West Michigan’s Rey Rivera broke a 4-4 tie with a two-run home run in the eighth inning as the Whitecaps defeated the Dayton Dragons 6-4 on Saturday night. West Michigan has won four of six games in the seven-game series that will end on Sunday afternoon.
The Dragons fell behind 4-1 over the first six innings, committing a season-high four errors leading to three unearned runs. They battled back to even the score in the seventh. The Dragons scored three times in the inning, ignited by a walk to Reyny Reyes and a base hit by Jacob Hurtubise that moved Reyes to third. Michael Siani followed with an infield single that drove in Reyes, and an error on the play moved Hurtubise to third and Siani to second. Francisco Urbaez grounded out to drive in Hurtubise to make it 4-3, and the Dragons tied the game when Siani stole third and scored when the throw by catcher Cooper Johnson sailed into left field.
In the bottom of the eighth, Rivera came to bat against Dayton reliever Sam Hellinger with a man at first and one out, and drilled the first pitch over the right field fence to give West Michigan a 6-4 lead.
Up Next: The Dragons (43-40) close out the seven-game series at West Michigan (40-43) on Sunday at 2:00 p.m. Eduardo Salazar (2-5, 4.00) will start for the Dragons against Garrett Hill (3-0, 2.03).
