And the Dragons did not. The hit gap — 14-4 — was bigger than the run gap in the Captains’ 9-2 victory at Day Air Ballpark.
In the first inning, as Harrison Jr. mentioned, the Captains were swinging. Tommy Hawke fouled off three of the first five pitches he saw before flying out. Christian Knapczyk grounded out on the second pitch he saw. Alfonsin Rosario fouled off a 3-0 pitch, swung at and missed the next pitch, then flew out.
A 1-2-3 inning for Dragons starter Nestor Lorant was a good outcome, but the Captains had set an aggressive tone.
A tone in the fourth inning that ruined what had just been a big play for the Dragons. With the bases loaded, first baseman Peyton Stovall fielded a grounder and threw home to get the second out.
Then almost the worst thing possible happened to the Dragons. Ninth-place hitter Juan Benjamin was, as expected, ready to attack Lorant. He lined a three-run double on a 1-1 pitch to the wall to put the Captains up 4-1. He then scored on a single by Hawke.
The Captains kept scoring, but the Dragons could only manage Johnny Ascanio’s sixth-inning homer.
Harrison Jr. gave credit to Lake County starter Yorman Gomez, who pumped fastballs in the mid-90s and kept hitters off balance with off-speed pitches. He allowed a triple to Victor Acosta and a walk to Ascanio in the third. The Dragons put on a delayed double steal, giving up an out at second for Acosta to score when Captains catcher Johnny Tincher cut down Ascanio.
Otherwise, Gomez allowed only one other hit and struck out five. Two relievers pitched just as well, combining for five more strikeouts. The Dragons took five called third strikes, taking a less aggressive, maybe more selective, approach than the Captains.
“It could be both,” Harrison Jr. said. “I don’t have the greatest angle at third base so I can’t really say, but I do think their starter was mixing his pitches well. He was both sides of the plate with his fastball, locating it where he wanted to.”
Harrison Jr. didn’t take the Captains’ aggressiveness as a sign that his team needs to be imitators.
“They’re different players,” he said. “We’re not trying to be someone else. We’re trying to get the best versions of our guys. Some guys need to be more aggressive. Some guys need to be more selective. But like I said, it’s not just the hitter, it’s the pitcher. You have to get a pitch to hit. You have to swing at the pitch you can drive.”
Lorant, who was the Reds’ minor league pitcher of the year last summer while in Low-A Daytona, is 0-6 with a 6.49 ERA. He allowed only one run in each of first two starts this season but has struggled since.
“It’s hard to repeat what he did last year even if it was the same league or different league,” Harrison Jr. said. “He’s just got to keep learning from previous experiences and doing what he’s got to do to give himself a chance every night.”
The Dragons have lost four straight to fall to 4-7 in the Midwest League’s second half and into last place where they finished the first half.
“Every day is a new opportunity,” Harrison Jr. said. “If we win, we celebrate, we move on. We lose, we learn from it, we move on. The result of the game doesn’t change the way we approach the game. There’s learning opportunities every game, and we try to build on those, and that’s about all we can do.”
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