MWL Dayton Dragons

Dayton Dragons GameDay Notes for Wednesday

June 1, 2022 - Midwest League (MWL)
Dayton Dragons News Release


Wednesday, June 1, 2022 l Game # 46

Day Air Ballpark l Dayton, Ohio l 7:05 p.m.

Radio: Fox Sports 980 WONE

South Bend Cubs (27-19) at Dayton Dragons (31-14)

LH DJ Herz (1-0, 1.67) vs. RH Bryce Bonnin (1-1, 3.15)

Today's Game: The Dayton Dragons (affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds) host the South Bend Cubs (affiliate of the Chicago Cubs) at Day Air Ballpark in the heart of the Water Street District. This is game two of a six-game series.

Last Game: Tuesday: Dayton 4, South Bend 2. Three Dayton pitchers combined to slow down the league-leading South Bend offense and Allan Cerda hit a long home run off the video board in left field. Elly De La Cruz had two hits including a double, run scored, and RBI. Reliever Donovan Benoit faced the minimum six batters over the final two innings for the save. The Dragons were 3 for 10 (.300) with runners in scoring position.

Dragons in the Standings: Dayton is in first place in the MWL East Division, six and one-half games ahead of Great Lakes with 21 games to play in the first half season. The final day of the first half is June 23.

Month of May: The Dragons went 16-9 in May, batting .256 in 25 games, averaging 5.1 runs per game with 30 home runs and a team ERA of 3.78.

Team Notes

The Dragons 31-14 (.689) record is tied for third best of all Minor League Baseball.

The Dragons have matched a 2022 high-point of 17 games over .500. Over the last 10 years, they had reached 17 games above .500 for one day (30-13 on May 21, 2017). Before 2017, the last time they were 17 games over .500 came at the end of the 2011 season, when they were 26 games over at 83-57.

In the month of May, the Dragons led the league in slugging percentage (.452), on-base percentage (.343), and OPS (.795).

The Dragons are 11-3 in one-run games; 19-5 in games decided by two or less.

Dayton leads the MWL in home runs with 53, three more than Quad Cities.

Dragons starting pitchers have a full-season ERA of 3.51 to rank second in the MWL.

The Dragons have completed eight series, winning seven and splitting one.

The Dragons roster includes 13 players selected in the first five rounds of the draft and 11 of the Reds top 27 prospects (MLB.com).

Player Notes

Joe Boyle leads all Minor League Baseball in ERA (0.72) and opponent's batting average (.077). He has made eight starts covering 37.2 innings and has allowed only three runs and only nine hits. Opponents are 3 for 51 against Boyle with men on base and 1 for 22 with men in scoring position. Boyle was named Midwest League Pitcher of the Week for the week of May 23-29. He fired six no-hit innings on May 24 at West Michigan to earn the win, striking out eight and walking three.

In the month of May, Rece Hinds led the MWL in batting average (.388), slugging percentage (.672), on-base percentage (.474), and OPS (1.146).

Alex McGarry leads the Midwest League in slugging percentage (.705), OPS (1.051), and extra base hits (23) while ranking second in home runs (11), runs batted in (35), and batting average (.311)...McGarry has 23 extra base hits in 33 games, an average of .70 extra base hits per game. Over the Dragons history, the top two ranked hitters in extra base hits per game (minimum 50 games) are Nick Senzel (.57 per game in 2016) and Jay Bruce (.54 per game in 2006)...McGarry connected on his 10th homer on May 12. Since daily records became available in 2005, the earliest that a previous Dayton hitter had reached 10 home runs was May 21 (2008, Brandon Waring). Next earliest is May 28 (Jay Bruce in 2006; Juan Francisco in 2007).

Elly De La Cruz has an eight-game hitting streak, batting .364 with two home runs and seven extra base hits.

Connor Phillips leads the MWL in strikeouts with 66, ranking eighth in all Minor League Baseball. Since April 28, Phillips has made five starts, posting a 1.26 ERA (28.2 IP, 15 H, 6 R, 4 ER, 8 BB, 45 SO).

Donovan Benoit over his last 11 relief appearances: 1-0, 6 saves, 0.57 ERA (15.2 IP, 1 R).

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

Thursday, June 2 (7:05 p.m.): South Bend RH Manuel Espinoza (3-2, 1.70) at Dayton RH Thomas Farr (0-1, 6.63)

Friday, June 3 (7:05 p.m.): South Bend RH Kohl Franklin (0-3, 10.80) at Dayton RH Connor Phillips (2-2, 2.53)

Saturday, June 4 (7:09 p.m.): South Bend RH Daniel Palencia (0-0, 3.96) at Dayton RH Christian Roa (0-1, 5.73) TV: Dayton's CW (26)

Sunday, June 5 (1:09 p.m.): South Bend LH Jordan Wicks (0-2, 3.65) at Dayton RH James Proctor (3-2, 4.83) TV: Dayton's CW (26)

Check out the Dayton Dragons Statistics



Midwest League Stories from June 1, 2022


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