By Mike Monaco

DAYTON, Ohio — Dragons lefty Seth Varner and Cubs righty Zach Hedges duked it out into the seventh inning, but Varner got the better of South Bend, driving Dayton to a 4-0 win Tuesday night at Fifth Third Field.

Varner faced the minimum through the first 6.1 innings, erasing the only two baserunners he allowed with double plays in the second and fifth innings. South Bend (20-26) didn’t sustain a baserunner until shortstop Gleyber Torres punched a one-out single up the middle in the top of the seventh. But Varner kept cruising with a strikeout and pop out to end the inning. In total, the southpaw spun seven shutout stanzas with five punchouts and no walks, improving his strikeout-to-walk ratio to 52-to-4 for the season.

Hedges, meanwhile, surrendered a pair of early runs but settled in until the seventh. In his eighth start of the season, Hedges worked 6.1 innings and allowed seven hits, to go along with a pair of strikeouts.

Dayton left fielder Jimmy Pickens slapped an opposite-field home run down the left-field line in the bottom of the first inning to give the Dragons (24-22) an early 1-0 advantage. Hedges eluded further trouble by stranding runners at first and third.

Dragons designated hitter Paul Kronenfeld cracked an RBI double in the second to make it 2-0. From there, Hedges retired 16 of the next 17 Dragons he faced — allowing only another Kronenfeld hit — until a third hit from the Dayton DH in the seventh.

After his third hit, Kronenfeld advanced to third on an infield single and error. With runners at the corners and one out, Dayton leadoff hitter Ronald Bueno floated an RBI single to right field, widening the gap to 3-0. The Cubs went to the bullpen and called on lefty Tommy Thorpe with runners again at the corners, but Pickens rolled an infield single to short to score center fielder Jonathan Reynoso from third.

The Cubs came up empty in the eighth and ninth against Dayton reliever Jake Paulson.

The game began following a 32-minute rain delay.

South Bend and Dayton duel in the middle game Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. ET at Fifth Third Field in Dayton, Ohio. Cubs right-hander Trevor Clifton (1-3, 3.31 ERA) is scheduled to oppose Dragons righty Mark Armstrong (2-1, 2.76 ERA).