Dragons routed by TinCaps

Dragons third baseman Juan Martinez fires to first base after fielding a bunt in the second inning of Sunday's game against Lake County at Day Air Ballpark. Jeff Gilbert/CONTRIBUTED

Dragons third baseman Juan Martinez fires to first base after fielding a bunt in the second inning of Sunday's game against Lake County at Day Air Ballpark. Jeff Gilbert/CONTRIBUTED

The host Fort Wayne TinCaps scored four runs in the fourth inning to build a 5-0 lead and went on to defeat the Dayton Dragons 10-4 on Tuesday night in the opening game of a six-game series.

The loss was the third straight for the Dragons, who issued 10 walks for the second straight game. 

Trailing 5-0 in the top of the fifth, Dayton’s Juan Martinez singled to start a rally. Alex McGarry doubled off the fence in left-center field to move Martinez to third, and Allan Cerda, in his first game with the Dragons, lined a double to left to drive in two runs. A double by Michael Siani moved Cerda to third, and Quin Cotton’s sacrifice fly drove in Cerda to make it 5-3.

But Fort Wayne scored two runs in the bottom of the fifth and three more in the seventh to extend their lead to 10-3. The Dragons scored in the ninth on a double by Martinez and an RBI single by McGarry to account for the final tally.

Michael Siani had a triple and double. Martinez and McGarry each had two hits including a double.

The Dragons remained two games out of first place in the East Division standings, trailing Lake County and Great Lakes, who are tied for first. Cedar Rapids leads the Dragons by 3 1/2 games in the race for the final playoff slot.