First-place Dragons rally for third straight win over Lansing

The Dayton Dragons reminded baseball fans Saturday night why it’s not a good idea to leave early. The excitement started in the sixth inning and the edge-of-your-seat moments happened in the ninth.

Brian Rey, of course, jump-started the excitement with a towering home run. Bren Spillane got involved in an even larger way in the eighth. But without Jake Gilbert making clutch pitches, the first-place Dragons might not have celebrated their third straight victory over Lansing, a 3-2 sigh-of-relief at Day Air Ballpark.

Gilbert (1-0) pitched around a two-out double in the eighth, but back-to-back singles to start the ninth made the fans nervous. Then Michael Guldberg bunted with the intention of moving the runners over but ended up with a hit to load the bases.

Gilbert, signed as an undrafted free agent in 2019 out of the Air Force Academy, didn’t have much pro experience to fall back on in the high-pressure situation. He made 13 appearances, including six starts, in rookie ball in 2019. He allowed three earned runs in four innings over his first three appearances with the Dragons.

“He tried to close the game right away,” Moreno said. “Then [pitching coach] Brian [Garman] came to the mound and talked to him to slow down. After that he made great adjustments, started breathing normally and executed better pitches.”

Gilbert retired the next three batters on a force out at home, a strike out and a fly ball to Rey in center to end the game.

Rey and Spillane hit the type of homers rarely seen in leagues like the High-A Central.

“At the major-league level – maybe a few guys can hit the ball that far,” Moreno said with a laugh.

In the sixth with Lansing leading 2-0, Rey, the hottest hitter in the league, launched a 411-foot moonshot over the dragon head on the left side of the scoreboard with an exit velocity of 107 mph.

In the eighth, Mariel Bautista hit a leadoff triple. Then Spillane, who entered the game with only 11 at-bats, homered for the second time this season for a 3-2 lead. Spillane’s blast left the bat at 105.7 mph and hit high off the right side of the video board on an estimated trajectory of 455 feet.

“I’m very happy for him because he’s been working very hard with the hitting coaches,” Moreno said. “When you have an at-bat like that it’s going to bring some confidence.”

One out later, Rey tripled into the right-field corner but was stranded. Rey is batting a league-leading .417 and leads the league with six homers and 15 RBIs. He also leads the league with 15 hits, a 1.028 slugging percentage and a 1.438 OPS. He has struck out only twice in the nine games he has played, and he has a hit in every game.

“I’m going to try and write a different report and see if we can keep him here,” Moreno said and laughed again about the post-game reports he submits to the Reds. “I’m just joking because at some point if he continues to hit like that maybe he’s going to go to Double-A. I’ll try to do something different to try to hide that information. But I know right now on social media everybody knows he’s hitting the ball very well.”

Dragons starter Lyon Richardson, the Reds’ No. 13 prospect according to Baseball America, allowed his first runs of the season and left with one out in the sixth inning trailing 1-0. He allowed four hits, two walks and struck out five. His ERA is 1.35.

Notes

Historic start: The Dragons’ 7-3 start through Friday night’s victory tied for the second best in team history through 10 games. The 2007 team started 9-1. The teams in 2014, 2017 and 2018 started 7-3. The Dragons also led the league in runs (53), home runs (11), batting average (.261), slugging percentage (.413) and total bases (133). And the pitchers allowed a league .166 batting average.

Next game: The Dragons send right-hander Noah Davis to the mound for the second time this series at 2:05 p.m. Sunday. Davis (0-2, 2.70 ERA) allowed two runs on one hit and five walks in five innings in the Dragons’ 7-2 loss Wednesday.

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