The Dragons took an early 1-0 lead with a run in the second inning when John Michael Faile doubled to the wall in right-center field with two outs, and scored from second base on a single by Ryan McCrystal.
But Lansing got the lead for good in the third when Leo De Vries connected on a two-run home run to right field. The homer by De Vries, rated as one of the top prospects in professional baseball, was his first with Lansing since he arrived in a trade at the deadline from the Padres organization.
In the fourth, Lansing’s Mario Gomez belted a two-run home run to make it 4-1.
The Dragons took advantage of an error and a walk to push across a run without a base hit in the top of the fifth to make it 4-2, but Lansing responded with a run in the bottom of the fifth to go ahead 5-2. They broke the game open in the seventh when De Vries hit his second home run of the night, a three-run shot, as part of a four-run inning to put Lansing in front, 9-2.
The Dragons scored three runs in the top of the eighth inning, keyed by a two-run double by Ryan McCrystal, to make it 9-5, but Lansing again responded with two runs in the bottom of the eighth to take an 11-5 lead to the ninth inning. Dayton scored in the ninth on an RBI single by Carlos Sanchez to make it 11-6 and close out the scoring.
The Dragons finished the night with 12 hits, their highest total since the all-star break in mid-July. McCrystal had a double, single, and three RBI. Sanchez had three hits and an RBI. Faile, Carter Graham, and Johnny Ascanio each had two hits.
Dayton starting pitcher Jose Montero (5-5) took the loss. He allowed five runs in five innings, surrendering a pair of two-run home runs.
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