Late Blast by Rios Edges Iowa

Des Moines, Iowa - A solo home run by Edwin Ríos in the top of the ninth inning broke a tie and proved to be the difference in a 4-3 win for the Oklahoma City Dodgers over the Iowa Cubs Friday night at Principal Park.
Iowa had tied the game with two outs in the eighth inning, sending the game to the ninth inning at 3-3. With the bases empty and two outs, Rios got the green light and hammered a 3-0 pitch from Dylan Floro out of the stadium to right-center field to put the Dodgers back in front. It was Rios' third home run in 11 games with Oklahoma City and his 18th overall this season.
In the bottom of the ninth, Jeremy Bleich retired the side in order to seal the victory.
Until the bottom of the eighth inning, the Dodgers (53-45) had led the entire ballgame. On the very first pitch of the game, Todd Cunningham lined a double to right-center field. After a groundout by Kyle Farmer, O'Koyea Dickson stepped up next and launched a two-run homer to left-center field, as Dickson hit his 21st home run of the season.
Iowa got on the board in the bottom of the second inning. Chris Dominguez led off with a single, and Jeimer Candelario followed with a RBI double to make it 2-1.
Later in the inning, the I-Cubs (44-53) had runners at the corners with none out, but Wilmer Font prevented Iowa from pulling even. After a strikeout and a hit batter loaded the bases with one out, Font struck out the next two batters to end the threat.
The Dodgers got the run back in the top of the third inning. They started the frame with three straight hits, including a RBI single by Dickson, who now has nine RBI over the past two games.
But after Dickson's hit extended the lead to 3-1, the Dodgers' bats went silent. The Iowa pitching staff retired 17 of the next 19 batters. Between the fourth and eighth innings, the Dodgers produced just one hit and had another batter reach base via walk.
Iowa made it a one-run game in the bottom of the fifth inning, but again, Font did a good job to limit the damage. The I-Cubs started the inning with hits by Williams Pérez and John Andreoli, putting runners at second and third base with none out. Font allowed just one run to score on a soft groundout with one out, and he ended the inning by striking out Dominguez with the tying run at third base.
In the bottom of the seventh inning, Font issued his first and only walk of the night with two outs to Jemile Weeks to put the tying run on base. Font then regrouped and ended his outing by striking out Jacob Hannemann to keep the 3-2 lead intact.
Although he ended up with a no decision, Font turned in another stellar start, tying his season high with seven innings. He allowed two run on seven hits, with one walk and 11 strikeouts. It was Font's fifth game this season with at least 10 strikeouts, tying the club single-season record set last year by José De León.
With Font out of the game in the eighth inning, Iowa rallied to tie the game against Bleich. Dominguez hit a one-out double and Taylor Davis came through with a two-out RBI single to even the score.
Bleich (4-0) pitched the final two innings and recorded six outs on just 16 pitches. He notched two strikeouts, giving the Dodgers 13 for the night - the team's 40th double-digit strikeout game of the season.
Floro (3-2) entered the game in the seventh inning and had retired seven of the first eight batters he faced before Rios' fateful home run.
The Dodgers and I-Cubs continue their series at 7:08 p.m. Saturday at Principal Park. Live coverage begins 15 minutes before first pitch on AM 1340 "The Game," 1340thegame.com, or through the free iHeartRadio mobile app.