Dragons fall to TinCaps

Dayton's Cam Collier is in the foot by a pitch in the first inning Friday night at Day Air Ballpark. Jeff Gilbert/CONTRIBUTED

Dayton's Cam Collier is in the foot by a pitch in the first inning Friday night at Day Air Ballpark. Jeff Gilbert/CONTRIBUTED

The Fort Wayne TinCaps scored seven runs in the fourth inning to break a 2-2 tie on the way to defeating the Dayton Dragons 13-4 on Saturday night.

With the loss, the Dragons saw their lead in the East Division second half playoff race reduced to 2 1/2 games over second-place West Michigan with 37 games to play. Lansing started Sunday’s play three games out of first.

Dayton starting pitcher Connor Overton, on an injury rehab assignment after starting games for the Cincinnati Reds in both 2022 and ‘23, worked two innings, allowing one run on a solo home run. He surrendered two hits with no walks and four strikeouts.

The Dragons opened the scoring with two runs in the first inning, getting back-to-back walks to Carlos Jorge and Jay Allen II before Hector Rodriguez singled to center to drive in Jorge. Allen scored when Cam Collier grounded into a double play to make it 2-0.

But Fort Wayne scored single runs in the second and third innings to tie the score. In the fourth, the TinCaps scored seven runs, getting a two-run home run from Homer Bush Jr. while taking advantage of two walks and two errors as they went ahead 9-2.

Carter Graham hit a solo home run in the bottom of the eighth for the Dragons, his second of the year, but the Dragons were never able to build a comeback effort as Fort Wayne finished with three home runs in the game.

Dragons reliever Dylan Simmons made his High-A debut after being called up from Daytona earlier in the week. Simmons worked two and two-thirds innings, allowed one unearned run on three hits with no walks and four strikeouts.

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