Hunter handled the pitch from Yehizon Sanchez and lined it into left field for a single to send Cam Collier home with the winning run for a 7-6 Dragons victory at Day Air Ballpark.
Collier singled and Hector Rodriguez doubled. Then Ethan O’Donnell was intentionally walked to set up what Lansing hoped would be a double play. But Hunter had other plans.
“I was swinging over a lot of changeups today, so I figured that they thought they liked the matchup,” Hunter said. “But I was taking a nice easy approach and just needed to put it in play. The pitch was running away from me.”
After a 1-0 loss on opening night, the Dragons have won successive games with eight runs and nine runs, a combined 21 hits, and a combined four home runs.
“Everyone’s anxious in the first game,” Hunter said. “We trust ourselves, we trust each other, and I think that’s a big thing for a winning baseball team is knowing that the guy behind you’s got you.”
The Dragons (2-1) trailed 6-2 and tied the score with a four-run seventh. Jay Allen II led off with a home run, Collier doubled home a run and Hector Rodriguez hit a two-run homer to tie the score.
Sal Stewart, Collier and Rodriguez had three hits apiece, and Hunter and O’Donnell had two hits each.
“We’re loaded one through nine,” Hunter said. “It’s going to be a really fun year.”
After Friday’s loss, manager Vince Harrison wasn’t worried either. He chalked up the shutout to a young team full of nerves, trying to adjust to new surroundings and a cold night.
“They’re still working their nerves out, but I feel like these guys have always had it,” Harrison said. “It’s kind of tough to say after three games, but I really like that our guys are engaged in the game.”
Collier is showing why the Reds drafted him No. 1 in 2022. He’s the youngest player on the team and doesn’t turn 20 until Nov. 20. He’s hit in each game and is 5 for 13 with a homer, double and four RBIs.
“He’s just one of the purest hitters I’ve ever met,” Hunter said. “It’s so amazing what he can do at such a young age, and he’s going to be big for this organization.”
Lansing’s 6-2 lead was helped along by three Dragons errors and seven walks by the first five pitchers. But 6-foot-3, 230-pound Brody Jessee (1-0) from Anchorage, Alaska, shut down the Lugnuts in the eighth and ninth innings with five strikeouts.
“Jessee did a hell of a job,” Harrison said. “He’s a big dude and I told him I told him to pick the victory song because he has a presence. I said nobody’s going to argue what you pick. It’s cool to see his kind of personality come out on the mound today. He really picked us up.”
Notes
Saturday’s game: Hunter hit a two-run tie-breaking homer in the fourth inning to lift the Dragons to an 8-5 victory. Collier hit a three-run homer in the first inning, and Allen II had two hits and two RBIs.
Gibuat rehab: Reds reliever Ian Gibaut pitched a 1-2-3 fifth inning in his second rehab appearance with the Dragons. Gibaut got the Lugnuts out on two flyballs and a strikeout looking. He threw 10 pitches.
TUESDAY’S GAME
Dayton at Cedar Rapids, 7:35 p.m., 980
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