As difficult as this half has been for the Dragons, Dayton has seen worse. The Dragons lost 49 games in the second half of 2004 and 49 in the first half of 2016.
The numbers don’t lie. The Dragons were last in the league in hitting (.209), slugging (.316), on-base percentage (.312) and runs scored. The pitching staff, which started the season strong, finished next-to-last in ERA (5.03) and allowed the most runs and earned runs.
Fortunately, the Dragons get to hit the reset button. The second-half standings start Friday night with every team 0-0. Last summer the Dragons won the second half to earn a playoff berth.
“New season — we get life because we are in the minor leagues," manager Vince Harrison Jr. said. “Tonight does not have any bearing on what we do in the future, and it’s nothing different tonight than what we’ve been talking about for the last couple weeks. It’s just here now.”
Guarantees that the second half will be markedly better don’t exist, but the Dragons have won three of their past five games.
“Our last few games, other than this one, have been really good,“ said home run and RBI leader John Michael Faile. ”We’ve started to put some pieces together and get things going a little bit. So hopefully we can carry the momentum into the second half."
The Dragons, giving some regulars a night off, trailed 2-0 in the second when the bottom half of the order supplied their only run. Faile doubled and scored when Carter Graham singled up the middle.
In the sixth, trailing 9-1, the outcome with the bases loaded and one out summed up the first-half struggles. Diego Omana, who already had two hits, popped up in the infield and Peyton Stovall struck out.
“Four innings they score multiple runs, you’re not going to win those games,” Harrison Jr. said. “We had a couple situations where we had a man on second early and didn’t move a guy or do anything — could change the game."
Starter Jose Montero’s recent struggles continued. He allowed five runs on five hits and two walks in 2 2/3 innings, left trailing 5-1 and saw his ERA rise to 4.63. Montero’s ERA was 2.72 through his first eight starts. He’s allowed 13 earned runs in his last three starts.
The TinCaps hit Montero hard with three laser doubles to the corners and a triple by the speedy Brandon Butterworth to the wall in right-center.
“They battled Montero early, made him throw some extra pitches,” Harrison Jr. said. “A little bit of credit to them for getting him out early because he got to two strikes on a lot of those guys, just didn’t put them away.”
The TinCaps kept finding ways to score against the bullpen on a home run by Oswaldo Linares, a double play, a single to right and an infield hit to stretch the lead to 9-1. Braedon Karpathios’ three-run homer in the ninth was the final bad memory of first half.
The minors are foremost about player development, but players don’t like being in last place.
“You play the game to win — everybody wants to win,“ Faile said. ”Even at this level, when everybody’s development, development, V-Hay’s message to everybody is come out and work hard and do what you’re supposed to do, and you will develop. And the more you develop the more you’ll win."
The paid attendance Thursday was 7,777. Not a lucky number when looking back. But forward? The Dragons get a chance Friday to walk off the field 1-0.
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