“They got lucky tonight,” Dragons second baseman Tyler Callihan said. “That’s the only thing we’re thinking. We all know we’re a better team and we’re going to come out with a win.”
Beloit (16-17 second half, 43-55 overall) snapped the Dragons’ (19-14, 52-47) four-game win streak and dropped the Dragons into a first-place East Division tie with Fort Wayne, a 10-0 winner over Great Lakes.
“It’s been fun,” Callihan said of the hot streak. “Hitting’s really contagious. And I think once everybody gets rolling, everybody sees how much fun we’re having and realizes how good this team can be, then it’s just going to be up from there.”
The hot stretch and surge to first place has been fun, but Dragons manager Bryan LaHair doesn’t expect his players to be more up for games now than when they were in a losing streak.
“They put their career on the line every night,” he said. “They’re going to show up tomorrow, work hard and get prepared to play a 7 o’clock game. It doesn’t change.”
The Dragons fell behind 4-0, but Callihan, who had two hits, hit a two-run double to cut Beloit’s lead in half.
However, Beloit wasn’t finished, and the bottom of the batting order did the damage. Ninth-place hitter Cristhian Rodriguez hit a two-run homer off starter Hunter Parks in the third. Eighth-place hitter Josh Zamora hit a solo homer off Myles Gayman to cap a four-run fifth. And No. 7 hitter Osiris Johnson hit a solo homer in the seventh to push the lead to 9-3.
LaHair emphasizes not giving away an at-bat, and the Dragons didn’t do that in the ninth despite a six-run deficit. With one out, Jay Allen walked and came around to score on three wild pitches by Franklin Sanchez. The third one was ball four to Edwin Arroyo.
Austin Callahan walked next and Ruben Ibarra loaded the bases when his hard grounder up the middle was booted for an error. Sanchez, though, settled and got a second out on a Austin Hendrick’s sacrifice fly before striking out Mat Nelson with the tying run on deck to end the game.
“Even in the last inning when we were down by six runs you knew we were still in it,” Callihan said. “We get one more runner on there and we got ourselves a game. So with this team any comeback’s possible, any win is possible.”
The ninth inning was exactly the approach LaHair wanted to see his lineup take against Sanchez.
“They had quality at-bats,” he said. “After the first hitter, he wasn’t throwing too many strikes. So guys just fed off that a little bit and found themselves on base with a chance to get within a score. It’s just one of those nights.”
Former Dragon update: Outfielder Blake Dunn started the season in Dayton and won Midwest League player of the month in April. He was promoted to Double-A Chattanooga on June 6 and has continued to hit. He was just named the Southern League player of the month for July.
Dunn played in 22 games and batted .446 with a .528 on-base percentage, .699 slugging percentage and a 1.227 OPS. Hit hit five doubles, two triples, four home runs and stole 17 bases in 19 attempts.
About the Author