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MWL1 Dayton Dragons

Whitecaps rally late to take down Dragons

May 30, 2006 - Midwest League (MWL1)
Dayton Dragons News Release


Comstock Park, MI - Tuesday night's second game of a four game series between the Dayton Dragons (25-27) and West Michigan Whitecaps (31-18) featured two of the Midwest League's better pitchers in Dayton's Johnny Cueto (ND) and West Michigan's Sendy Vasquez (WP, 3-3). Cueto entered the game with 19 consecutive innings of shutout baseball to his credit and Vasquez was stellar at Fifth Third Ballpark with a 2-1 record and a 1.51 ERA in home starts on the 2006 season. While Vasquez may not have been better than Cueto, the Whitecaps rallied late to earn the victory 9-3 over the Dragons, extending Dayton's losing streak to a season high five games.

Both pitchers held to form as neither allowed more than a hit in the first two innings on the night. In the top half of the third the Dragons drew first blood, thanks to some porous Whitecaps defense by third baseman Mark Haske. Chris Denove and Josh Holden picked up back-to-back singles to open the inning. With one down, a Vasquez wild pitch moved the runners up to second and third for Eric Eymann. Eymann's routine grounder to third was booted by Haske allowing both Denove and Holden to score and Eymann to reach second base. Eymann moved to third on Mike Griffin's grounder to second base for the second out of the inning and scored on the second wild pitch of the inning by Vasquez giving Dayton a 3-0 lead.

With scoreless first and second innings Cueto ran his consecutive scoreless streak up to 21.0 innings, second behind Carlos Fisher's 23.0 innings consecutive innings shutout innings However, the streak would come to an end in the bottom of the third. Rafael Mendez led off with a double to left, and Will Rhymes singled him to third. With runners on the corners, the Dragons traded a run for two outs on a double play. After three innings of baseball, Dayton maintained a 3-1 lead.

The score would remain 3-1 until the bottom of the sixth inning. Pedro Cotto led off the inning with a double to right, and advanced to third on Matt Joyce's single. Mike Hernandez followed with an RBI single to cut the lead to 3-2. After a sacrifice bunt put runners at second and third, Dusty Ryan grounded out to second, but a run scored to tie the game at 3-3.

West Michigan took their first lead of the game in the seventh. Logan Ondrusek (LP, 1-1) relieved Cueto, and immediately found himself in trouble. A hit by Mark Haske, a walk to Mendez, and bunt single by Rhymes loaded the bases with nobody out. Cotto followed with a sacrifice foul fly to right, scoring Haske and giving the Whitecaps the 4-3 advantage. Ondrusek got out of the jam with a pop out and a fly out to end the inning without further damage.

The Whitecaps added five insurance runs in the eighth. Ryan reached on a throwing error by Griffin, and came around to score on Mike Hollimon's double to make the score 5-3. After an intentional walk to Haske, Russell Haltiwanger (ND) came in and allowed a three-run home run to Mendez to give West Michigan the 8-3 lead. A walk and a single later, Hernandez picked up his second RBI with a single to left to put the score at 9-3. Whitecaps reliever Anthony Claggett (S, 4) shut out the Dragons for the final two innings to preserve the victory.

The Dragons and Whitecaps will match up for School Days at Fifth Third Ballpark in Comstock Park, Michigan on Wednesday morning with an 11:00 AM first pitch. The Dragons will start LHP Philippe Valiquette (1-4, 6.12 ERA), while West Michigan counters with LHP Erik Averill (2-3, 4.38 ERA). 1410 ESPN Radio WING AM will carry the game live beginning with the Dragons pre game show at 10:30 AM. All Dragons games in 2006 can also be heard live on the internet at www.daytondragons.com.

Fifth Third Ballpark - Comstock Park, Michigan

Final - R H E LOB

DRAGONS (25-27) 3 4 1 3 WP: Sendy Vasquez (3-3) West Michigan Whitecaps (31-18) 9 12 1 7 Save: Anthony Claggett (4) LP: Logan Ondrusek (1-1)

Time of Game: 2:34 Attendance: 4,418

Check out the Dayton Dragons Statistics



Midwest League Stories from May 30, 2006


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