MWL1 Dayton Dragons

Dragons Gameday for April 16

Published on April 16, 2012 under Midwest League (MWL1)
Dayton Dragons News Release


Monday, April 16, 2012 * Game # 11

Parkview Field * Fort Wayne, Ind. * 7:05 p.m.

Radio: WONE-AM 980

Dayton Dragons (4-6) at Fort Wayne TinCaps (3-7)

RH Justice French (1-1, 3.60) vs. LH Frank Garces (0-0, 0.82)

Today's Game: The Dayton Dragons (affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds) meet the Fort Wayne TinCaps (affiliate of the San Diego Padres) in the first game of a three-game series. Following this series, the Dragons return to Dayton to meet Quad Cities. Streaks: The Dragons split a four-game series at South Bend Thursday-Sunday. Fort Wayne lost three-of-four at Great Lakes on the same dates and enter this series with a three-game losing streak.

Last Game: South Bend defeated Dayton 10-1 on Sunday to earn a split of the four-game series. The top two batters in the South Bend order, Chris Ellison and Tom Belza, each collected four hits and went a combined 8 for 9. South Bend starting pitcher J.R. Bradley fired six strong innings, allowing two hits and one run with two walks and one strikeout to earn the win. Kyle Waldrop went 2 for 3 with a double and a run scored for Dayton. Yovan Gonzalez drove in the Dragons only run with a fifth-inning single. The Dragons were limited to just three hits.

Today's Dragons Starting Pitcher: Justice French makes his third start of the season for the Dragons tonight. He got the opening night start on April 5 and earned the win against West Michigan (6 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 8 SO). In his last start vs. Lansing last Wednesday, he suffered the loss (4 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 2 SO). French is in his second year (first full season) of professional baseball after being selected by the Reds in the 25th round of the 2011 draft out of Mercer University of the Atlantic Sun Conference. French played last season in the Arizona League with the Goodyear Reds, going 4-4, 3.99 in 10 starts and one relief appearance. He issued just six walks in 58.2 innings, the best ratio of any starting pitcher in the league. French started game one of the AZL playoffs for Goodyear. Last spring at Mercer, French went 6-2, 3.26, ranking second in the conference in ERA. Smith was the starting pitcher in Mercer's 4-2 win over # 6 ranked Georgia Tech.

Manager/Coaches: Delino DeShields is in his second season with the Dragons and fourth year in the Reds organization. He served as the manager of the Billings Mustangs in the Pioneer League in 2010 and was the hitting coach in Billings in 2009. 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. He was the 12th selection of the first round of the June draft in 1987 by Montreal. DeShields finished second in the National League Rookie of the Year voting in 1990...Pitching coach Tom Browning is in his first season with the Dragons and sixth year as a pitching coach in the Reds organization. Browning threw the only perfect game in Reds history on September 16, 1988. He won 20 games for the Reds in 1985 pitched in the 1991 All-Star Game. He was inducted into the Reds Hall-of-Fame in 2006...Hitting coach Alex Pelaez is in his second season with the Dragons and third year as a minor league coach with the Reds. He helped the Dragons to a club record team batting average in 2011 when the team led the league in runs scored. Pelaez played professionally for eight seasons from 1998-2005. He played in the big leagues in 2002 with San Diego.

Individual Notes

* Kyle Waldrop has hit safely in four straight games, going 6 for 11 (.545), after starting the year by going 1 for his first 14.

* Yovan Gonzalez is 6 for 9 (.667) with a home run, double, and two walks over his last three games. He is hitting .412 on the year (7 for 17).

* Juan Silva started the year by going hitless in his first 13 at-bats, but has since gone 4 for 8 with a double and triple.

* Dragons starting pitcher Tanner Robles has gone six innings in each of his two starts, allowing just one run in each game. Robles left both games with leads of at least two runs but did not get a decision.

* Dragons starting pitcher Radhames Quezada has allowed just five hits and one run in 10 innings. The only run came in his first inning of the season. Quezada was clocked as high as 96 mph in his last start on Thursday at South Bend, working six scoreless innings.

* Dragons reliever Ryan Kemp has allowed only one hit and no runs in five innings. He has walked two and struck out five.

* Dragons reliever Kyle McMyne has worked four and one-third scoreless innings, striking out six and walking one with three hits allowed.

* Dan Jensen, a right-handed relief pitcher, becomes the first Montgomery County native to play for the Dragons in their history. Jensen is from the Dayton suburb of Centerville. He has made four appearances out of the Dayton bullpen and allowed one unearned run in seven innings.

Team Notes

* The Dragons split the four-game series at South Bend, winning the middle two games. In their two victories, they collected 12 runs on 23 hits. In their two losses, they totaled one run on five hits.

* Dragons starting pitchers have allowed one run or less in six of the team's 10 games this season.

* The Dragons are batting .263 vs. LHP; .202 vs. RHP. LH batters are at .265 vs. Dragons pitchers; RH batters are at .190 vs. the Dragons.

* Three members of the Dragons are rated among the Reds top 30 prospects according to Baseball America. They include outfielder Kyle Waldrop (#22), second baseman Ryan Wright (#23), and first baseman Sean Buckley (#24).

* Five current Dragons played in Dayton in 2011, including outfielders Theo Bowe and Jefry Sierra, both of whom started all three Dragons playoff games last year. The others are starting pitchers Tanner Robles and Stalin Gerson and infielder Brandon Dailey.

* The Dragons roster represents the following NCAA Division I conferences: Big Ten, Big 12, Big East, Conference USA, PAC 12, Atlantic 10, Big West, and the Atlantic Sun.

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

Tuesday (7:05 p.m.): Dayton RH Radhames Quezada (0-0, 0.90) at Fort Wayne RH Adys Portillo (1-0, 0.84)

Wednesday (11:05 a.m.): Dayton LH Tanner Robles (0-0, 1.50) at Fort Wayne RH Joe Ross (0-1, 9.95)

Check out the Dayton Dragons Statistics

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