Dragons Gameday Thursday, July 1, 2021 ⚫ Game # 50 Jackson Field ⚫ Lansing, Mich
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Dragons GameDay Thursday, July 1, 2021 ⚫ Game # 50 Jackson Field ⚫ Lansing, Mich. ⚫ 7:05 p.m. Radio: 980 WONE Fox Sports Dayton Dragons (28-21) at Lansing Lugnuts (23-27) RH Carson Spiers (1-1, 4.71) vs. RH Richard Guasch (1-3, 2.88) Today’s Game: The Dayton Dragons (affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds) meet the Lansing Lugnuts (affiliate of the Oakland Athletics) in the third game of a six- game series. 2021 Season Series: Dayton 4, Lansing 4. Current series in Lansing: Dayton 1, Lansing 1. 12 Road Games in 13 Days: The Dragons are 4-3 on the road trip (West Michigan and Lansing), which has been shortened to 11 games due to a postponement in West Michigan that could not be made up during that series. They are averaging 5.0 runs per game and allowing 4.9. They are batting .247 in the seven games with five home runs and four stolen bases (all four came in the same game). The team ERA on the trip is 4.55. They have eight errors in the seven games. Last Game: Wednesday: Lansing 8, Dayton 3. The Lugnuts broke a 1-1 tie with five runs in the sixth inning. Dragons starter Jacques Pucheu allowed just one unearned run in four and one-third innings, but the Dayton bullpen combined to surrender seven runs in three and two-thirds. Offensively, Victor Ruiz had two doubles and a run batted in. Michael Siani also had two hits, both singles, and an RBI. Player Notes • Francisco Urbaez has reached the minimum number of plate appearances to qualify for the batting title for the Jacob Hurtubise among first time this season. He is currently ranked third with a .313 average. Urbaez is batting .349 over his last 24 Central League Leaders games, raising his average from .207 to .313. • James Free is batting .308 over his last 13 games since May 26, raising his average from .091 to .230. On-Base Pct: 1st .445 • Alex McGarry has hit safely in four straight games (7-16, .438, 3 doubles, .625 slugging percentage). Batting Avg: 8th .291 • Andy Fisher over his last five appearances has tossed 11 innings, allowing just one run on seven hits with 18 Stolen Bases: 4th 25 strikeouts. Runs: T-7th 35 • Pedro Garcia over his last six appearances has tossed nine innings, allowing just one run while going 3-0. Walks: T-4th 31 Team Notes • The Dragons are 12-7 over their last 19 games. • The Dragons are 8-1 in series openers and have won the last seven. Their only loss came in the second series of the year vs. Lansing. • Dayton is in first place, two and one-half games ahead of Lake County and Great Lakes in the High-A Central League East Division. • Dayton has held at least a share of first place after 39 of the 49 games they have played this season. They have not been lower than second place in the standings and have not been more than one and one-half games out of first at any time this season. • The Dragons are 17-8 in games decided by two runs or less, the best mark in the league. • The Dragons are 19-7 when scoring the first run of the game, second to Quad Cities for the best record in the league. • HITTING: The Dragons have collected 36 hits over their last three games, batting .316 as a team. • PITCHING: The Dragons have allowed two runs or less in six of their last 12 games including two shutouts. However, they have allowed at least eight runs in three of their last four games. • FIELDING: The Dragons have committed only 42 errors in 49 games, ranking first in the league in team fielding. • The Dragons roster is headlined by outfielder Michael Siani. Siani is listed by Baseball America as the “Best Athlete” and “Best Defensive Outfielder” in the Reds organization. He is ranked as the Reds 10th best prospect overall. Other Dragons players ranked by Baseball America are RHP Lyon Richardson (#13), RHP Noah Davis (#15), and OF Jacob Hurtubise (#41). Comeback Kids: June 8 and 9, the Dragons won two games in two nights despite trailing by five or more runs in each game. They had six such comebacks in the last five years (697 games), averaging 1.2 comebacks per season in games when trailing by five or more runs. The June 8 win after trailing 7-0 matched the largest comeback for the Dragons over at least the last 15 seasons. Records on comebacks date back to 2006. The Dragons have battled back to win five times after trailing by at least four runs since May 18. Over the last five years, they averaged 2.2 wins per season when trailing by at least four runs. The Dragons have won eight games in 2021 after trailing by at least three runs, compared to the five-year average of 5.6 per season. The