MWL1 Dayton Dragons

West Michigan Scores 2 in 8th to Edge Dragons, 2-1

Published on August 6, 2018 under Midwest League (MWL1)
Dayton Dragons News Release


Grand Rapids, Mich. - The West Michigan Whitecaps took advantage of two late-game mistakes and overcame a 1-0 deficit to defeat the Dayton Dragons 2-1 on Monday night. With the win, the Whitecaps won the series, two-games-to-one. The loss dropped the Dragons to 2-4 on their 13-game road trip.

The Whitecaps scored two runs in the bottom of the eighth inning for the win. Their rally began with a one-out single by Brady Policelli against Dragons reliever Cory Thompson. The next hitter, Dylan Rosa, hit a fly ball to center field that was misjudged by Dragons outfielder Lorenzo Cedrola. Cedrola, who was playing slightly toward left-center, moved to his left, came to a near stop, and then realized the ball was hit deeper than expected. He took two steps back and reached up, but the ball cleared his glove for a game tying triple. Rosa then scored from third on Joey Morgan's sacrifice fly to give West Michigan a 2-1 lead.

The Dragons got a two-out single in the ninth inning from Alejo Lopez but the game ended on Andy Sugilio's deep fly ball to left field.

The Dragons had an opportunity to add to their 1-0 lead in the eighth, but lost a chance to pick up a big run on a base-running mistake. Leandro Santana reached on an infield single with one out and went to second on a walk to J.D. Williams. Mark Kolozsvary then reached on an infield single that was fielded by Whitecaps second baseman Anthony Pereira, who had no play at first, but looked to third and saw that Santana had rounded the base. Pereira quickly threw to third and trapped Santana between third and home, and Santana was eventually tagged out. Rather than a bases loaded, one out opportunity, the Dragons were left with two outs and two on, and Raul Wallace grounded out to end the inning, setting the stage for West Michigan's two-run bottom of the eighth.

Dragons starting pitcher Packy Naughton posted one of his best outings of the season, matching a career high with nine strikeouts over five and two-thirds scoreless innings. He allowed just three hits while walking three. Ryan Nutof followed Naughton and worked one and one-third scoreless innings. Thompson (5-5) pitched the eighth and was charged with the loss.

The Dragons broke a scoreless tie in the fourth when Williams reached on an infield single and scored from first base on Kolozsvary's double down the left field line.

The Dragons finished the day with nine hits. Lopez had two hits to extend his hitting streak to 10 straight games, one short of the team's 2018 high of 11 by Stuart Fairchild and Michael Beltre. Santana and Kolozsvary also had two hits apiece.

In the Standings: The Dragons fell to 20-24 in the second half. They are tied with South Bend for the wildcard slot (#2 seed) in the Midwest League's East Division Second Half playoff chase. There are 26 games to play.

Up Next: The Dragons do not play on Tuesday. On Wednesday night, they open a three-game series at Lansing at 7:05 p.m. Austin Orewiler (4-3, 3.57) will start for Dayton against Lansing's Matt Gunter (3-4, 5.18).

The next home game at Fifth Third Field is Wednesday, August 15 against the Lake County Captains at 7:00 p.m. For Dragons 2018 ticket information, call (937) 228-2287.

Game Broadcast: All Dragons games are broadcast on radio on Fox Sports 980 WONE and on the internet at wone.com. Games are also available on the Dayton Dragons mobile app.

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Midwest League Stories from August 6, 2018


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