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Dragons 6, Great Lakes 5
August 4, 2012

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Dayton (R-H-E): 6-7-2
Great Lakes (R-H-E): 5-10-0

WP: Ryan Kemp (2-5)
LP: Yimi Garcia (4-4)
Sv: Carlos Contreras (14)

HR: Dayton: Juan Silva (4th, 0 on base in ninth inning). HR: Great Lakes: Darnell Sweeney, 2 (3rd, 0 on base in first inning; 4th, 0 on base in second inning); James Baldwin (5th, 0 on base in second inning); O'Koyea Dickson (12th, 0 on base in seventh inning).

Midland, Mich.-The Dayton Dragons battled back from a 5-0 deficit, scoring two runs in the eighth inning and four more in the ninth to defeat the Great Lakes Loons 6-5 on Saturday night. It was the biggest comeback win of the season for the Dragons, who prevailed despite four home runs in the game by the Loons.

Trailing 5-2 in the top of the ninth, Dayton's Juan Silva belted a one-out, solo home run to get the Dragons started. It was Silva's fourth homer of the year. Junior Arias and Yovan Gonzalez then collected back-to-back singles to put the tying runs on base. Juan Perez followed with a triple to right-center field, driving in both Arias and Gonzalez to tie the game at 5-5. Jefry Sierra then hit a ground ball to shortstop with the infield in. Perez raced home at the crack of the bat and slid in safely ahead of the throw to give the Dragons a 6-5 lead.

Carlos Contreras pitched a perfect bottom of the ninth for his 14th save. The win was the Dragons first of the season in a game in which they trailed by more than four runs at any time during the game and by more than two in the ninth inning.

Dragons starting pitcher Jacob Johnson (1-5) tossed four and two-thirds innings, allowing seven hits and four runs with two walks and three strikeouts to suffer the loss. Lucas O'Rear worked one and one-third scoreless innings in relief of Johnson, allowing one hit with one strikeout. Cole Green pitched one inning, allowing one run on two hits with two walks and three strikeouts. Ryan Kemp (2-5) earned the victory, entering the game with two men on base and no one out in the bottom of the eighth and pitching out of the jam.

The Dragons trailed 5-0 in the eighth when Perez tripled to drive in Gonzalez and make it 5-1. Perez scored on Sierra's sacrifice fly to pull the Dragons to within three at 5-2.

Great Lakes hit four solo homers in the game including two by Darnell Sweeney. Sweeney and James Baldwin hit back-to-back homers in the second. O'Koyea Dickson hit a home run in the seventh despite breaking his bat in half on the swing.

The Dragons finished with seven hits. Perez had two hits and three runs batted in.

The Dragons (17-24) battle the Loons (18-23) on Sunday at 2:05 p.m. in the second game of the series (Radio: WONE 980 AM). James Allen (7-3, 3.51) will start for the Dragons against Great Lakes' Duke von Schamann (2-2, 2.25). The next home game is Saturday, August 11 at Fifth Third Field against the Fort Wayne TinCaps.