Faltine's Home Run Lifts Dragons to 2-1 Win

Dragons 2, Fort Wayne 1

Click here for the box score

Dayton (R-H-E): 2-8-1; Fort Wayne (R-H-E): 1-3-1

Win: John Murphy (1-0); Loss: Ruben Galindo (0-1); Save: Jayvien Sandridge (1)

HR: Dayton: Trey Faltine (1st, 1 on base in eighth inning). HR: Fort Wayne: None

Dayton, Ohio—Dayton’s Trey Faltine broke a scoreless tie with a two-run home run in the eighth inning and three Dayton pitchers combined to allow only three hits as the Dragons defeated the Fort Wayne TinCaps 2-1 on Friday night. A crowd of 8,966, the largest crowd of the year for the Dragons, was in attendance at Day Air Ballpark in the heart of the Water Street District.

The game featured one of the top pitcher’s duels of the season. Neither team could push across a run until the Dragons came to bat in the eighth. Justice Thompson singled through the right side with one out, and Faltine followed with a home run to straight-away center field to put Dayton in front. It was Faltine’s first homer of the year.

“I was expecting a fastball there and I got it, and put a good swing on it,” said Faltine. “It happened to be me tonight and it could have been anybody. The first two games (in the series) obviously didn’t go the way we wanted them to go but it’s baseball, you just have to stay the course and good things will happen.”

Click here to view the Faltine home run: https://twitter.com/DragonsBaseball/status/1659730177608261633?s=20

Dragons starting pitcher Julian Aguiar was exceptional and has emerged as one of the league’s top pitchers. He fired six scoreless innings, allowing just one hit with one walk and six strikeouts to lower his earned run average to a league-leading 1.62.

John Murphy, just called up this week from Low-A Daytona, made his first appearance with the Dragons to start the seventh inning. He faced the minimum six batters over seventh and eighth and then recorded the first out of the ninth. Jayvien Sandridge replaced Murphy and walked the first man he faced before allowing a run-scoring double to Jackson Merrill that brought Fort Wayne to within a run and put the tying run at second. But Sandridge struck out the next two batters swinging to end the game. Murphy was credited with the win and Sandridge earned his first save.

The Dragons finished with eight hits. Blake Dunn and Austin Hendrick each had two.

The Dragons and TinCaps have now split the first four games in the series.

Photos from tonight’s game: https://www.instagram.com/p/CscoHgtOhe9/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA%3D%3D

Up Next: The Dragons (17-20) host Fort Wayne (13-24) in the fifth game of the six-game series on Saturday at 7:05 p.m. at Day Air Ballpark in the heart of the Water Street District. Jose Acuña (2-0, 2.63) will start for Dayton. For ticket information, go to daytondragons.com/tickets or call (937) 228-2287.

On the Air: All Dragons home and road games are broadcast on radio on FOX Sports 980 AM WONE. Games can be heard on smart phones, iPads, and other mobile devices via the free Dragons Mobile App, or on a computer at wone.com. Games are also available on HD Radio on 104.7 WTUI HD 2.

More Information:The Dayton Dragons are the affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds and play 66 home games at beautiful Day Air Ballpark, in the heart of the Water Street District. Contact the Dragons by calling at (937) 228-2287, emailing at [email protected], or go to daytondragons.com. For more information, please visit the following links:

• 2023 Schedule: https://www.milb.com/dayton/team/schedules
• Season Tickets: https://www.milb.com/dayton/tickets/seasontickets
• Group and Hospitality Options: https://www.milb.com/dayton/tickets/groupoutings
• Single Game Tickets: https://www.milb.com/dayton/tickets/single-game-tickets

The Dragons sellout streak is active, currently at 1,457 consecutive sold-out dates over the past 23 years, and is a testament to the Dayton area community. To keep the sellout streak alive, Dragons fans are encouraged to attend games this summer at Day Air Ballpark.

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