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Sports TwitterDAYTON 3, BURLINGTON BEES 2
Dragons' Phipps stings Bees
Dayyton's right fielder swats two singles and one home run for 3-2 victory.
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
DAYTON — Denis Phipps batted only three times Monday night, but that was way too many for the Burlington Bees.
Phipps, right fielder for the Dayton Dragons, pumped two singles through the Bees and one homer over them in a 3-2 victory at Fifth Third Field to keep Dayton tied for first place with Lansing in the Eastern Division of the Midwest League.
Extras
Phipps — who also scored twice — raised his batting average to .339.
"Darren Bragg has been helping me out," said Phipps with translating help from Dragons starter Rafael Gonzalez. "On the breaking ball, I was not doing any good."
So he went to the Dragons' hitting coach, Bragg.
"My first hit was on a breaking ball," Phipps said. "Work pays off."
It has paid off up and down the Dragons' lineup, and helped Gonzalez, too.
This is Gonzalez's third tour with the Dragons, and by far his best. Although he did allow back-to-back homers in the fourth, momentarily tying the score at 2-2, his ERA rose to just 1.04 and he won his third game in as many starts. Phipps' homer to lead off the bottom of the inning decided it.
"I'm just working hard with pitching coach Doug Bair," Gonzalez said. He also worked hard in the off-season to pare 20 pounds off a pudgy body that now has about 228 pounds draped on a 6-foot-1 frame. He says he would like to drop down to 215.
Mostly, he has stopped walking batters.
"I've been trying to stay low (with pitches)," said Gonzalez, who walked 25 in 39 2/3 innings last year with the Dragons while his ERA went to 5.22. His one walk in 6 1/3 innings against Burlington was only his fifth in 17 1/3 innings this season.
"Gonzo's got good stuff," Dayton manager Donnie Scott said. "He has been blessed with a great arm. I saw him in the GCL (Gulf Coast League) tear it up. It's there. And the better physical shape he's in, the better pitches will come."
Today's game
Who: Burlington Bees at Dayton Dragons
When: 7 p.m.
Radio: WING-AM (1410)
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2157 or mkatz@DaytonDailyNews.com.
