Dragons snap streak against Fort Wayne

Dayton, Ohio—Byron Wiley drove in two runs with a single and triple as the Dayton Dragons defeated the Fort Wayne TinCaps 5-3 on Tuesday night at Fifth Third Field. The win for Dayton was their first this season against Fort Wayne after 11 losses to the TinCaps.

The Dragons bullpen was outstanding, tossing five scoreless innings while allowing just two hits. Andrew Bowman (1-6) picked up the win, going three innings and striking out two while walking no one and allowing two hits. Aguido Gonzalez retired the last six batters of the game to earn his eighth save.

Fort Wayne took the lead with three runs in the top of the first inning against Dragons starting pitcher J.C. Sulbaran. Sulbaran walked the first three batters of the game to load the bases with no one out. He retired the next two batters on a strikeout and an infield pop out and appeared to be poised to get out of trouble. But the next batter, Cole Figueroa, hit a line drive off the glove of Sulbaran that rolled a few feet away. Sulbaran had time to pick the ball up and get Figueroa at first, but he rushed the throw and threw it into the seats to allow two runs to score. Sulbaran then uncorked a wild pitch to bring in the third run of the inning.

Dayton started back in the second, loading the bases with no one out on an infield hit by Mike Konstanty, an error, and a single to right by Kevin Coddington. With one out, Kevyn Feiner hit a long sacrifice fly to center field to bring in the Dragons first run.

In the third, Dayton scored two runs to tie the game. Carlos Mendez reached on an error with one out and scored on Cody Puckett’s double to center. Puckett scored from second on Byron Wiley’s hit to center to make it 3-3.

Dayton took the lead in the fifth. Dave Sappelt singled to left and went to second on Mendez’s ground out. Sappelt stole third and after Cody Puckett walked, Konstanty delivered a sacrifice fly to right to break the tie as Sappelt scored. Puckett then stole second and scored on a triple to right by Wiley to make it 5-3.

Sulbaran recovered after a very rough first inning, pitching scoreless baseball over the next three frames without a walk while striking out six. He allowed two hits.

Dayton finished with nine hits. Wiley and Coddington each had two to lead the way.

The Dragons (3-2, 31-44) host the TinCaps (4-1, 49-26) in the second game of the series on Wednesday at 7:05 p.m. at Fifth Third Field. Oscar Castro (2-2, 6.15) will start for the Dragons against Simon Castro (5-4, 3.80).