Dragons rout Fort Wayne, snap losing streak

Jose Torres, Mat Nelson, and Austin Hendrick all hit home runs as the Dayton Dragons snapped a six-game losing streak with a 10-2 win at Fort Wayne on Wednesday night.

The Dragons collected 13 hits in the game, including three each for Torres and Nelson. Their 10 runs matched their total for the previous four games combined.

The Dragons scored runs in each of the first five innings to build a 9-0 lead. They plating three runs apiece in the second and third innings. Torres blasted his 12th homer of the year to lead off the second, and Justice Thompson added an RBI double later in that inning. Hendrick belted a two-run home run in the third, his 18th in the Reds organization this season and his 11th with the Dragons. Mat Nelson had a solo homer in the fifth, his eighth home run of the season.

Dragons starting pitcher Chase Petty was strong for the second straight start. After throwing four no-hit innings last Thursday against Lansing, Petty worked 4 2/3 innings, and allowed five hits and one run, with one walk and seven strikeouts. He threw 74 pitches.

Reliever Jayvien Sandridge (1-0), who replaced Petty in the fifth, remained in the game through the end of the sixth and was credited with the victory. He walked one but did not allow a hit and struck out two.

Fort Wayne scored one run in the eighth before the Dragons closed out the scoring with a run in the top of the ninth on an RBI single by Thompson.

The three home runs in the game gave the Dragons 130 for the season with 22 games to play. The club record is 144, set in 2001.