Farmers Only - Dayton Dragons keep on mashing

It was a rather homertastic evening on the Cincinnati Reds farm, with big flies leaving the yard with great proclivity - especially for the uber-talented Dayton Dragons.

To the scores!

Louisville Bats 6, Toledo Mud Hens 3 (AAA)

Stuart “Art Fair” Fairchild doubled and homered to pace the Bats offense in their Thursday win over Toledo. Jose Barrero singled, swiped a bag, scored a run, and drove in a pair, while Tyler Naquin had a rusty 0 for 3 night in his first outing on rehab. Ol’ Stu, it should be pointed out, is 13 for 43 with 5 dingers and a 1.054 OPS since rejoining the Reds org, and given the expected departures in the outfield by the trade deadline, I’m betting we’ll see him in Cincinnati before too long. Anyway, Randy “For the Gipper” Wynne struck out 8 in 7 innings of 2 ER ball on the bump, which was cool.

Birmingham Barons 10, Chattanooga Lookouts 5 (AA)

It was another tough outing for Andrew “Hey” Abbott as the Lookouts were trounced on Thursday. He was tagged for 5 ER in 5.0 IP, and now sports a 5.62 ERA in 41.2 IP since his call-up to AA. On the offensive side, Alex “McNolan” McGarry swatted a homer, while Allan “Cer Yes” Cerda continued his red-hot streak with a double off the LF wall and a trio of walks.

Dayton Dragons 11, Great Lakes Loons 8 (High-A)

Daniel “BOOM BOOM BOOM, Everybody Say Vello” Vellojin blasted a pair of homers, scored three times, and plated a trio of runs as the Dragons offense went bonkers against the Loons. Elly De La Cruz doubled, swiped a bag, and homered for his 3-ribbie evening, Austin “Fox in the” Hendrick went 2 for 5 with a double and a pair of ribbies, while Quin Cotton went 2 for 4 with a pair of walks and a swiped bag of his own. Mercy, what a talented lineup - Tyler Callihan, newly promoted, had a hit and a walk, too. Vin “The Tool Man” Timpanelli got all 6 of his outs of relief via strikeout, which was impressive despite him yielding a run, too.

Palm Beach Cardinals 3, Daytona Tortugas 2 (F/10) (Class A)

This was a 1-1 game entering extras, and while the Tugas plated a run in the Top of the 10th, they lost via walk-off when Palm Beach scored 2. Pitching was the bright spot for Daytona, clearly, as Tanner “BT” Cooper allowed just a run on 2 hits with 5 K in 4.0 IP as the starter, while Javi Rivera backed him with 3.2 IP of scoreless relief that featured 6 K. Owen Holt was the bullpen’s cougher-upper, though.