Dragons pitchers strike out 18 in 2-1 win

Dragons starter Jose Acuna and three other pitchers combined for 18 strikeouts Thursday night in a 2-1 win over Great Lakes. Jeff Gilbert/FILE PHOTO

Dragons starter Jose Acuna and three other pitchers combined for 18 strikeouts Thursday night in a 2-1 win over Great Lakes. Jeff Gilbert/FILE PHOTO

Ruben Ibarra’s sixth inning home run broke a 1-1 tie and four Dayton pitchers combined to allow just four hits while striking out 18 batters as the Dragons defeated the Great Lakes Loons 2-1 on Thursday night.

The win combined with a West Michigan loss left the Dragons 3 1/2 games out of first place in the Midwest League East Division standings. There are nine games to play in the second half.

Great Lakes scored an unearned run in the first inning, but they were held without a run over the remainder of the game by the Dayton quartet of Jose Acuña, Brooks Crawford, Jayvien Sandridge, and Zach Maxwell. The Dragons tied the game in the third inning on a long home run by Edwin Arroyo, his 12th of the season. The homer by Arroyo had an exit velocity of 106 mph with an estimated distance of 425 feet.

With one out in the sixth, Ibarra smashed his second homer of the week, a drive to left field that gave the Dragons a 2-1 lead. The homer by Ibarra was his 15th of the season.

Meanwhile, Acuña, the Dayton starting pitcher, exited after three innings and 74 pitches. He struck out six. Crawford replaced him and fired two near-perfect innings, striking out three. 

After the homer by Ibarra, Sandridge entered the game worked two scoreless innings, striking out four without allowing a hit. 

Maxwell replaced Sandridge to start the eighth and ran into immediate trouble, allowing a lead-off double, but he worked out of the jam and then pitched a scoreless ninth for the save. Maxwell struck out five in two innings.

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