Dragons GameDay Wednesday, June 9, 2021 ⚫ Game # 32 Day Air Ballpark ⚫ Dayton, Ohio ⚫ 7:05 p.m. Radio: 980 WONE Fox Sports Great Lakes Loons (16-15) at Dayton Dragons (17-14) LH Alec Gamboa (0-3, 5.57) vs. RH Eduardo Salazar (1-1, 2.27) Today’s Game: The Dayton Dragons (affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds) meet the Great Lakes Loons (affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers) in the second game of a six-game series. 2021 Season Series: Dayton 6, Great Lakes 1 (all games except last night’s contest in Midland, Michigan, May 4-9). Last Game: Tuesday: Dayton 8, Great Lakes 7. The Dragons battled back from an early 7-0 deficit to win the series opener and improve their record against the Loons in 2021 to 6-1. Quincy McAfee led the Dayton comeback, belting a two-run home run in the fourth inning to get the Dragons on the scoreboard, and then adding a three-run double in the sixth that gave Dayton the lead. Quin Cotton had a two-run double in the fifth. Dragons reliever Carson Spiers tossed six scoreless innings for the win, striking out nine, allowing just two base runners, and retiring the last 13 batters he faced. Historic Comeback: Last night’s win matched the largest comeback for the Dragons over at least the last 15 seasons. The Dragons also erased seven-run deficits to win in 2013 and 2016. Records on comebacks date back to the 2006 season. The Dragons have battled back to win four times after trailing by at least four runs since May 18, overcoming a six-run deficit and two four-run deficits to win in addition to Tuesday night’s victory when they trailed by seven. Spiers Fires: Carson Spiers’ six shutout innings out of the Dayton bullpen last night marked the longest Dayton relief outing since Tyler Mahle went six innings on June 19, 2015. Mahle, normally a starter, followed Josh Smith, who was assigned to Dayton from Triple-A Louisville and went one inning in preparation for a Major League start. No Dragons reliever has gone at least six innings without allowing a run since prior to 2010, when records for long relief outings are first available. Player Notes • Quincy McAfee leads all of Minor League Baseball (120 teams) in RBI in the month of June with 15 in seven games. He is tied for the lead in all of MiLB in doubles since May 29 with seven in 10 games. Over his last six games, McAfee is batting .409 (9 for 22) with a slugging percentage of .773 and an OPS of 1.273. • Jacob Hurtubise is first in the High-A Central League in On-Base Percentage (.448). He is fifth in runs scored. Hurtubise has 18 stolen bases on the year to rank fourth in the league and tied for seventh in all of Minor League Baseball (120 teams), three behind the national leader. • Francisco Urbaez over his last 13 games is 15 for 45 (.333) with two home runs. • Quin Cotton became the first Dayton player to collect four hits in a game on Saturday night. He became the third Dragons player to hit two home runs in a game (joining Brian Rey and Alex McGarry) and his six RBI is a team season high. • Reliever Braxton Roxby has not allowed a run in 12.1 innings, surrendering just three hits and seven walks. He has struck out 19. • Reliever Francis Peguero has allowed only one run in 10 innings (0.90 ERA), allowing just six hits and two walks. • Graham Ashcraft over his last two starts has allowed just one run in 12 innings. He ranks fifth in the league in strikeouts on the year. Team Notes • Dayton is in first place, one-half game ahead of West Michigan in the Central League East Division. • Dayton has held at least a share of first place after 21 of the 31 games they have played this season. The 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. • HITTING: The Dragons have scored 84 runs in their last 13 games, averaging 6.5 runs per game. This comes on the heels of averaging 2.8 runs per game over the previous 12 games. The Dragons averaged 6.7 runs per game in their first series of the year vs. Great Lakes. • The Dragons are second in the league in stolen bases with 53 and eighth in all of Minor League Baseball (120 teams). They are on a pace for 205 in a 120 game season (the pace for a 140 game season would be 239). The club record for steals in a season is 228 in 2011 (140 games), when Billy Hamilton stole 103. They stole 120 bases in 140 games in 2019. • PITCHING: Dragons pitchers have allowed an opponent batting average of .219, the best in the league. Great Lakes is tied for second at .222. • FIELDING: The Dragons have committed only 25 errors in 31 games, ranking first in the league in team fielding. • The Dragons roster is headlined by Reds top-10 prospect Michael Siani, a center fielder who spent the entire 2019 season with the Dragons when the club was classified as Low-A. 