However, the Dragons continued to struggle on offense, managed only a lonely single in the eighth inning and fell 1-0 to the Loons at Day Air Ballpark.
“You get halfway through the week and have to reevaluate your plan of attack because things change, people make adjustments,” Farr said. “You always have to be taking notes of what hitters are doing and how they’re fouling balls off and always adjusting on the fly.”
Farr (0-2) walked the Loons’ second hitter. Then with two outs, Dalton Rushing, the Loons’ top prospect, doubled in the only run his team needed. Farr allowed one earned run in five innings in his first start and lowered his ERA to 1.80 on Friday.
“I’m in a pretty good spot,” said Farr, a fifth-round pick out of South Carolina in 2021. “Obviously there’s a few things I’m still tweaking, but I’m really happy with how the night went.”
Farr made 22 starts for the Dragons last year with a 4.80 ERA. He allowed more than two runs only once in his final eight starts to lower his ERA by more than a run during that stretch.
“He’s attacking the zone, he’s looks calm and relaxed out there and he’s executed a lot of pitches,” Dragons manager Bryan LaHair said. “It seems like he’s actually getting some more weak contact.”
The Dragons (2-5) have struggled to make contact and entered the game leading the league in strikeouts. They cut down on the swings and misses Friday with 10 strikeouts, but the batted balls weren’t falling in.
“They were making competitive pitches,” Dragons infielder Tyler Callihan said. “We put up a lot of good at bats. I know our strikeout numbers are down, and that’s something we’ve been really intense with in cage work and field work and in our hitters meetings. Their pitchers made some good pitches.”
Catcher Hayden Jones made his first start and got the Dragons only hit on a soft line-drive single to left with two out in the eighth.
“They gotta find a way to flush it, come back the next day and just be the hitters they are capable of being,” LaHair said. “There’s no panic button here. Most of them are going to be in the lineup again tomorrow, the next day and that’s just kind of how it is. This is the team we have, and I think once they get past a little early season struggle like this a lot of good things could happen.”
The Dragons are last in the league with a .159 batting average and a .252 slugging percentage. They hit well in spring training, but hitting in the midwest has been contagious in the wrong direction.
“Hitting is contagious,” Callihan said. “Once we start smacking that ball there’s going to be 10 hits up there.”
Ex-Dragon update: Louisville lost 13-6 Thursday night to Toledo but not because of former Dragons Matt McLain and Alejo Lopez. McLain was 3-for-5 with an inside-the-park home run, stole two bases and batted in three runs. Lopez had a double, triple, run and RBI.
About the Author