Minton had retired 11 in a row before Graham ended the streak with a home run to left field with one out in the fifth inning. The homer was Graham’s third of the season. The next batter Almonte drilled a home run to right field to give the Dragons a 2-1 lead. Almonte’s home run, with an exit velocity of 108 mph, was his sixth of the year.
In the sixth inning, Dayton’s Anthony Stephan singled with one out, and one batter later, Confidan blasted a two-run home run to right field to make it 4-1. The homer by Confidan was his fourth of the year.
West Michigan scored one run against Montero in the sixth to make it 4-2 before the Dragons went to their bullpen to start the seventh. Cody Adcock replaced Montero and worked a perfect inning before running into trouble in the eighth. With two on and one out, Adcock was replaced by Irvin Machuca, who got a line out on an excellent leaping catch by second baseman Victor Acosta, and a strikeout to end the threat.
The Dragons scored in the top of the ninth when Carlos Sanchez singled to start the inning and eventually scored from second on Graham’s single to center to make it 5-2. Machuca pitched a scoreless bottom of the ninth for his fourth save.
Montero (5-3) earned the win, going six innings and allowing six hits and two runs with one walk and six strikeouts.
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