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. • The Dragons roster includes three of the top 15 players in Baseball America’s ranking of top Reds prospects. Along with Siani at #10, the roster includes right-handed starting pitcher Lyon Richardson, the #13 prospect, and right-handed starter Noah Davis, ranked #15. Other Dragons players listed by Baseball America in their rankings are RHP Graham Ashcraft (#28) and OF Jacob Hurtubise (#41). Notable Changes for 2021: Major League Baseball completed a restructuring of the Minor Leagues prior to the 2021 season. Those changes included the contraction of 42 affiliated teams since the last completed season in 2019, cutting the Cincinnati Reds player development system from seven stateside teams to five (Billings and Greeneville were contracted). • The league is now known as the High-A Central League after previously being referred to as the Midwest League. • The league has been reclassified to the High-A level of Minor League Baseball after being a “Low-A” league since the Dragons inception in 2000. • One significant rule change has been made in 2021 in the High-A Central League. Pitchers must now step back off the rubber before throwing to a base, a change that will have its greatest impact on left-handed pitchers. Both the snap throw to first and the “lift and hang” throw by a left- hander will now result in a balk call. Upcoming Probable Pitchers (Game times are Dayton time) (All games on WONE 980 AM and www.daytondragons.com) Thu., June 10 (7:05 p.m.): Great Lakes RH Clayton Beeter (0-1, 3.68) at Dayton RH Noah Davis (0-4, 4.15) Fri., June 11 (7:05 p.m.): Great Lakes RH Bobby Miller (0-0, 1.26) at Dayton RH Graham Ashcraft (3-1, 3.58) Sat., June 12 (7:05 p.m.): Great Lakes RH Logan Boyer (0-0, 3.52) at Dayton RH Spencer Stockton (2-1, 6.57) Sun., June 13 (2:05 p.m.): Great Lakes RH Jesus Vargas (3-2, 2.57) at Dayton RH Lyon Richardson (1-1, 4.03) TODAY’S STARTING PITCHER EDUARDO SALAZAR (#24) Height: 6-2 Bats: R Birthdate:May 5, 1998 Acquired: International Free Agent, 2017 Weight: 177 Throws: R College: None Resides: Cumana, Sucre, Venezuela Notes: Returns to the Dragons after spending the entire 2019 season in Dayton when the club competed at the Low-A level…2019: Worked out of the bullpen for the Dragons from opening night through July 4 (24 G, 4-1, 4.75 ERA)…Moved into the starting rotation on July 10 (11 GS, 2-2, 2.87 ERA)…Exceptional in final seven starts, posting a 2.29 ERA and allowing just 21 hits in 35.1 innings…Made biggest jump in competition level from 2018 to 2019 of any player on Dayton 2019 roster…After pitching in Dominican Summer League in 2017 and opening 2018 in extended spring training, worked as starter with AZL Reds for most of the 2018 season…Finished 2018 with Greeneville (Appalachian League) by making four relief appearances. Salazar in 2021: Has gone at least five innings in five of his six starts, coming up one out short in the other…Tossed five scoreless innings against Great Lakes on second day of season to earn the win…Allowed just one hit in six shutout innings on June 3 at Lake County, getting no decision as Captains won 1- 0 with a run in the seventh…Opponents are batting just .164 with runners on base, going 9 for 55. SALAZAR’S CAREER STATS Season Team W L ERA G GS CG SHO SV IP H R ER BB SO 2017 DSL Rojos 4 4 2.70 12 12 0 0 0 60 54 22 18 10 47 2018 Greeneville 2 0 6.57 4 0 0 0 0 12.1 10 9 9 6 11 2018 AZL Reds 0 1 5.29 7 6 0 0 0 17 17 12 10 6 15 2019 Dayton 6 3 3.81 35 11 0 0 0 106.1 105 52 45 36 81 Career Multiple 12 8 3.77 58 29 0 0 0 195.2 186 95 82 58 154 2021: Dayton (High-A Central League) Date Opp W L ERA IP H R ER HR HB BB SO AVG NP-S 5/5/2021 @GL 1 0 0.00 5 2 0 0 0 0 3 3 .125 79 - 44 5/11/2021 LAN 0 0 2.70 5 6 4 3 0 0 0 3 .222 82 - 55 5/16/2021 LAN 0 1 3.00 5 5 2 2 0 0 1 4 .232 81 - 54 5/22/2021 @SB 0 0 3.00 6 7 2 2 0 0 0 7 .250 87 - 63 5/29/2021 QC 0 0 2.81 4.2 4 3 1 0 0 2 3 .242 75 - 46 May 1 1 2.81 25.2 24 11 8 0 0 6 20 .242 404 - 262 6/3/2021 @LC 0 0 2.27 6 1 0 0 0 0 5 3 .212 82 - 46 June 0 0 0.00 6 1 0 0 0 0 5 3 .053 82 - 46 Total A+ 1 1 2.27 31.2 25 11 8 0 0 11 23 .212 486 - 308 DRAGONS BATTERS RECENT STREAKS/NOTES vs.