The Great Lakes Loons’ playoff run ended Friday night in Dayton, where the Dragons shut them out 5-0 in Game 3 of the Midwest League East Division series.
Cam Leiter had been sharp through 3 2/3 innings, piling up five strikeouts while allowing just a hit and a walk. Then the inning turned fast.
Two singles chased him from the game, and Matt Lanzendorfer inherited a bases-loaded mess before giving up a double that cleared the bags and put Dayton on the board. Those were the first two earned runs Leiter had allowed in four starts since his move to High-A.
The damage kept growing from there. A catcher’s interference call led to another Dayton run after Lanzendorfer stepped off without delivering a pitch and Victor Rodrigues moved in front of the plate, drawing the call. That was the last straw for Great Lakes manager Jair Fernández, who was ejected while arguing with home plate umpire Natanael Rodriguez Garcia.
The Loons never found much offense. Emil Morales accounted for two of their five hits, and all five were singles. Eduardo Quintero also took a pitch off the helmet in the fifth while showing bunt and pulling back from a 3-0 offering, but he stayed in the game and finished the night in center field.
The series never saw a road team win. Great Lakes opened with a 6-0 win in Midland, Michigan on Tuesday, then dropped Game 2 in Dayton 3-1 on Thursday before Friday’s clincher went to the Dragons. Dayton now moves on to face the Quad Cities River Bandits, the Kansas City Royals affiliate, for the Midwest League title.
While Great Lakes’ season ended, Triple-A Oklahoma City kept rolling. The Comets beat the Sugar Land Space Cowboys 13-0 and extended their winning streak to 13 games. They hit four home runs, and Charlie Barnes delivered five scoreless innings.
Chris Newell was a big part of the night in his Triple-A debut. The outfielder, promoted from Tulsa, launched his first Triple-A homer in the second inning, a solo shot off Bryce Mayer.
It was Newell’s 23rd homer of the season, and he paired that power with speed and defense: he now has 22 stolen bases, giving him his third straight season with at least 20 homers and 20 steals. The 13th-round pick out of Virginia in 2022 has 89 home runs and 92 steals over his last four seasons.
He also made a leaping catch in left field in the third inning to take away extra bases.
James Tibbs III added another homer for Oklahoma City, his 29th of the year, and it brought in his 100th RBI. That makes him the fifth Dodgers minor leaguer this season to reach 100 runs batted in, joining Tulsa infielder Jake Gelof, who got there Thursday. Tibbs has also scored 106 runs and walked 104 times, a rare combination across the minors.
Bobby Miller ran into trouble late, allowing a two-run homer in the seventh and a three-run blast in the eighth, both to Lucas Spence.
At Double-A, Christian Zazueta worked through two early runs and struck out four over five innings in Tulsa’s win over the Northwest Arkansas Naturals. Since moving up to Double-A, the Dodgers’ top pitching prospect has posted a 3.44 ERA in 12 starts, with 78 strikeouts and only eight walks in 55 innings, along with a 32.1-percent strikeout-minus-walk rate.
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