Dragons win 4th straight, increase lead for playoff spot

To get the so-called lucky bounces, Balcazar had to put the ball in play in key moments on a night when his team struck out 13 times. And he made a run-saving play at shortstop. When the game ended in a 4-3 Dayton victory over Fort Wayne, Balcazar was clearly the hero in the strangest of ways.

“It feels really good because it gets us the victory and helps the team,” Balcazar said through a translator.

In the first inning with runners at second and third and two outs, Balcazar hit a bouncer at toward third base that was sure to be the final out. But the ball bounced off the base and over the third baseman’s head. Hector Rodriguez and Cam Collier, who had doubled, scored easily for a 2-0 lead.

With the score 3-3 in the eighth, the baseball shared its good fortune with Hector Rodriguez and Collier. Rodriguez reached when his slow grounder to the first-base side of the mound went through the pitcher’s legs for the Tincaps’ fourth error. Then Collier doubled the opposite way to left past third base because the third baseman was shifted almost to the traditional shortstop position.

Balcazar came to the plate with one intention.

“I wanted to move the runners into scoring position,” he said.

Instead he hit a soft line drive just over the second baseman’s head for a single. The runners had to hold up to see if the ball would be caught. Rodriguez rounded third hard and forced a throw home from shallow center field by Homer Bush Jr. First baseman Romeo Sanabria tried to cut the throw off on a short hop as Rodriguez stopped.

Then the Balcazar effect took over. The low throw bounced off Sanabria’s mitt for a fifth error toward the Dragons’ dugout and Rodriguez easily scored the winning run.

Balcazar wasn’t finished. The TinCaps had runners at first and second with two outs in the ninth. Nick Vogt hit a smash that Balcazar fielded on a short hop and tossed to second for a force out to end the game. Had the ball gotten past Balcazar the score would have been tied.

“Obviously, Leo had some big plays for us offensively and defensively,” Dragons manager Vince Harrison Jr. said. “He was the key player tonight. I challenged him earlier in the week, and he’s responded well.”

The first-place Dragons (17-10) won their fourth straight and are 17-7 in their last 24 games. They increased their lead for the Midwest League East Division’s second playoff spot to 3.5 games over West Michigan and 4 over Lansing. West Michigan defeated Lansing Thursday on a walk-off balk.

“I’m very proud and happy because of all the process we’ve been through this whole season,” Balcazar said. “We like seeing the results now.”

While the ball was dancing around the field in Balcazar’s favor, the Dayton pitchers needed some fancy footwork to escape trouble. Starter Brian Edgington retired eight straight to start the game before allowing four straight singles and three runs in the third. Then he retired the next four batters and was finished after five innings.

Arij Fransen, the Dragons’ 23-year-old reliever from The Netherlands, pitched out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the seventh and stranded two more runners in the eighth.

“Edgington was doing a good job pounding the zone – just the one inning he left a couple balls up and they hit a couple of balls hard,” Harrison Jr. said. “But he did a good job finding ways. Then same thing with Fransen. He was missing and then he found his way back in the zone. Definitely made it interesting, but definitely did a good job grinding it out and not giving in.”

Stewart status: The Dragons continue to play without third baseman-second baseman Sal Stewart, who is batting .279 with 8 homers and 46 RBIs. He was placed on the injured list during the all-star break with an undisclosed hand injury that required stitches. He is in Arizona and Harrison Jr. said it is unknown how soon Stewart will return to Dayton.