Instead, with two outs in the top of the ninth, Zach Maxwell’s 3-2 pitch right at the top of the strike zone was called ball four and the inning continued for Fort Wayne. Tyler Robertson trotted to first to load the bases. And the Dragons’ roller-coaster season was almost knocked completely off the rails.
Sammy Zavala followed Robertson with a bases-clearing double and the East Division-leading TinCaps won 13-9 on Wednesday night. The difficult and nearly back-breaking loss lasted three hours and 38 minutes and is the Dragons’ longest nine-inning game this season.
The Dragons (65-63, 32-30 second half) are three games out of first place and must win their final four games of the season against Fort Wayne (35-27) to surpass them in the standings. Even a feat of that magnitude might not be enough for the Dragons to win the East Division and advance to the Midwest League playoffs.
West Michigan (34-27) is also in Dayton’s way, The Whitecaps are only a half-game behind the TinCaps. The Whitecaps must lose three of their final four games at home against first-half winner Great Lakes to give Dayton a chance.
“We’ve got to win four in a row ... that’s the situation we’re in,” Dragons manager Bryan LaHair said. “We’ve done it a few times this year, so I don’t see why it can’t be done. It’s definitely not impossible. It’s only four games. It’s not like it’s 40 or 14. We’ll play hard for four games and see what happens.”
The Dragons showed their resiliency again Wednesday after starter Jose Acuna allowed six runs over three innings. And they did it with power.
Carlos Jorge, the Dragons’ 5-foot-8 second baseman, hit a grand slam 428 feet to right-center in the third inning to cut the deficit to 6-5. Jorge has three homers since joining the Dragons and 12 on the season. It was the second straight game with a grand slam. Ibarra hit one Tuesday. The Dragons have tied the club’s season record for grand slams with five set in 2013. Tyler Callihan hit the first one of the season and Jack Rogers has two.
Ibarra, who now has 18 homers, hit a 416-foot moon shot off the scoreboard with two runners aboard in the fourth to put the Dragons up 8-6.
“They came all the way back, and I’m proud of them for doing it,” LaHair said. “It’s tough to do.”
But a bullpen depleted by recent promotions to AA Chattanooga couldn’t hold the lead, and the TinCaps scored single runs in the sixth and seventh innings before the big five-run ninth as a tiring Maxwell’s velocity began to dip. LaHair turned to catcher Hayden Jones who let in the final run before getting the third out.
The Dragons got a big break in the eighth when what was initially called a home run by Robertson was overturned. The ball rolled back toward the infield and the umpires eventually ruled that the ball did not clear the yellow line in left field.
Robertson was awarded a triple, and TinCaps manager Jonathan Mathews was ejected for arguing. Maxwell entered the game and got two swinging strike threes on 101 and 100 mph pitches to end the inning with the score tied 8-8.
Edwin Arroyo had four hits for the first four-hit game by a Dragon since Tyler Callihan on June 16.
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