Dragons Top Ft. Wayne 9-4; Earn Winning Trip
April 18, 2012
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Dayton (R-H-E): 9-11-0
Fort Wayne (R-H-E): 4-10-4
WP: Tanner Robles (1-0)
LP: Joe Ross (0-2)
Sv: None
HR: Dayton: Junior Arias (1st, 2 on base in fourth inning); Yovan Gonzalez (2nd, 0 on base in seventh inning).
HR: Fort Wayne: None
Fort Wayne, Ind.-Junior Arias blasted a three-run home run and Yovan Gonzalez added a solo shot as the Dayton Dragons defeated the Fort Wayne TinCaps 9-4 on Wednesday afternoon. The win gave the Dragons a winning road trip. They went 4-3 on the seven-game tour that also included games in South Bend. The Dragons improved to 6-7 on the season with the win as Fort Wayne fell to 4-9.
The Dragons picked up the lead in the top of the first inning when Theo Bowe singled, stole second, and eventually scored on Ryan Wright's ground out. Fort Wayne tied the game with a run in the bottom of the first.
In the Dayton fourth, Steve Selsky walked with one out and Kyle Waldrop singled off the glove of the second baseman. Arias followed with a long home run just to the right of straightaway center field, his first of the year, to give Dayton a 4-1 lead. Dayton added another run in the fifth when Juan Perez singled, went to third on Danny Vicioso's single, and scored on Juan Silva's sacrifice fly.
Fort Wayne started back in the fifth, scoring twice, and then adding one more in the sixth to pull within a run at 5-4. Reliever Carlos Contreras replaced Dragons starting pitcher Tanner Robles with two outs and the tying run at third in the sixth and induced an inning-ending fly out to preserve the lead.
Gonzalez drilled the first pitch of the seventh inning for a home run to left, his second homer of the year, to make it 6-4. Bowe then singled, stole second, and scored on Perez's double. The Dragons then took advantage of three TinCaps errors to plate two more runs in the inning and take a 9-4 lead. Contreras and Jimmy Moran combined to work the final three innings, allowing just one hit, to close out the game.
The Dragons collected 11 hits. Bowe was 3 for 5 with two stolen bases. Perez and Gonzalez each had two hits.
Robles (1-0) earned the win, going five and two-thirds innings. He allowed nine hits and four earned runs with one walk and five strikeouts.
The Dragons return to Dayton on Thursday to host the Quad Cities River Bandits in the start to a three-game series and six-game home stand. Stalin Gerson (1-1, 3.48) will start for Dayton on Thursday against Quad Cities' Todd McInnis (1-0, 3.75). All three games in the Quad Cities series (Thursday, Friday, and Saturday) will be televised on WHIO Digital Channel 7.2 (channel 23 on Time Warner basic cable; channel 372 on Time Warner's digital tier). Former Reds first baseman Todd Benzinger will join Dragons broadcaster Tom Nichols on Thursday.
Notes: Gonzalez's home run was the fifth of the year for the Dragons as he became the first Dayton batter to hit two. Gonzalez is batting .429 in six games this season as he has split the catching duties...Bowe's two stolen bases gave him eight on the season.