The simplest way for him to figure out how many was to count the balls in play. A ground out to third baseman Johnny Ascanio was the only batted out. And the other one ... oh yeah, catcher Connor Burns threw out Jordan Thompson trying to steal second.
The easy math told Edgington he had struck out 13. That’s the second-most in team history. Daniel Renken in 2011 and Josh Hall in 2001 struck out 14.
Fortunately for Edgington, his domination came on a night when the last-place Dragons played their best overall game the season, defeating Great Lakes 9-4 for their second straight win.
“It was amazing ... it was a lot of fun,” catcher Connor Burns said. “I love that guy every single time I catch him.
After walking the game’s first batter, Edgington allowed a one-out, two-run homer to Logan Wagner. He struck out the next five. After the groundout, seven of his final eight outs were strikeouts. Only a leadoff walk and the caught-stealing play interrupted the flood of strikeouts.
“I didn’t start the way I wanted to, but I responded in a good way, just stuck to my game plan, just attacking hitters,” Edgington said.
Edgington’s low to mid-90s fastball was good. But his splitter that tails away from left-handers and crowds right-handers was his best pitch.
“It was just one of those days where it’s going to work no matter what — we’re just going to keep throwing it,“ Burns said. ”Guys can’t lay off of it. It was just textbook."
Edgington finished last year in Dayton pitching well. He didn’t make it to five innings this season until his previous start at Fort Wayne when he allowed one run in six innings.
“Going back to last week in Fort Wayne, he came in super convicted in his plan,” Dragons manager Vince Harrison Jr. said. “He had done his homework on the hitters, and came in our pitcher-catcher meeting and talked about his plan of attack. He did it last week. Did it again this week, just happened to have a lot more strikeouts.”
While Edgington was missing bats, his teammates were making loud contact and taking advantage of 12 walks, two hit batters, four wild pitches and a passed ball.
The Dragons tied the score at 2 in the first on Leo Balcazar’s triple, lost in the setting sun by right fielder Kole Myers, and John Michael Faile’s single.
In the second, struggling leadoff hitter Carlos Jorge hit a two-run homer to spark a three-run inning and a 5-2 lead. Jorge entered the game in a 2-for-37 slump and batting .172.
“Not going to lie to you, it feels so good because I’m feeling like I’ve not been helping the team,” he said. “That’s what I want to do — have success on the field. So thank God for that."
Harrison Jr. said Jorge needs to remember he can help the team on defense and in baserunning when he’s not hitting.
“He can be a special player, and I know he knows that, too,” Harrison Jr. said. “He has probably put a little more pressure on himself because he didn’t get off to the start he wanted to. It’s just a matter of not getting impatient because they do. They start looking at the numbers and the averages and get off their plan.”
The Dragons produced a season-high 11 hits as they scored in the first five innings. Left fielder Ariel Almonte had his second straight two-hit game and singled home a run in the fourth inning to raise his batting average to .128. Right fielder and ninth-place batter Myles Smith reached base five times with a single, three walks and being hit by a pitch. Balcazar had three hits and Yerlin Confidan had two hits and an RBI.
The Dragons will play Saturday with the hope of a first three-game winning streak. The way to more consistent play and more wins follows a message Harrison Jr. has been delivering every day.
“We just gotta be a little more in tune with details,” he said. “We’ve just really challenged them, and the best part is they’re challenging each other a little bit more on the small details.”
Jorge said Thursday’s player-led team meeting meant a lot.
“It was so important — we needed that a while ago,“ he said. ”I feel like the team released a lot of bad things that we had to talk about. We figured out what we have to do, and now we’re here doing it."
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