Davis (1-4) allowed one hit and one walk over six innings and struck out seven, lowering his ERA to 3.35. He’s now had at least seven strikeouts in five starts and allowed only one earned run in four starts.
“Noah was in control of the situation, and I’m happy for him because the last three or four outings he was working real hard and he never gets the W,” Dragons manager Jose Moreno said.
Davis, rated the Reds’ No. 15 prospect by Baseball America, has shown why wins, especially when starters rarely pitch past the fifth or sixth innings, aren’t a good measure of how well a pitcher has thrown. The Dragons had won only two of his starts. Both times he didn’t pitch the requisite five innings needed to earn the win. And three of his losses are by one run.
“I’m very surprised how he can control his emotion,” Moreno said of the 24-year-old from California. “He’s very mature, he knows what he’s doing. He knows that sometimes the outcome – the wins and losses – are not in his control. He just tries to do a really good job for us and tries to keep the team close and get the W.”
The Dragons (22-16) won their second straight game and have won six of their last eight to maintain their hold on first place in the High-A Central League East Division. The Dragons lead Lake County (20-18) by two games.
The Dragons took a 1-0 lead in the second on Miguel Hernandez’s sacrifice fly. Hernandez extended his hitting streak to 10 games with a single in the fourth that preceded an RBI single by Quin Cotton. Hernandez then scored on a balk for a 3-0 lead. He is batting .395 during the streak.
“He finds barrels even when he’s off-balance,” Moreno said of Hernandez. “He’s putting together real good at-bats for us in key situations. And defensively he’s played a very solid shortstop.”
Hernandez committed a fielding error in the fifth, but with two out and runners on first and second he went far to his right and made a difficult throw to first to end the inning. He made a crowd-pleasing leaping grab of a line drive in the sixth.
The Tincaps, who had only four hits, scored single runs in the seventh and eighth against Matt Gill. Francis Peguero finished the eighth with a grounder and pitched a perfect ninth, striking out two, for his fourth save. His lowered his ERA to 0.73.
Tello back: Dragons catcher Jose Tello was back in the lineup after returning from the injured list Tuesday. Tello singled on the first pitch he saw, reached on an error on the second pitch he saw and finished 1-for-4 with two runs scored. He replaced first baseman Bren Spillane, who was assigned to extended spring training in Arizona. Spillane, a third-round draft pick in 2018, batted .154 with two homers in 26 at-bats this season. In Dayton in 2019, he hit .207 with five homers in 213 at-bats.
Rotation change: Carson Spiers will start Friday and replace Spencer Stockton, who is going to the bullpen. Spiers was a starter in low-A Daytona before joining the Dragons on May 26. Spiers, a non-drafted free agent signee from Clemson last year, pitched six scoreless innings in relief and allowed one hit on June 8.
Attendance update: The Dragons are steadily drawing more fans since the park was opened to full capacity on June 8. Wednesday’s game was the third largest crowd and largest weeknight crowd at 5,863. Attendance the first two nights was just under 5,000. Every game since has been over 5,000 with a season-high of 6,624 on Saturday night.
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