Dragons rally past Whitecaps
Jun. 4—Blake Dunn blasted a three-run home run in the bottom of the eighth inning and Braxton Roxby pitched out of a bases loaded jam in the ninth as the Dayton Dragons defeated the West Michigan Whitecaps 3-2 on Saturday night. The Dragons have won eight of their last 10 games.
West Michigan scored single runs in the first and fifth innings and held a 2-0 lead going to the bottom of the eighth. The Dragons had been limited to just three hits in the game over the first seven innings. Michael Trautwein opened the eighth inning with a hit to center field and Justice Thompson followed with a single to left to move Trautwein to second. With one out, Dunn belted a home run over the Drone Express Dragons Lair in left field to give the Dragons the lead. The homer was Dunn's eighth of the season.
Braxton Roxby entered the game to pitch the ninth inning for Dayton. He walked the lead-off man and allowed a one-out double to put runners at second and third. The Dragons intentionally walked Chris Meyers to load the bases before Roxby struck out Brady Allen for the second out of the inning, and then got Izaac Pacheco to ground out to second baseman Tyler Callihan to end the game.
Dragons starting pitcher Jose Acuña battled through four innings, allowing four hits and three walks but only one run. Reliever Brooks Crawford worked the next two innings, allowing one run on three hits with a walk and a strikeout. John Murphy (2-0) tossed two strong innings, allowing just one base runner before giving way to Roxby in the ninth. The save was the second of the year for Roxby.
The Dragons finished the night with six hits including two each for Trautwein and Thompson.
The Dragons have won three of five games in the series with West Michigan and can jump above the .500 mark for the first time in 2023 with a win on Sunday.
