Loons 4, Dragons 2
HIGHLIGHT: Tommy Nurre was 2-for-4 with 2 RBIs, and Didi Gregorius was 2-for-3 with a walk.
TURNING POINT: Great Lakes catcher Austin Yount, batting .107, singled for the second time in three innings and drove in Brian Cavazos-Galvez to tie the score 2-2. Midwest League All-Star and Great Lakes speedster Christian Lara followed with a drive into the right-field corner that ricocheted away from Ryan LaMarre. Pinch-runner Stetson Banks scored and Lara came around for a game-winning inside-the-park home run. It was the 20th blown save for the Dragons and the third time in four games that Dayton lost to the Loons with two outs in the ninth inning.
PITCHING STORY: Starting pitcher Tim Crabbe pitched 61/3 innings, allowing five hits and one run with four strikeouts. Reliever Jamie Walczak came in during the top of the seventh and got out of a bases-loaded jam. Kevin Arico came in for the save, but gave up three runs in the top of the ninth for the loss. Great Lakes starter Matt Magill pitched 71/3 innings, allowing two runs (one earned), striking out six and walking five.
ON DECK: Dragons starter J.C. Sulbaran (4-4, 4.50 ERA) takes on Rubby DeLa Rosa (2-1, 3.86) today at 4 p.m. at Fifth Third Field.
DAYTON — Dayton Dragons outfielder Ryan LaMarre traded University of Michigan Wolverine maize and blue for green just a month ago, but the Cincinnati Reds’ 2010 second-round draft pick is already proving an asset.
LaMarre was batting .298 through 22 games for the Dragons as of Friday, July 9, the second-highest average on the team. As a junior for Michigan, LaMarre batted .419 with five home runs and 40 RBIs despite missing 18 games with a broken thumb. He’s played just as well with Dayton — 25 hits, 5 doubles, 10 RBIs and one home run for the season.
So far the professional baseball experience has met expectations.
“It’s lived up to everything I hoped it would,” LaMarre said. “Great guys and playing every day is a blast. I’m just looking to keep it going.”
Playing high-level Division I baseball in the Big Ten hasn’t hurt. LaMarre is in his first month as a pro, but he’s the same age as many of the players he’s faced in the Midwest League.
“I think it prepared me mentally and physically,” LaMarre said. “The grind is everyday, you don’t do that in college, that’s the biggest adjustment. We played good competition and I’ve already played against a couple guys out here that I played at college. It’s been fun.”
GRIFFEY ON LEAVE: Hitting coach Ken Griffey is scheduled to leave July 21 to have hip replacement surgery. The team will name a substitute hitting coach by the next road trip, beginning Wednesday at Peoria. He will travel with Griffey and the rest of the team until the end of the road trip.
Griffey — who says he’ll have his left knee replaced in October — plans to be back soon after the operation and rehab with the Dragons.
STREAK SNAPPED: The Dragons rode a six-game road-winning streak into the game Saturday against Great Lakes.
The team was led by a stout bullpen that had not allowed a run in 181/3 innings over the last four games.
That streak ended Saturday when the Dragons were rocked for three runs in the bottom of the ninth.
“I played on the 1990 Reds, and when we had a 2-1 lead, we felt the game was over,” Dragons manager Todd Benzinger said.
BIG CROWD: Saturday's crowd of 9,498 was the largest of the season and only 62 shy of the team record of 9,558 that was set in August 2009.
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