coach Alex Pelaez is in his first season with the Dragons. He served as the hitting coach with Billings last season. Pelaez played professionally for eight seasons from 1998-2005 (played in big leagues in 2002 with the Padres).

Individual Notes

* Tucker Barnhart has hit in 12 straight games, going 15 for 38, .395, to raise his batting average from .260 to .306. This is the longest hitting streak of the year by a Dayton player and two short of the longest streak in the league this season (Gallas, Lake County, 14, current).

* Billy Hamilton has 40 stolen bases to set the Dragons club record for single-season steals and tie the career record. He leads all of professional baseball in steals. Hamilton led the Reds organization in stolen bases (48) in 2010 despite playing in a "short-season" league.

* Jaren Matthews is batting .313 over his last 10 games with a home run and two triples.

* Drew Poulk joins the Dragons from extended spring training. He was a 2010 non-drafted free agent out of North Carolina State University. Poulk hit .300 with no home runs in 90 at-bats last summer with the AZL Reds. He hit .354-14-73 last spring at NC State in 59 games.

Team Notes

* Dayton went 4-3 on the road trip, winning the first four by a combined score of 26-3 and losing the last three by a score of 12-5.

* Dayton pitchers posted a 2.10 earned run average on the road trip. Seven of the 13 earned runs they allowed came Monday.

* Dragons' opponents have scored more than four runs in just three of the last 19 games.

* Dayton is 14-4 when scoring at least five runs; 9-8 when scoring three or four runs; 3-13 when scoring two runs or less.

* Dayton is 24-0 when leading at the end of the seventh inning and 21-2 when leading at the end of five innings.

* The Dragons went 19 for 56, .339 with men in scoring position on the trip. They enjoyed an inning of 3+ runs in all four wins.

* The Dragons are batting .226 as a team in the month of May to rank 15th of the 16 Midwest League teams. The full-season team batting average of .234 is three points below the club record for lowest team average over a season. The current team earned run average of 3.34 would top the all-time club record for best ERA in a season.

* The Dragons have stolen 95 bases to lead all of professional baseball, but they did not steal a base in Monday's doubleheader.

* Four members of the Dragons roster are rated among the Reds top 30 prospects according to Baseball America. They include shortstop Billy Hamilton (#2), outfielder Yorman Rodriguez (#5), starting pitcher Daniel Corcino (#15) and outfielder Juan Duran (#28). Additionally, starting pitcher Daniel Tuttle was named as the #31 prospect in the magazine's special supplement.

Upcoming Probable Pitchers (All game times are Dayton time) (All games on WONE 980 AM and www.daytondragons.com)

Wednesday (7:00 p.m.): Dayton RH Daniel Renken (2-4, 3.10) vs. Beloit RH Manuel Soliman (2-2, 4.10)

Thursday (7:00 p.m.): Dayton RH Josh Smith (4-3, 1.78) vs. Beloit RH B.J. Hermsen (3-6, 4.13)

Check out the Dayton Dragons Statistics

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Midwest League Stories from May 31, 2011


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