Dragons Hold Off TinCaps, 5-4

Dragons 5, Fort Wayne 4

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Dayton, Ohio-Dayton's Shed Long collected a double and triple and scored three runs and reliever Jake Ehret shut down a Fort Wayne comeback bid as the Dragons defeated the TinCaps 5-4 on Sunday afternoon. The win was the Dragons seventh consecutive home victory and gave them a home record of 31-17, best in the Midwest League.

Dayton led 5-0 after six innings and seemed to hold firm control of the game, but Fort Wayne roared back with a big rally in the seventh. The TinCaps collected five hits in the inning and scored four runs. With two outs in the inning, Fort Wayne's Luis Tejada, representing the tying run, stole second, and the TinCaps were potentially one more hit away from tying the game. But Edwin Moreno flied out to right to end the inning. Ehret entered the game to start the eighth and retired all six batters he faced to earn his second save.

Dragons starting pitcher Junior Morillo (3-4) was outstanding and earned the win. He worked six innings, allowing no runs on eight hits with two walks and three strikeouts.

The Dragons scored an unearned run in the first inning and then added two more in the third to extend their lead to 3-0. Long tripled to center field to lead off the third and scored on Gavin LaValley's double to right. LaValley scored with two outs on Argenis Aldazoro's singled to right.

The Dragons added two more runs in the fourth inning. Long's double brought in Ty Washington from first base to make it 4-0, and Long eventually scored on an infield single by Aristides Aquino to extend the lead to 5-0.

The Dragons finished with eight hits. Long was joined in the attack by LaValley, who went 3 for 4 with a double and RBI.      

The Dragons (12-12 in the second half; 51-43 overall) and TinCaps (14-10, 46-46) close out the three-game series on Monday night at 7:00 at Fifth Third Field. Tyler Mahle (9-5, 2.71) will start for the Dragons against Fort Wayne's Thomas Dorminy (7-6, 3.90).

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.

Notes:   The start of the game was delayed for one hour, four minutes by rain. 

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