MWL1 Dayton Dragons

Dragons Lose on Walk-Off Homer in Peoria

Published on July 14, 2010 under Midwest League (MWL1)
Dayton Dragons News Release


Dayton, Ohio-Nelson Perez hit a game-winning home run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning as the Peoria Chiefs withstood a furious comeback rally by the Dayton Dragons to post a 10-9 victory in the first game of a three-game series on Wednesday night. The Dragons had scored five runs in the top of the ninth inning to tie the game and force a bottom of the ninth. The loss snapped the Dragons road winning streak at six, two short of the club record.

The Dragons trailed 9-4 going to the ninth inning. Mark Fleury's base hit got the Dragons going, and one batter later, Josh Garton walked. Andrew Means' RBI double brought in the first run. Garton scored on Didi Gregorius' infield ground out, and Means scored on a wild pitch to make it 9-7 with two outs. Henry Rodriguez struck out swinging for what appeared to be the game-ending out, but when the pitch eluded the Peoria catcher, Rodriguez raced to first to reach on a third-strike wild pitch and keep the game alive. Chris Richburg followed by blasting a titanic drive far over the left field fence to tie the game. It was Richburg's team-leading 13th homer of the year.

But Peoria won it in the bottom of the ninth when Perez hit a walk-off home run with the bases empty against Dragons reliever Junior Martinez (1-1), who had entered the game to start the half-inning.

The Dragons jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning, keyed by an RBI double by Rodriguez. But Peoria answered with six runs in the second inning to take a commanding lead. Luis Flores belted a three-run home run to give Peoria the lead, and Logan Watkins added a two-run triple later in the inning as the Chiefs jumped ahead 6-2.

Dayton's Frank Pfister drilled a two-run home run in the fourth to pull the Dragons to within two at 6-4. It was Pfister's fifth home run of the season.

But the Chiefs regained a four-run lead in the bottom of the fifth, scoring a pair of runs on back-to-back wild pitches by Dragons reliever Jamie Walczak to make it 8-4. Peoria scored one more run in the eighth to build their lead to five runs going to the ninth.

Dragons starting pitcher Justin Walker suffered through his worst outing of the year. He worked one inning, allowing seven hits and six runs with two walks and one strikeout.

The Dragons collected 12 hits. Richburg, Rodriguez, Fleury, and Pfister all had two.

The Dragons (7-12) play at Peoria (5-12) again on Thursday at 8:00 p.m. (EDT). Ricky Bowen (2-2, 4.50) will start for Dayton against Peoria's Nick Struck (2-8, 3.89). The next home game is Wednesday, July 21 vs. the Cedar Rapids Kernels.

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Midwest League Stories from July 14, 2010


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