“Polished guy, really knows what he wants to do with his pitches, executes well, throws a ton of strikes, and when he doesn’t need to throw strikes, knows when to expand the zone,” Tanner said. “I think he’s really talented — going to be really good player for a long time.”
Lowder dominated for four innings Friday night against West Michigan, then allowed his first two home runs, and earned his second straight victory as the Dragons got contributions throughout the lineup for an 8-5 victory at Day Air Ballpark.
“I actually thought it went pretty good through the first four innings,” Lowder said. “Everything was working efficiently.”
Lowder retired the first 11 Whitecaps, striking out six of them. Then Roberto Campos hit a slider that Lowder left over the middle of the plate to lead off the fifth for the first home run he has allowed. In the sixth, Cole Turney hit a fastball in the lower and inner part of the strike zone for a two-run homer that sliced Dayton’s lead to 4-3.
“You just have to evaluate how it happened,” Lowder said of the home runs. “The first one I just flipped one in there, not a great pitch, and he made a good swing. Not as hard, not as sharp so that’ll happen, especially later in the game. But the second one I thought I made a pretty good pitch. So I’m not too worried about it.”
Through five starts Lowder is 2-0 with a 2.49 ERA. He struck out a career-high nine for the second straight game. What irked Lowder more than anything was the batter he hit with two outs before Turney’s homer.
“It’s a little thing, but you go back to this last start in Lansing he only gave up one run but it came after a walk,” Dragons manager Vince Harrison said. “Not that we expect these guys to be perfect, but free 90s have been kind of an Achilles’ heel for us. But he did a phenomenal job today getting two strikes quick, and he finished a lot of guys.”
Another vulnerability for the Dragons (11-14) most of the season has been the bottom three or four bats in the lineup. That changed Friday. Four runs were scored by the bottom third, plus Tanner drove in a run with a double in the fourth inning for a 4-0 lead and Victor Acosta singled in a run in the seventh to push the lead to 7-3.
“Anytime you can help team win offensively it’s great,” Tanner said. “It keeps the dugout in good spirits, and you always feel good when you score a lot of runs.”
Everyone in the lineup reached base. Cam Collier had three hits, including an RBI double, to raise his average to .313. Sal Stewart had two hits and a sacrifice fly, Hector Rodriguez hit a two-run single and Leo Balcazar singled in a run in the seventh after he hit into a bases-loaded double play to end the fifth.
“They’re getting a better understanding of what’s important,” Harrison said of his young lineup. “It’s not your AB, it’s it’s your AB with a runner in scoring position, it’s your AB with a man on third with less than two outs, it’s not missing a sign. The small things that aren’t the biggest things are becoming more important.”
After losing the first two games of the series, including Wednesday night in 10 innings caused by defensive mistakes, the Dragons have played more cleanly in the past two games. Instead, the Whitecaps (10-15) are struggling. They committed four errors Friday, including two catcher interference calls that put Cade Hunter on first base both times.
“First couple of nights just felt a little lackadaisical, I would say, but I feel like these last two nights we’ve really been locked in as a team,” Tanner said. “Everybody’s been playing hard, and that’s all you really can do is play hard to get the best results, and it’s paying off.”
About the Author