Today’s Game
Dayton at Lansing, 7:05 p.m.
980-AM
If you were a Dayton Dragon wearing a Sunday green jersey, things couldn’t have been better.
Dayton came from behind to beat Bowling Green on Saturday, and carried the momentum into the early innings of Sunday’s game and with it a four-run lead.
Then the eighth inning happened, and it led to a 7-5 Dayton loss.
Joel Bender, who had pitched three perfect innings of relief, allowed three straight singles to lead off the inning. In came Alejandro Chacin, who had been perfect in three relief appearances for Dayton earlier this year.
A walk, a fielder’s choice, another fielder’s choice and an error bouncing off the back of a base-runner led to four Bowling Green runs.
“We wanted righty vs. righty and went with Chacin,” Dayton manager Jose Nieves said. “He had been pretty much perfect until now. It happens. It could of happened to Bender and it could have happened to anyone in the bullpen.”
The Hot Rods carried the momentum into the ninth. Bowling Green loaded the bases for first baseman Patrick Leonard, who singled to drive in two more runs.
Riding off of Saturday’s heroics, Dayton was poised to win its first series of the year against the team with the most wins in the Midwest League.
“We aren’t going to blame anybody,” Nieves said. “We just couldn’t complete the plays. Maybe if we get a double play instead, we complete the inning. But it didn’t happen that way.”
Winker on streak: Jesse Winker came into the season as the most touted position prospect on the team. The corner outfielder started slow, but has broken out his last five games. He batted .412 with two doubles and a triple in his last four games coming into Sunday, when he hit a two-run home run in the first inning. He also walked twice.
A week ago, Nieves brought Winker into his office for a talk to give the outfielder some advice.
“At beginning, he was trying to do too much,” Nieves said. “He is the type of hitter where he relies on his confidence. He was the same last year, during his first pro ball year. He is still young. Sometimes you can only grow if you fail.”
Injuries mount: First baseman Carlos Sanchez is out six weeks with a torn ligament in his knee. Sanchez suffered the injury last Tuesday at Lake County. He was second on the team with a .304 batting average. He had two doubles and two RBIs.
Also injured in the same game was catcher Nick O’Shea, who sprained his knee and will miss two weeks.
Pitcher Mo Wiley will also be sidelined two weeks due to elbow inflammation. Wiley had allowed five earned runs in four appearances.
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