South Bend Cubs pull away in 6th inning, beat Dayton Dragons 9-2

Anthony Stephan slugs a single to deep left-center in the second inning Sunday at Day Air Ballpark. Jeff Gilbert/CONTRIBUTED

Anthony Stephan slugs a single to deep left-center in the second inning Sunday at Day Air Ballpark. Jeff Gilbert/CONTRIBUTED

South Bend’s Rafael Morel delivered a three-run double in the sixth inning that gave his team a 4-2 lead and the Cubs went on to defeat the Dayton Dragons 9-2 in front of 7,375 fans on Tuesday night at Day Air Ballpark.

The Dragons got off to a good start, scoring two runs in the first inning to take a 2-0 lead. Victor Acosta singled on the first pitch of the inning and Carlos Jorge hit the second pitch of the frame for a single to move Acosta to third. The Dragons pulled off a double steal to bring in the first run as Acosta came in from third after Jorge stole second. With one out, Anthony Stephan singled to right field to drive in Jorge and make it 2-0.

Dayton starting pitcher Jose Montero was exceptional, tossing five scoreless innings. Montero allowed just three hits, all singles, with one walk and four strikeouts. He left the game with a 2-0 lead through five innings.

But it was a tough night for the Dayton bullpen. South Bend scored four runs in the sixth against Dayton reliever Will Cannon, and they added three more in the seventh against Dylan Simmons to build a 7-2 lead. The Cubs tacked on two more in the eighth on a home run by Brian Kalmer against Dayton’s Brody Jessee to make it 9-2 and close out the scoring.

The Dragons had six hits over the first four innings but did not collect another hit over the final five innings of the game. Ariel Almonte went 2 for 4 and was the only Dayton player with more than one hit. The Dragons did not have an extra base hit in the game.

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