MWL Dayton Dragons

Dayton Dragons GameDay Notes for Saturday (7:05 PM Game)

Published on July 23, 2022 under Midwest League (MWL)
Dayton Dragons News Release


Saturday, July 23, 2022 l Game # 87 (21)

Day Air Ballpark l Dayton, Ohio l 7:09 p.m.

TV: Dayton's CW (26) l Radio: Fox Sports 980 WONE

Fort Wayne TinCaps (9-13, 36-52) at Dayton Dragons (6-14, 45-41)

RH Ryan Bergert (1-6, 6.23) vs. RH Thomas Farr (0-5, 5.98)

Today's Game: The Dayton Dragons (affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds) host the Fort Wayne TinCaps (affiliate of the San Diego Padres) at Day Air Ballpark in the heart of the Water Street District. This is the second game of a three-game series.

Season Series: Dayton 8, Fort Wayne 2 (At Dayton: Dragons 3, TinCaps 1). Current Series: Dayton 1, Fort Wayne 0.

Last Game: Friday: Dayton 5, Fort Wayne 3. Mat Nelson connected on a tie-breaking two-run home run in the bottom of the eighth inning to lift the Dragons to a win and snap their seven-game losing streak. Jake Gilbert pitched the final two and one-third innings of scoreless relief for the win. Dragons starter Christian Roa (4 IP) and reliever Donovan Benoit (2 IP) combined to work the first six innings without allowing a run.

Roster Turnover: Since April, the following seven Dragons players have been promoted to Double-A Chattanooga: shortstop Elly De La Cruz; starting pitchers Andrew Abbott and Connor Phillips; relief pitcher Spencer Stockton; first baseman Alex McGarry; outfielder Allan Cerda; and infielder Nick Quintana. Additionally, starting pitchers Bryce Bonnin and James Proctor are out for season with shoulder injuries and outfielder Rece Hinds is out until August with a broken hamate.

Good Luck Elly: Elly De La Cruz has been promoted to Double-A Chattanooga. De La Cruz, who was the seventh youngest position player in the Midwest League with at least 160 at-bats, played in 73 games with the Dragons, batting .302 with 20 home runs and 52 runs batted in. At the time of his promotion to Chattanooga, De La Cruz led the MWL in slugging percentage and was tied for the league lead in home runs while ranking in the top five in OPS, RBI, batting average, hits, runs, extra base hits, and stolen bases...He became just the third player in Dragons history to hit 20 home runs and steal 20 bases in a season, joining Wily Mo Pena (2001) and Jose Siri (2017). De La Cruz did it in his first 71 games of the 2022 season, and he is the only player in professional baseball to have reached 20/20 so far this season...De La Cruz ranks second in Dragons history in extra base hits per game (minimum 50 games) with 0.55, trailing only Nick Senzel (0.57) in 2016. Third on the list is Jay Bruce (0.54) in 2006...De La Cruz became the third player in Dragons history to hit 20 home runs in a season while batting at least .300, joining Austin Kearns (2000) and Donald Lutz (2011)...Twice within a three-day period (July 7 and July 9), De La Cruz hit a home run from both sides of the plate in the same game. No other Dayton player had done it once since Henry Rodriguez on April 12, 2010...Over his last 39 games (since May 25), De La Cruz batted .333 with 14 home runs and 29 RBI. His slugging percentage since May 25 (.706) is second in Minor League Baseball.

Dayton is first in the MWL in home runs with 104, the most they have hit in a season since 2017 when they hit 112. The Dragons are on a pace to hit 157 on the year (130-game season). The club record is 144 in 2001 in a 139-game season.

Over 26 games from June 7-July 4, the Dragons posted a team ERA of 6.83 (last in MWL). However, over the last 10 games, the Dragons team ERA is 3.42 (fifth in the MWL).

Joe Boyle has an opponent's batting average of .082 on the year, which would lead all Minor League Baseball, but he is six innings short of the minimum number to qualify. His earned run average is 1.87.

Christian Roa has not allowed a run over his last three starts covering 14 innings (7 H, 21 SO) to lower his ERA from 5.63 to 3.91.

Myles Gayman over his 10 appearances since May 26 has posted a 1.77 ERA (20.1 IP, 11 H, 4 R, 4 BB, 22 SO).

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

Sunday, July 24 (1:05 p.m.): Fort Wayne LH Noel Vela (5-6, 3.95) at Dayton RH Joe Boyle (3-3, 1.87)

Check out the Dayton Dragons Statistics

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Midwest League Stories from July 23, 2022


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