Dragons have lost one game that they led by three runs or more this season. Notes on Age Averages: The average age for a position player in the Central League in 2021 is 22.5. The Dragons position player average is 22.5 as well. The average age for a pitcher in the league is 23.3. The Dragons pitcher average is 23.5. The youngest Dayton position player is Victor Ruiz (21) while the oldest is Bren Spillane (24). The youngest Dayton pitcher is Lyon Richardson (21) while the oldest is Pedro Garcia (26). Lansing has the oldest players in both categories in the division (23.2, 24.1). Lake County has the youngest position players (21.5) while Great Lakes has the youngest pitchers (22.8). Upcoming Probable Pitchers (Game times are Dayton time) (All games on WONE 980 AM and www.daytondragons.com) Fri., July 2 (7:05 p.m.): Dayton RH Lyon Richardson (2-2, 4.10) at Lansing RH Jack Cushing (no record) Sat., July 3 (7:05 p.m.): Dayton RH Eduardo Salazar (1-2, 3.70) at Lansing RH Reid Birlingmair (1-4, 5.80) Sun., July 4 (6:35 p.m.): Dayton RH Noah Davis (2-4, 3.40) at Lansing RH Colin Peluse (2-2, 5.15) TODAY’S STARTING PITCHER CARSON SPIERS (#2) Height: 6-3 Bats: R Birthdate: November 11, 1997 Acquired: Reds NDFA, 2020 Weight: 205 Throws: R College: Clemson University Resides: Greenville, SC Last name pronounced SPY-ers High-A Central League Pitcher of the Week, week of June 7-13. Joined Club: May 26 from Daytona Notes: Opened pro career with Daytona in 2021, going 2-0 with a 3.18 ERA…Tossed the ninth inning of a combination no-hitter on May 22 vs. Jupiter to earn the save…Promoted to Dayton on May 26…Made four appearances out of Dayton bullpen before being moved into starting rotation for start on June 18…Spent four seasons at Clemson from 2017-20…Served as Tigers closer in 2019-20, notching 11 saves in 2019, tied for third most in school history…Career ERA of 2.47 and .180 opponent’s batting average at Clemson…Began career at Clemson as two-way player (pitcher/third baseman)…All-ACC Academic selection in both 2018 and 2019…All-State baseball selection at Greenville High School, where he also lettered four times in football as a quarterback, setting the school’s all-time record in career touchdown passes and passing yards…Father, Michael, played four years at Clemson and was the MVP of the 1991 ACC Tournament…Grandfather, Bud, played three seasons at Clemson…Nephew of 13-year Major League infielder Bill Spiers. Spiers in 2021: Began season in Daytona (Low-A Southeast League) starting rotation…Posted ERA of 1.08 over first three starts, allowing two runs in 16.2 innings…Pitched ninth inning of no-hitter in fourth appearance before returning to starting role for one rough outing that drove up final ERA with Daytona to 3.18)…Promoted to Dayton on May 26…Struggled through first two outings with Dragons (combined seven runs allowed in five innings) before his season turned around on June 8 when he entered game to start third inning with Dragons trailing 7-0…Tossed six near-perfect innings to earn win as Dragons battled back for 8-7 victory…Earned High-A Central League Pitcher of the Week honor for week of June 7-13. Longest Start in 2021: 6 innings (with Daytona) Most pitches in a game in 2021: 87 (with Daytona) Against this Opponent: First appearance of 2021 Spiers Career Stats (Prior to Joining Dragons) Season League Team W L ERA G GS SV IP H R ER BB SO AVG 2021 Low-A SE Daytona 2 0 3.18 5 4 1 22.2 19 8 8 5 27 .241 Career 2 0 3.18 5 4 1 22.2 19 8 8 5 27 .241 2021: Dayton (High-A Central League) Date Opp W L ERA G GS SV IP H R ER HR HB BB SO AVG NP-S 5/30/2021 QC 0 0 9.00 1 0 0 3 3 3 3 1 1 1 2 .273 63 - 38 May 0 0 9.00 1 0 0 3 3 3 3 1 1 1 2 .273 63 - 38 6/4/2021 @LC 0 0 12.60 1 0 0 2 4 4 4 1 0 0 3 .350 40 - 25 6/8/2021 GL 1 0 5.73 1 0 0 6 1 0 0 0 0 1 9 .211 71 - 48 6/13/2021 GL 0 0 5.11 1 0 0 1.1 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 .190 20 - 11 6/19/2021 FW 0 0 4.76 1 1 0 4.2 7 4 2 1 0 0 7 .234 92 - 64 6/25/2021 @WM 0 1 4.71 1 1 0 4 2 2 2 0 1 3 4 .224 59 - 35 June 1 1 4.00 5 2 0 18 14 10 8 2 2 4 24 .215 282 - 183 Total A+ 1 1 4.71 6 2 0 21 17 13 11 3 3 5 26 .224 345 - 221 2021: Daytona (Low-A Southeast League) Date Opp W L ERA G GS SV IP H R ER HR HB BB SO AVG NP-S 5/5/2021 @PMB 0 0 1.93 1 1 0 4.2 4 1 1 0 0 1 4 .250 74 - 48 5/11/2021 SLU 0 0 0.84 1 1 0 6 4 0 0 0 0 2 9 .222 87 - 56 5/18/2021 JUP 1 0 1.08 1 1 0 6 4 1 1 1 0 0 8 .207 85 - 55 5/22/2021 JUP 0 0 1.02 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 .200 10 - 5 5/25/2021 @SLU 1 0 3.18 1 1 0 5 7 6 6 0 2 1 6 .241 82 - 53 Total A 2 0 3.18 5 4 1 22.2 19 8 8 1 2 5 27 .241 338 - 217 DRAGONS BATTERS RECENT STREAKS/NOTES at LAN 6/29-7/4 at West Mich.