But all the Dragons needed in that moment was the type of play-the-game-the-right-way, small victory that manager Vince Harrison Jr. preaches every day: If you’re going to make an out, make it a productive one.
So Stovall, who like his team, has had his best week of the season, followed the manager’s orders. He hit a sacrifice fly to score speedy pinch runner Myles Smith with the winning run in a 7-6 victory over Peoria to extend the Dragons winning streak to six games.
That’s right. The same Dragons (19-31, 40-75) who finished in last place in the Midwest League’s East Division in the first half of the season and are fighting to get out of last place in the second half, haven’t lost since August 16. And at 5-0 this week against Peoria (18-34, 44-73), they’ve won their first series of the season.
“We’re constantly looking for those small victories, and we’ve had those, but you get a lot more buy in, you get a lot more energy into it when the result ends up being a win,” Harrison Jr. said. “It’s definitely been good for guys’ psyche and mindset, being able to just relax a little bit and looking at it like I have an opportunity. And if I don’t get it done, the next guy’s going to get it done. It’s more than talk now. There’s really a belief there.”
Many teams in the Dragons’ situation have given up being focused on doing the little things it takes to win. In the minors, especially, the temptation is to become self-focused and ignore situational hitting directives.
But the Dragons remain together. They are having fun winning, having fun doing it as a team, having fun watching outfielder Carlos Jorge dance and cheerlead on the dugout steps during the game’s most crucial moments.
“It’s a privilege to be able to play,” Stovall said. “With the season being so long, you can kind of take it for granted. But there’s a lot of guys in the locker room who just genuinely enjoy coming to the field. We’re letting loose and having fun, and the results are showing.”
Results are finally showing for Stovall, a 2024 fourth-round pick out of Arkansas. He’s still batting only .161, but he’s 5 for 17 with a home run, seven RBIs and three stolen bases in this series. He drove in five runs in Tuesday’s win and singled in the winning run in the 10th inning Thursday.
“I’ve struggled all year, and I’ve put in a lot of work with our hitting coach, Troy [Gingrich], and he’s just been there for me,” Stovall said. “I can’t thank him enough for everything that he’s done.”
Stovall began the season on the injured list, went on it again in the middle of May and has been back in the lineup since June 10. He played in only 16 games last summer for Daytona. This year he’s played in 57 games.
“Peyton’s always had the ability to hit,” Gingrich said. “This being his first full season and in high A, it’s more about the experience of learning and playing every day.”
Gingrich said Stovall has had to learn to focus on controlling his at bats, focus less on outcomes and move on from failure.
“He’s more of the guy that typically always wants to have success, always wants to do good every single time,” Gingrich said. “Baseball, in general, that’s just not going to happen all the time. When something happens, where you fail, you don’t have success, you let that go.”
The Dragons had to let things go Saturday to win.
They led 5-2 after seven innings. Stovall led off the first with a double and scored on a wild pitch. Ariel Almonte made a productive out on a grounder in the second for a 2-0 lead. Jorge homered to start the third, Carter Graham doubled, Yerlin Confidan tripled and scored on another wild pitch to lead 5-1.
Nick Sando gave the Dragons another strong starting pitching performance this week with six innings and two runs. In the first five games of the series, the Dragons’ team ERA was 2.68.
Then strange things began happening in the eighth. A hit batter, a walk and an error loaded the bases for Peoria. Then the Dragons almost turned a triple play.
Travis Honeyman hit a fly ball to right for a sacrifice that plated one run. Instead of throwing home, Confidan threw toward second base, which caught the runner on first in a rundown. The Dragons got him for the second out, then shortstop Alexander Vargas fired home, but Jesus Baez slid across the plate just ahead of the tag.
A play that almost was a run-scoring triple play was instead a two-run double play to cut the Dragons’ lead to 5-4. After Irvin Machuca hit the next batter, Won-Bin Cho hit a two-run homer for a 6-5 Peoria lead.
Not to worry. Not even with two outs and the bases empty in the ninth. Confidan hit an opposite-field single to left to keep the game going.
“It started with Confy putting the ball in play, making an adjustment off his last two at bats,” Harrison Jr. said.
Then Ryan McCrystal lined a hard single to right to send Confidan to third.
“McCrystal, man, he just had a little look in his eye,” Harrison Jr. said. “He was ready for that moment.”
Jack Moss was next. He fouled off five pitches and was in a 2-2 count when Peoria reliever Mason Burns hesitated at the start of his windup and balked. Confidan trotted home with the tying run. Then Burns struck out Moss.
Bryce Hubbart pitched a 1-2-3 10th for the Dragons.
Vargas put down a bunt with two strikes that didn’t get past the edge of the dirt, but Smith got a great jump and beat the catcher’s throw to third. No one was covering second, so Vargas alertly advanced.
Ariel Almonte was next. He skied a pop up in front of the plate and reached first when third baseman Baez missed the catch at the edge of the dirt in front of home plate.
Bases loaded and nobody out on two batted balls that didn’t reach the grass. And Stovall did the rest, sending the record crowd home happy and talking about a victory that seemed doomed for failure in the ninth inning.
“I’m just very thankful that I’m part of this team,” Stovall said. “It’s been fun. This last week or so has been really fun.”
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