Dayton Dragons GameDay Notes for Saturday (At Lansing, 1:05 PM)
MWL Dayton Dragons

Dayton Dragons GameDay Notes for Saturday (At Lansing, 1:05 PM)

Published on April 4, 2026 under Midwest League (MWL)
Dayton Dragons News Release


Saturday, April 4, 2026 l Game # 3

Jackson Field l Lansing, Mich. l 1:05 p.m.

Radio: Fox Sports 980 WONE

TV: MLB App, MiLB TV, Bally Sports Live Ohio

Dayton Dragons (1-1) at Lansing Lugnuts (1-1)

RH Reynardo Cruz vs. RH Tzu-Chen Sha

REMINDER: DRAGONS "OPENING NIGHT" AT DAY AIR BALLPARK IN THE HEART OF THE WATER STREET DISTRICT IS TUESDAY, APRIL 7 AT 7:05 PM VS. THE LAKE COUNTY CAPTAINS. GO TO DAYTONDRAGONS.COM/TICKETS

Today's Game: The Dayton Dragons (affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds) meet the Lansing Lugnuts (affiliate of the Athletics) in the third game of the 2026 Midwest League season for both teams. This is the rubber match of a three-game series.

Last Night: Lansing 5, Dayton 1. The Lugnuts broke open a 1-0 game with four runs in the sixth inning. Jared Sprague-Lott had three hits including a home run to lead an eight-hit Lansing attack. The Dragons had five hits by five different players. Peyton Stovall and Esmith Pineda each had a double. Kien Vu had a run-scoring single. Dayton starter Nestor Lorant pitched well but absorbed the loss, working 4.2 innings and surrendering one run with seven strikeouts.

And a Look Ahead to 2026 for the Dragons: Julio Morillo re-joins the Dragons in his first year as manager after spending parts of the 2014 and '15 seasons with the Dragons as a player (catcher). The Dayton roster includes 18 players who spent all or part of the 2025 season with the Dragons, including the team's home run and RBI leader last season, John Michael Faile. The Dragons roster is headlined by elite prospect Alfredo Duno, the highest-rated prospect currently in the Reds farm system. Duno is listed as the #2 on the Reds prospect list by both Baseball America and MLB Pipeline, trailing only former Dragon Sal Stewart, who was the Reds opening day starting first baseman on March 26. More on Duno: Alfredo Duno was selected as both the Most Valuable Player and Best Major League Prospect in the Single-A Florida State League in 2025 while playing for the Daytona Tortugas. Duno led the league in eight of the most important categories including home runs (18), runs batted in (81), extra base hits (52), runs (78), doubles (32), on-base percentage (.430), slugging percentage (.518), and OPS (.948). He finished second in the league in batting average (.287) and base hits (112). Duno is the top-rated prospect ever to play for the Dragons at the catcher position, surpassing future Major League stars Devin Mesoraco and Tyler Stephenson, who were Reds top-10 prospects with the Dragons but not as high on the list as Duno. Duno is the first player to play for the Dragons after winning a league MVP award the previous since Chris Valaika played with Dayton in 2007 after winning the Pioneer League MVP in '06.

Starting pitcher J.P. Ortiz had the best ERA (2.81) in the Reds farm system in 2025 with Daytona among pitchers with at least 80 innings.

Outfielder Kien Vu is in his first full season of pro ball after completing his college career at Arizona State, where he led the led the PAC 12 in batting as a sophomore in 2024 at .413. His OPS over his three years at ASU was 1.062 with a career batting average of .351.

John Michael Faile is the NCAA Division II all-time career leader in both home runs (81) and RBI (337). Faile has hit 17 home runs in his Dragons career and would equal the team's career record of 30 this season if he matches his home run with the Dragons in 2025 (13).

Upcoming Probable Pitchers (Game times are Dayton time) (All games on WONE 980 AM)

Tuesday, April 7 (7:05 pm): Lake County TBA at Dayton J.P. Ortiz

Wednesday, April 8 (7:05 pm): Lake County TBA at Dayton RH Luke Hayden

Thursday, April 9 (7:05 pm): Lake County TBA at Dayton RH Cole Schoenwetter (1-0, 6.00)

Friday, April 10 (7:05 pm): Lake County TBA at Dayton RH Beau Blanchard (0-0, 9.64)

Saturday, April 11 (1:05 pm): Lake County TBA at Dayton RH Nestor Lorant (0-1, 2.08)

Sunday, April 12 (1:05 pm): Lake County TBA at Dayton RH Reynardo Cruz

How to Watch/Listen: Dragons radio broadcasts of all home and road games are also available on FOX Sports 980 WONE (980 AM), at daytondragons.com, and via the Dragons Mobile App. Additionally, the Dragons will televise 15 games locally over-the-air on Dayton's CW (Channel 26; Spectrum Cable channels 13 and 1013). First telecast is May 15. All 2026 home and road Dragons can be viewed free of charge on the Bally Sports Live app (look for Bally Live Ohio) or on the internet at Ballysportslive.com (click on Bally Sports Live Ohio or the MiLB Zone). All games are also available by subscription on the MLB App and the MiLB App. Games in Dayton will be Dragons productions; games on the road will be produced by the opposing team.

Dragons Ticket Information: daytondragons.com/tickets Dragons 2026 Schedule: milb.com/dayton/schedule

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