Dragons blank Sky Carp

The Dayton Dragons and Lansing Lugnuts both played their opening games of the 2024 season on Friday, Apr. 5 at Day Air Ballpark in downtown Dayton. TOM GILLIAM/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

Credit: Tom Gilliam

Credit: Tom Gilliam

The Dayton Dragons and Lansing Lugnuts both played their opening games of the 2024 season on Friday, Apr. 5 at Day Air Ballpark in downtown Dayton. TOM GILLIAM/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

Dayton pitchers Johnathan Harmon and Arij Fransen combined on a four-hit shutout as the Dragons defeated the Beloit Sky Carp 1-0 on Thursday night. With the win, the Dragons improved to 24-24, getting back to the .500 mark for the first time since they were 6-6 on April 18.

The Dragons also earned a shutout win in the second game of Wednesday’s doubleheader. They have posted back-to-back shutout wins for the first time since April 26-27, 2022. 

The only run of the game came in the fifth inning. Dayton’s Yan Contreras walked to start the inning and Jay Allen II was hit by a pitch. Hector Rodriguez grounded out to second base to advance both runners, and Sal Stewart grounded out to shortstop to drive in Contreras to give Dayton the lead.

Harmon did not allow a hit until the fifth inning, and did not issue a walk. He threw only 70 pitches over the first six innings and returned to the mound in the seventh, becoming the first Dayton pitcher since 2022 to work beyond the sixth frame. Harmon struck out the first two batters in the seventh before allowing a ground rule double. He was replaced by Arij Fransen, the native of the Netherlands, with a man at second base and two outs.

Fransen walked the first batter he faced and then allowed a base hit to right field that loaded the bases. But the next batter hit a slow dribbler about 20 feet in front of the plate, and Dayton catcher Logan Tanner raced out to grab it with the bare hand and make a quick, off-balance throw to first to get the hitter by a step and save the lead.

Fransen pitched a scoreless eighth and then a perfect ninth for the save, striking out the final two hitters of the game.

Harmon (2-3) allowed just three hits and struck out five over 6 2/3 innings for the win.

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