The first-place Dragons didn’t play perfectly Wednesday night, but they did enough things well to defeat Fort Wayne 5-4 for their third straight victory. The Dragons (16-10) increased their lead in the Midwest League’s East Division to three games over Lansing and 3.5 games over West Michigan.
The first inning, however, wasn’t a clinic in doing the small things well.
Fort Wayne’s Homer Bush Jr. hit the game’s first pitch to shortstop Leo Balcazar’s right. The ball bounced off his glove enough for his throw to be late. The speedy Bush Jr. was credited with a single and might have beaten a cleanly fielded play anyway.
With runners at first and second, Romeo Sanabria singled to right fielder Hector Rodriguez. Bush scored easily and the other runner went to third. But Rodriguez’s throw wasn’t cut off, went all the way to third, and Sanabria took second. Devin Ortiz followed with a two-run single for a 3-0 lead that should have been 2-0.
Then the Dragons played winning baseball. Starting pitcher Ryan Cardona didn’t allow another hit until he left the game with two outs in the fifth because his pitch count was up to 77. Cardona didn’t allow any hits or runs in his two previous starts covering 11 innings.
“I had to do a better job of controlling the situation and just letting that single be that single and getting through quick outs,” said Cardona, a 19th-round pick in 2021. “After that I didn’t really care about what the score was.”
Cardona’s teammates responded. Carlos Jorge led off the bottom of the first with his 12th home run. Hector Rodriguez doubled home Jorge in the third. Then Ethan O’Donnell hit a two-run homer in the fourth for the lead. Later in the fourth Balcazar singled, stole second and scored on Cade Hunter’s single for a 5-3 lead.
Cardona knew he might not have enough pitches left to make it through the fifth for a chance at a sixth victory. When Harrison Jr. went to the mound to change pitchers he had longer than usual talk with Cardona.
Harrison Jr. joked with Cardona that the rough start that drove up the pitch count was because he altered his pregame routine. For his last two starts, Cardona was late getting to the dugout for the anthem. This time Cardona was on time.
“I told him that’s on you,” Harrison Jr. said and smiled. “But he took it good, and we had a good laugh about it.”
Cardona’s ERA after 13 starts and 16 appearances is at 3.89 after being above 4.00 most of the season. Harrison Jr. said his inside joke with Cardona is that he’s a B student that should be an A student.
“I’m a better pitcher than I showed in the first inning,” Cardona said. “To get to the next level I have to hone in on probably starting a little stronger than I have. But I’m happy that I ended strong, and we won a game.”
The last-place TinCaps (9-17) added a run in the sixth against Easton Sikorski (2-2). But Sikorski pitched a 1-2-3 seventh to get to Simon Miller, who has yet to allow an earned run in 13 1/3 innings in seven appearances since joining the Dragons on June 19.
Miller, a 12th-round pick last year, pitched around a single in the eighth and a walk in the ninth to earn his second save.
“I don’t think I had any idea where I’d be,” Miller said of when he was drafted. “I try to just control what I can control, and that’s going out there and just trying to throw strikes. It’s all I can do. And wherever they put me they put me.”
One of the good small things happened in the ninth. Hunter, who plays three positions, has put in extra work catching short hops at first base. And he got one of those throws from Balcazar to start the ninth that he picked cleanly for the first out.
“That play gets overlooked, but he makes a big pick on that first out in the ninth,” Harrison Jr. said. “And that changes the game if he doesn’t.”
Murphy called up: Dragons reliever John Murphy joined AAA Louisville on Wednesday and allowed two runs in two innings. Murphy had five saves and a 1.38 ERA in 20 appearances for the Dragons. In his past 21 1/3 innings, he allowed 10 hits, one earned run and struck out 26.
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