“We had chances,” Dragons manager Bryan LaHair said. “Got to do a better job of executing in situations. Situational hitting is important to us. We work on it. Tonight it didn’t work out for us.”
The pitching staff gave the offense every opportunity with a combined two-hitter. A bunt single in the sixth inning was Great Lakes’ only hit until Yeiner Fernandez lined an RBI single just out of the reach of shortstop Edwin Arroyo in the 11th.
The Dragons had another chance, but Austin Hendrick and Ruben Ibarra struck out in the 11th and Austin Callahan grounded out to finish a 2-1 defeat to the Loons. The Dragons have lost four straight to fall to 6-6 in the second half. The Loons are 8-4.
The Dragons’ best chance to get to the lead came in the seventh when Tyler Callihan doubled and scored from third on Jack Rogers’ line-drive single to center to tie the score 1-1. But with runners at first and second, Ashton Creal popped up a bunt and Jay Allen II hit into a double play.
In the 10th and 11th with the free runner at second, the Dragons were 0-for-6 with four strikeouts. Mat Nelson made it to third in the 10th on a wild pitch.
The Dragons are now 10-20 in one-run games. They struck out 18 times and had three hits.
“They’re in tight games, they’re in a lot of pressure situations,” LaHair said. “Realistically, that’s only going to make them better down the road. I’d rather be in a tight game than down 10 runs in the fourth inning.”
With the pitching staff the Dragons have this year, that’s a rare scenario. They’ve only allowed double-digit runs four times and are third in the 12-team Midwest League with a 3.59 ERA.
The pitching was easy to sum up for LaHair: “It was great.”
Farr walked the first two batters of the game. Taylor Young stole third and scored on a double play. From there, Farr struck out six and walked four.
Myles Gayman allowed one hit over the next three innings, Jayvien Sandridge struck out four over the next two innings, and Owen Holt (3-3) allowed only the winning run in the 11th.
Allen II returns: Allen II was back in the lineup, batting lead off and playing center field, for the first time since the third game of the season. He returned from rehabbing a sprained thumb in Arizona.
Allen was 1-for-4 with a walk. He got the game’s first hit with a broken bat blooper over the first baseman’s head.
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