The Dragons fought back to trail by a run but lost 8-5 to Great Lakes to end their modest winning streak at two games.
Bruns, a left-hander, allowed singles to Carlos Jorge and Ruben Ibarra. Otherwise he struck out seven with fastballs in the 95-97 mph range.
“He’s got a good arm and he made some good quality pitches,” Dragons manager Vince Harrison Jr. said. “They jumped on us early and held us down, and with that pitcher we were going to have to scrap for runs anyway. He did a good job on both sides of the plate and was keeping the hitters off balance.”
Meanwhile the first-place Loons (21-14) got to Dragons starter Bryce Hubbart (1-3) for four runs in 2 2/3 innings. Chris Newell singled in a run and Luis Rodriguez doubled in another in the second inning.
In the third, the Loons put runners on second and third with two outs. Hubbart got ahead of Newell in the count at 1-2, but Newell lined a 2-2 pitch down the right-field line for a two-run double and a 4-0 lead.
Once the Dragons (15-20) got into the Loons’ bullpen they began to score. In the sixth, Cam Collier, the Reds’ minor league player of the month in April, led off with line-drive single to end an 0-for-25 slump that covered parts of nine games. He scored on a sacrifice fly by Jorge for cut the Loons’ lead to 5-1.
On the sacrifice fly, Cade Hunter tried to take third, but center fielder Newell threw him out for a double play. Harrison said the attempt by Hunter was an aggressive read that simply didn’t pay off.
The Dragons scored three runs in the seventh. Ibarra walked, Jay Allen II was hit by a pitch and Hector Rodriguez made the score 5-3 with a triple. Then Harrison made an unexpected move pinch-hitting Yan Contreras, who entered the game with one hit in 36 at-bats, for Sal Stewart who was coming off a 4-for-4 game on Tuesday.
“That’s my decision,” said Harrison, who confirmed Stewart wasn’t injured.
Contreras came through with an RBI single to cut the Loons’ lead to 5-4 with no one out. Contreras then tried to steal second and was thrown out.
“I don’t think he had his greatest jump, but I’m not second-guessing the decision to send him right there,” Harrison said. “We’re pushing our guys to be aggressive and be ready to run the bases. Both guys are making aggressive mistakes there. I got no problem with that, especially at this point in their career. These are all a lot of learning opportunities.”
Great Lakes answered in the ninth with three runs, including a two-out, two-run single by Sam Mongelli.
Ibarra led off the ninth with his first home run and Rodriguez hit a one-out double. But Contreras and Collier flew out to end the game.
FRIDAY’S GAME
Great Lakes at Dayton, 7:05 p.m., 980
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