Dayton Dragons blanked by Lansing

Dayton's Quin Cotton leads the Dragons with five stolen bases. The team is on pace to equal the club record for a season. An experimental rule in High-A leagues eliminating certain pickoff moves is meant to increase base stealing. Jeff Gilbert/CONTRIBUTED

Dayton's Quin Cotton leads the Dragons with five stolen bases. The team is on pace to equal the club record for a season. An experimental rule in High-A leagues eliminating certain pickoff moves is meant to increase base stealing. Jeff Gilbert/CONTRIBUTED

Three Lansing pitchers combined on a one-hit shutout and the Lugnuts broke a scoreless tie in the sixth inning on the way to a 3-0 victory over the Dayton Dragons on Saturday night.

The Dragons will need a win on Sunday night to split the six-game set in Lansing and to post a winning road trip. They are 5-5 on the trip with one game to play.

The only Dayton hit was a third inning double by Quin Cotton. The two-base hit came with one out and Francisco Urbaez at first base. Urbaez tried to score on the play and was tagged out at the plate. 

In the sixth, Dragons reliever Daniel Duarte, in his first game with the team after being signed by the Reds as a Minor League free agent on June 24, issued four consecutive walks with two outs and the bases empty. The fourth walk forced in the first run of the game.Lansing added two more runs against Dayton reliever Matt Gill in the seventh to close out the scoring.

Dragons starting pitcher Eduardo Salazar effectively worked out of jams in every inning, as Lansing went 0 for 9 with men in scoring position over the first five innings. Salazar allowed just three hits over 4 2/3 innings while walking five and striking out four. He was replaced by Duarte with the bases loaded and two outs in the fifth with the game still tied, and Duarte induced an inning-ending pop out before running into trouble in the sixth.

The first place Dragons (29-23) saw their lead trimmed to 1/2 game over Great Lakes and Lake County, who share second place in the High-A Central League East Division standings with identical records of 29-24.