MWL1 Dayton Dragons

Dragons Gameday for Thursday, July 28

Published on July 28, 2011 under Midwest League (MWL1)
Dayton Dragons News Release


Thursday, July 28, 2011

Fifth Third Field * Dayton, Ohio

7:07 p.m. * Game # 102 (32)

Radio: WONE-AM 980

Television: WHIO Digital Channel 7.2 *

***

Fort Wayne TinCaps (17-14, 47-53) at Dayton Dragons (22-9, 57-44)

RH Adys Portillo (2-9, 6.21) vs. RH Daniel Renken (5-8, 3.34)

Today's Game: The Dayton Dragons (affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds) meet the Fort Wayne TinCaps (affiliate of the San Diego Padres) in the second game of a three-game series. Season Series: Dayton 9, Fort Wayne 4 (at Dayton: Dragons 3, TinCaps 1).

Last Night: Fort Wayne defeated Dayton 5-4 in the first game of the series. The TinCaps built a 5-0 lead and held off a Dragons comeback bid, snapping the Dragons eight-game winning streak. Dayton collected eight hits including two each by Billy Hamilton, Ronald Torreyes, and Juan Duran. Dragons relievers Luca Panerati and Daniel Wolford each fired two hitless, scoreless innings as the team battled back and had the tying run in scoring position in the sixth and eighth but could not get over the last hurdle. Luis Domoromo drove in three runs for Fort Wayne.

Today's Dragons Starting Pitcher: Midwest League strikeouts leader Daniel Renken makes his team-leading 20th start of 2011 tonight. In Renken's last start last Thursday vs. Peoria, he earned the win (5.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 10 SO). Over his last two starts, Renken has allowed just one hit and no runs over 11.2 innings. On June 29 vs. Lansing, Renken tied a Midwest League record set in 1966 when he struck out 10 consecutive batters beginning with the final batter of the first inning and continuing through the fourth. He also tied Josh Hall's club record set in 2001 for strikeouts in a game with 14. Renken was a late signee in 2010 by the Reds after being drafted in June in the 25th round out of Cal State Fullerton. In the spring of 2010 at CSF, Renken posted a record of 12-2 with 3.96 ERA. He tied for fifth in the nation in victories and earned Collegiate Baseball 3rd Team All-American honors while earning 1st Team All-Big West Conference for the second time in his college career. Renken led the Titans in starts and tied for the team lead in victories as Cal State Fullerton finished one victory short of qualifying for the eight-team College World Series, losing to eventual CWS runner-up UCLA in the Super Regional, two games to one. He finished his college career at CSF with a 27-10 record. Renken is afflicted with Type I Diabetes and pitches with an insulin pump that monitors his blood sugar at all times.

Individual Notes

* Donald Lutz saw his 16-game hitting streak snapped last night. Over his last 17 games, he is batting .369 with five home runs.

* Ronald Torreyes leads the Midwest League in batting average and base hits in the second half while ranking second in runs scored (behind Billy Hamilton). Since June 24 when the second half began, Torreyes is second in all of minor league baseball in base hits (former Dragon Denis Phipps of Carolina is first). Torreyes is batting .412 since joining the club on June 17. Torreyes is batting .618 in his last eight games.

* Billy Hamilton is batting .356 over his last 22 games, raising his average from .223 to .254. He has 74 stolen bases to set the Dragons club record for single-season and career steals. He leads all of professional baseball in steals.

* David Vidal is batting .336 with 5 HR and 28 RBI in his last 30 games, raising his average from .267 to .292.

* Daniel Wolford over his last 25 G: 42.1 IP, 4 R, 3 ER, 0.64 ERA to lower his season ERA from 4.50 to 1.49. He has not allowed a run since June 9 (13 games, 23.1 innings).

Team Notes

* The Dragons saw their eight game winning streak snapped last night. This was their longest winning streak since April 28-May 7, 2007 when they won 10 straight. The club record is 13 set in 2002.

* The Dragons now lead the Midwest League in team batting on the season at .258. They took over the lead Sunday night (first time in '11).

* Dayton has outscored its opponents on the current homestand 51-19 in 7 games. They are batting .346 on the homestand, going 6-1.

* Dayton has won nine of their 10 series in the second half. The Dragons are 18-6 in July. They are 28-13 over the last 41 games.

* Dayton has held at least a share of first place for the last 29 days (since June 29).

* The Dragons are batting .294 in the second half (31 games) after hitting .241 in the first half (70 games). The Dragons are averaging 6.1 runs per game in the second half (4.23 in the first half). The Dragons lead the league in team batting in July at .296.

* The Dragons team earned run average on the current homestand is 2.29. The team ERA in the second half is 3.49 (3.51 in first half).

* The Dragons have stolen 168 bases to rank first in all of professional baseball. They have already broken the club record for a season.

* Six 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 Kyle Lotzkar (#10), starting pitcher Daniel Corcino (#15), second baseman Ronald Torreyes (#22) and outfielder Juan Duran (#28).

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

Friday (7:00 p.m.): Dayton LH Tanner Robles (3-7, 7.16) vs. Fort Wayne RH Zach Cates (3-6, 4.60)

Check out the Dayton Dragons Statistics

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Midwest League Stories from July 28, 2011


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