Nuts two-hit Dragons, prevail in 10th

DAYTON, OH – Jorge Juan, Christian Fernandez and Osvaldo Berrios combined to allow just two hits and Patrick McColl punctuated a four-run tenth inning with a three-run homer, driving the Lansing Lugnuts (15-23, 40-64) to a 6-2 victory over the Dayton Dragons (12-24, 51-51) on Wednesday night at Day Air Ballpark.

Shane McGuire opened the tenth inning with a seeing-eye RBI single up the middle off reliever Vin Timpanelli, bringing in bonus runner Max Muncy to break a 2-2 tie. After a walk to Denzel Clarke, a sacrifice laid down by Lazaro Armenteros and a popout by Sahid Valenzuela, McColl blasted his first home run of the season out to left-center.

The Dragons went down quietly in the bottom of the tenth against Berrios, similar to how they had fared the majority of the evening.

Starter Juan fired the first three innings, recording five strikeouts. His only wavering came in the home third, when Tyler Callihan and Justice Thompson opened the frame with back-to-back solo home runs. This, as it turned out, was the entirety of Dayton’s offense for the night.

Fernandez followed with his finest performance since being acquired with Cal Stevenson from the Tampa Bay Rays for Christian Bethancourt in July. A day shy of his 23rd birthday, Fernandez struck out five batters while limiting the Dragons to two walks over five hitless innings.

The Lugnuts tied the game in the fifth against Dayton starter Thomas Farr. With two outs, Cooper Bowman singled to shortstop and Euribiel Ángeles plated him with an RBI double to right-center. Muncy followed with a sinking line drive to center that a diving Austin Hendrick trapped, allowing Ángeles to come home to deadlock the game.

The Nuts and Dragons have split the first two games of the series. Lansing right-hander Joey Estes (5.29 ERA) starts the third game of the six-game series against Dayton right-hander Chase Petty (10.13 ERA) at 7:05 p.m. Thursday.

The Nuts play the Dragons through Sunday at Day Air Ballpark before returning to Lansing for a six-game series with Great Lakes from August 16-21. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit lansinglugnuts.com or call (517) 485-4500.

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