Dragons top Fort Wayne, open four-game lead in standings

Pregame fun at the Dayton Dragons game at Day Air Ballpark Wednesday night April 20, 2022. MARSHALL GORBY \STAFF

Credit: Marshall Gorby

Credit: Marshall Gorby

Pregame fun at the Dayton Dragons game at Day Air Ballpark Wednesday night April 20, 2022. MARSHALL GORBY \STAFF

Justice Thompson collected three hits and scored three runs and Garrett Wolforth hit a home run to lead the Dayton Dragons to an 11-5 victory over the Fort Wayne TinCaps on Saturday afternoon. The Dragons established season highs for runs and hits (12) in the game as they won for the 12th time in their last 14 contests.

The Dragons improved to 15-5 and extended their lead in the East Division of the Midwest League to four games over second-place Fort Wayne. The Dragons have won four of five in the current series, which will conclude on Sunday afternoon.

The Dragons scored four runs in the third inning to take a 4-0 lead. Garrett Wolforth got the inning started with a home run to left field, his third homer of the year in just eight games. With two outs, Justice Thompson doubled and scored on an infield single by Elly De La Cruz. After a walk to Allan Cerda, Alex McGarry doubled to center to bring in both De La Cruz and Cerda to make it 4-0.

Fort Wayne scored two in the bottom of the third and one in the fourth to pull to within a run at 4-3. The Dragons scored in the top of the fifth on Cerda’s run-scoring double, but Fort Wayne answered with one run in the bottom of the same inning to make it 5-4.

The Dragons exploded for a five-run top of the seventh inning to extend their lead to 10-4. They sent 11 batters to the plate in the inning, keyed by a run-scoring single by De La Cruz and a two-run single by Jack Rogers.

Dayton scored again in the ninth inning when McGarry picked up his second double of the game and eventually scored from third on an infield single by Ashton Creal. Fort Wayne closed out the scoring with a run in the bottom of the ninth.

SUNDAY’S GAME

Dayton at Fort Wayne, 1:05 p.m., 980