DAYTON, OH - Danny Pinero tied a career-high with a four-hit night and included a solo home run as the West Michigan Whitecaps beat the Dayton Dragons 7-5 Tuesday night at Fifth Third Field. Tweet from @wmwhitecaps: Huge night for Danny Pinero, as we slay the Dayton Dragons 7-5! Back
DAYTON, OH - Danny Pinero tied a career-high with a four-hit night and included a solo home run as the West Michigan Whitecaps beat the Dayton Dragons 7-5 Tuesday night at Fifth Third Field.
Pinero, a native of Toronto, finished the night a triple shy of hitting for the cycle in a 4-for-4 performance. The third baseman scored twice while driving in a pair of runs while a stealing a base.
West Michigan stranded the bases loaded and none out in the second before finally breaking through against Dragons starting pitcher Wennington Romero in the third with two runs in an inning highlighted by Cole Bauml's RBI-single. After Dayton plated a run in the fourth, the 'Caps busted out for three runs in the fifth. Back-to-back triples by Derek Hill and Danny Woodrow and a solo home run from Danny Pinero - his fourth of the year - to take a 5-1 lead. In the bottom of the inning, Taylor Trammell hit an inside-the-park home run to right-center field to bring Dayton closer at 5-2.
The Dragons continued to chip away at their deficits, but the 'Caps continued to extend the lead. A wild pitch scored Pinero in the seventh, and Chad Sedio hit a towering home run to right field to tack on late-inning runs for West Michigan. Outfielder Derek Hill also finished just short of hitting for the cycle with a single, double, and triple in the contest.
Spenser Watkins (8-2) enjoyed one of his best starts of the season, tossing six innings allowing just two runs and striking out a season-high eight batters to earn his eighth win of the year. Romero (3-10) allowed five runs in 4.1 frames to pick up his tenth loss of 2017. John Schreiber retired the final five Dragons of the contest to pick up his ninth save. The Whitecaps improve to 36-14 in the second half, with an 81-36 overall record. The Dragons improve to 15-36 in the final half of the season, with a 56-65 overall mark.
UP NEXT
The Whitecaps continue this four-game series against the Dayton Dragons Wednesday at 7:00p.m. Pitcher Tom de Blok starts for the Whitecaps against Dragons lefty Scott Moss. Broadcast coverage with Dan Hasty begins on the Whitecaps Baseball Network at 6:50p.m. Tickets can be reserved for any Whitecaps 2017 home contest by calling the Whitecaps front office at 616-784-4131 or by visiting www.whitecapsbaseball.com.
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