Urbaez leads Dragons past Lugnuts in extra innings

Quin Cotton is greeted at home plate by Francisco Urbaez after hitting his sixth home run to get the Dragons on the scoreboard Wednesday night against Great Lakes. Jeff Gilbert/CONTRIBUTED

Quin Cotton is greeted at home plate by Francisco Urbaez after hitting his sixth home run to get the Dragons on the scoreboard Wednesday night against Great Lakes. Jeff Gilbert/CONTRIBUTED

Francisco Urbaez hit a two-run home run and delivered a tie-breaking single in the top of the 10th inning to lead the Dayton Dragons to a 4-3 victory over the Lansing Lugnuts on Thursday night. 

The Dragons trailed early after Lansing scored two runs in the second inning, but Urbaezfollowed an infield single by Jacob Hurtubise with his third home run of the season to make it 2-2.

There was no further scoring until the 10th inning. Urbaez singled in Reniel Ozuna from third with one out when he hit a hard ground ball that was knocked down by the second baseman, who could not make a play at any base. Alex McGarry followed with a single to right that advanced Urbaez to third, and Quin Cotton grounded out to third base to drive in Urbaez and make it 4-2.

Pedro Garcia pitched the bottom of the 10th for the Dragons. He allowed a two-out single that brought in the free runner from second base to make it 4-3, but avoided further trouble when Shane Sellman lined out to Victor Ruiz at third base to end the game. Garcia (5-1) was credited with the win and moved into a tie for the league lead in victories despite making only nine appearances on the year, all out of the bullpen.

First-place Dayton (29-21) has a two-game lead over Lake County in the High-A Central League East Division standings.

NOTES: The Dragons are 13-7 (.650) over their last 20 games…Dragons starting pitcher Noah Davis was placed on the injured list Thursday due to a blister problem on the middle finger of his pitching hand. He was replaced on the roster by reliever Daniel Duarte, who was recently signed as a Minor League free agent after spending time in the Rangers and Royals farm systems…The Dragons improved to eight games above the .500 mark. A win on Friday would lift them to nine over for the first time in 2021…The Dragons improved to 18-8 in games decided by two runs or less, the best record in the league.