Dragons roast Lugnuts in opener, 10-1

LANSING, Mich. – Alex McGarry, Eric Yang and Ivan Johnson homered to support a strong High-A debut for Christian Roa, and the Dayton Dragons (45-40) eased past the Lansing Lugnuts (41-44), 10-1, on Tuesday night at Jackson® Field™.

The Lugnuts arrived back home having won their last three games and four of six at Lake County, but trailed from start to finish.

Dayton greeted Nuts right-hander Jorge Juan with three first-inning runs, capped by a McGarry two-run homer, and then increased the lead to 4-0 on a Yang solo shot in the second.

A José Mora wild pitch made it 5-0 in the fourth inning before Lansing scored its first and only run in the home half, thanks to an Elvis Peralta, Jr., double and William Simoneit RBI single.

The Dragons rebuilt their lead to five runs on a Brandon Withers run-scoring wild pitch in the sixth inning, then distanced themselves further with three in the eighth against Withers and Charlie Cerny, capped by a Johnson two-run homer, and one last run in the ninth against Cerny on a Juan Martínez triple and Eric Yang groundout.

Meanwhile, Lansing was held to five hits – including two singles by Austin Beck in four trips – by the combination of Roa and relievers Matt Gill and Sam Hellinger. The 22-year-old Roa, Cincinnati’s second-round selection in 2020, struck out eight with zero walks in six innings, needing only 75 pitches.

In the loss, Simoneit’s fourth-inning single extended his hitting streak to a team-high 10 games.

The two clubs reconvene on Wednesday afternoon at 1:05 p.m. on a Dog Days of Summer with dogs welcome, featuring Lansing right-hander Reid Birlingmair (4.50 ERA) against Dayton lefty Jacques Pucheu (3.70 ERA) as the starting matchup. To purchase tickets, visit lansinglugnuts.com or call (517) 485-4500.

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