MWL1 Dayton Dragons

Dragons GameDay

Published on May 5, 2009 under Midwest League (MWL1)
Dayton Dragons News Release


Tuesday, May 5, 2009 Game # 25

Fifth Third Field l Dayton, Ohio l Ć 7:00 p.m.

Radio: 1410 ESPN Radio WING-AM

Clinton LumberKings (14-9) at Dayton Dragons (6-18)

RH Oscar Castro (1-1, 5.21) vs. RH Adam Harben (1-0, 1.06)

Today¡¦s Game: The Dragons (affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds) host the Lumber Kings (affiliate of the Seattle Mariners) in the first game of a three-game series and the start of a 10-game home stand for Dayton. This is the first meeting of 2009 between the clubs.

Last Road Trip for Dayton: 4-6 (split four games in South Bend to start trip; won two of three in Beloit Wednesday-Friday; lost three in Fort Wayne Saturday-Monday).

Last Game: Fort Wayne 8, Dayton 7. The Dragons built a 7-1 lead through the first four and one-half innings before Fort Wayne rallied to score two in the fifth, two in the sixth, and three in the seventh for the win. Jordan Wideman led Dayton with three RBI including a two-run single as part of a five-run third inning that was the Dragons biggest inning of the year. The Dragons did not have a hit after the fifth inning.

Today¡¦s Dragons Starting Pitcher: Oscar Castro makes his fifth Midwest League appearance and fourth start tonight. In his last appearance Wednesday at Beloit, Castro earned a win with his best performance of the season. Castro¡¦s line: (7 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 SO). Castro is a 20-year-old native of Mexico. He was signed as a free agent by the Reds in December of 2005 at the age of 16. Castro spent the 2008 season at Billings, going 4-2, 4.14 in 13 starts. He walked only 18 batters in 67 innings.

Skipper: Todd Benzinger makes his professional baseball managerial debut in 2009. Benzinger enjoyed a nine-year major league playing career from 1987-1995 with the Reds, Red Sox, Royals, Dodgers, and Giants. Todd is a former first baseman who recorded the final putout of the 1990 World Series with the Reds to complete their four-game sweep of the Oakland A¡¦s. Benzinger is a native of the Cincinnati area and currently resides in West Chester, Ohio. He has enjoyed a highly-successful career coaching girls¡¦ high school basketball since 1999.

Individual Notes

¡P Relief pitcher Jordan Hotchkiss has not allowed a run over 7.1 innings in his last five games.

¡P Reliever Aguido Gonzalez has allowed no runs over 4.2 innings in his last four games, posting two saves.

¡P Reliever Andrew Bowman has given up only one run in 6.2 innings over his last four outings.

Team Notes

¡P Tonight¡¦s home game ends a stretch of predominantly road contests for the Dragons. The Dragons have played 17 of their last 21 games on the road and have played only seven games at home all season (all vs. Great Lakes).

¡P The Dragons next six games will be against West Division opponents. They are 2-4 vs. the West this season (all on the road). The Dragons went 30-16 vs. the West in 2008 and 16-7 vs. the West at Fifth Third Field.

¡P The three teams the Dragons will play on this home stand have a combined record of 47-23. All have winning percentages of at least .609.

¡P Dayton is 5-6 over its last 11 games after starting the season at 1-12.

¡P The Dragons batted just .179 as a team in the three games in Fort Wayne. In innings 6-9 of the three games (total of 12 innings), they did not score and collected only three hits.

¡P The Dragons have scored just 25 runs after the fifth inning this season (24 games). They have scored 58 runs in innings 1-5.

¡P In the last four Dragons wins, the opponent has combined to score a total of eight runs.

¡P Eight of the Dragons¡¦ 18 losses have come by one run. The Dragons are 2-8 in one-run games (10 one-run games are the most in the league). However, six losses have come by at least six runs including three losses by at least 10 runs.

¡P The Dragons have led by at least two runs in eight of their 18 losses.

¡P The Dragons current roster includes six players who have previously played for the club. They are pitchers Curtis Partch, Andrew Bowman, Aguido Gonzalez, Josh Ravin, and Mace Thurman; and infielder Humberto Sosa.

¡P The Dragons roster includes 19 players who played last season with the Billings Mustangs, the Reds Rookie-level affiliate. The Billings team posted a record of 42-32 and won both the first half and second half North Division titles in the Pioneer League.

Upcoming Probable Pitchers (All game times are Dayton time)

Wednesday (7:00 p.m.): Dayton RH J.C. Sulbaran (0-0, 6.75) vs. Clinton RH Kenn Kasparek (1-2, 5.19)

Thursday (7:00 p.m.): Dayton LH Matt Fairel (1-2, 3.20) vs. Clinton RH Walter Suriel (0-2, 5.54)

Friday (7:05 p.m.): Dayton RH Josh Ravin (1-2, 4.32) vs. Kane County RH Kenny Smalley (2-1, 3.21)

Saturday (7:00 p.m.): Dayton RH Curtis Partch (1-2, 6.85) vs. Kane County RH Shawn Haviland (3-1, 2.15)

Sunday (2:00 p.m.): Dayton RH Oscar Castro vs. Kane County LH Pedro Figueroa

Check out the Dayton Dragons Statistics

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