WEDNESDAY’S GAME
Lansing at Dayton, 7 p.m.
WONE-AM (980)
Any hiccups along the way and things usually don’t turn out well for the Dayton Dragons.
That was the case once again Tuesday night when Lebanon High School graduate Dusty Isaacs worked a perfect ninth inning for his 10th save in a 4-3 Lansing win at Fifth Third Field.
“We tend to have to play about a perfect game,” Dragons manager Dick Schofield said after the Dragons fell to 13-39. “There have been a lot of games where we have had the opportunity to win and just didn’t close it out.”
Dayton, which did not have a base runner in eight of the nine innings, still had the lead going into the ninth thanks to a brief outburst in the fifth that was sparked when Schofield was ejected for arguing a third strike call on Shane Mardirosian.
James Vasquez had broken up a perfect game the hitter before and Brantley Bell followed the ejection with a single before both scored on a triple by Reydel Medina.
Medina scored on a wild pitch and the Dragons had turned a 2-0 deficit into a 3-2 lead.
“I thought we pitched pretty well most of the game and played well,” Schofield said. “But it seems like we let one little mistake dictate the outcome. We need to jump out on teams and get a cushion and we just haven’t done that.”
Lansing opened the ninth with a walk and a single before a two-run double down the line gave the Lugnuts the lead.
Isaacs struck out Zack Shields and Kevin Garcia to begin the ninth before getting Shed Long to pop out to short to end the game.
String continues: The Dragons losing skid is a season-high 10 games.
Seven of the 10 losses have been by two or fewer runs and Dayton is now 5-21 at home.
After Tuesday’s loss, the Dragons are 8-19 in games decided by two runs or less on the season.
The Dragons need to go 15-4 the rest of the half to match the worst first-half in franchise history (27-43) in 2004.
Among the leaders: Vasquez has gone on a tear and moved up the ranks among all players in professional baseball – majors and minors – with a hot month of May.
Since May 12, Vasquez ranks fourth in baseball with 20 RBI and is tied for fifth in home runs with six.
Vasquez, who has raised his average to .241 from .181, is tied for second in the MWL in home runs with eight.
Bell streaking: Bell pushed his hitting streak to seven with a single in the fifth inning.
Bell, who went 1-for-3, has raised his average from .185 to .222 during the hitting streak.
About the Author