For almost five hours, the clock — metaphorically — threatened to strike midnight on the Dayton Dragons many times.
They trailed 6-0, 7-3 and 13-10.
But, at 11:59 p.m., the Dragons escaped midnight and defeat by putting the ball in play. Jacob Friend lofted a fly ball to deep left field, sending Julio Carreras home for the tie-breaking run and a 14-13 victory over Cedar Rapids with few left to witness it at Day Air Ballpark.
“It’s always fun to be the guy,” said Friend who was mobbed by teammates behind first base. “The goal there is just to pass it to the next guy. So that’s what we were trying to do. I just got in the air enough.”
Ninety-nine percent of the fans who were in the stadium for the first pitch cleared out after a one hour and 29-minute rain delay in the middle of the seventh inning. To be fair to those who left, the Dragons trailed 12-10. They had seen their money’s worth for seven innings, but they sure missed a lot in the final three and a half innings.
The Dragons (49-40, 10-13 second half) faced a 13-10 deficit in the ninth. But Cedar Rapids reliever Nick Trabacchi did them a favor by walking Friend and Mason Neville to start the inning. After a pitching change and a strikeout, more good fortune came when Victor Acosta loaded the bases on a catcher’s interference call.
Bases loaded, not a ball put in play, and the top of the order was next.
They rewarded the few handfuls of fans left. Peyton Stovall got his first hit with a two-run single to right, sending Acosta to third. Ryan McCrystal followed with a line drive to left for a sacrifice fly to score Acosta with the tying run.
The Kernels (37-52, 6-19) moved their free runner to third in the 10th on an infield single off the leg of pitcher Brady Afthim. The Kernels got tricky, but the Dragons were ready.
When Afthim struck out Graham Brown, Henry Kusiak did the steal-and-stop play to create a rundown in hopes the runner on third would score. Pinch runner Andy Lugo broke for home, but the Dragons let Kusiak go and retired Lugo in a 2-4-5-2-6 rundown to end the inning with the score tied.
“We kind of knew they we’re going do the steal-stop there,” Morillo said. “They like to do that a lot so we were ready. Even before the game we talked about it. And we executed it well, which is great.”
The Dragons’ 10th began with a strikeout. But Carerras stayed alert at second base, made some green-light eye contact with manager and third-base coach Julio Morillo, and stole third for one of the game’s biggest plays.
“Huge stolen base by Julio in that situation,” Morillo said. “He read it well. It was given to him. Why not? Maybe you don’t do it with nobody out, but why not? You take a shot.”
Tyson Lewis, who had three hits and an RBI, worked a great at-bat, fouling off five pitches before earning a 10-pitch walk. Then Friend ended it.
The Dragons also won because of the relief work of Afthim. In his first two appearances since joining the team he allowed three runs each time. This time he struck out three batters in the eighth on nine pitches for the rare immaculate inning.
“It was a lot of fun to watch,” Friend said of his view from left field. “Me and the bullpen were screaming at each other running in after that. That might be the first time I’ve ever seen it happen in game. I loved it.”
Afthim (2-0) allowed a run in the ninth, but he pitched three innings that finally held the Kernels in check.
After two innings, the game vibed like one that would require double-digit runs to win. Balls were being hit hard, others were finding holes and you just knew it would be a long night.
The Kernels brought the power early when Yasser Mercedes led off the game with a home run to deep left. Dragons starter David Lorduy couldn’t keep the ball in the park in the second.
With two outs, Dameury Pena tripled and kept running to score on an error when Friend struggled to pick up the ball. Still, it was 2-0 with two outs. But a walk, homer by Graham Brown, walk, homer by 19-year-old Eduardo Tait (the Twins’ No. 3 prospect) and the Kernels led 6-0.
The Dragons scored three in the second on four singles with the help of a balk and catcher’s interference. Alfredo Alcantara got the first run home on a groundout. Acosta and McCrystal singled in the next two and it was 6-3.
Danny DeAndrade homered in the third for a 7-3 Kernels lead. Neville led off the fourth for the Dragons with his fifth home run, another run scored on Stovall’s groundout and the score was 7-5. Friend hit a two-run double in the fifth to tie the score.
Lorduy lasted into the sixth and left with one on and one out. But the Kernels answered with Brown’s two-run single in the sixth to lead 9-7. The single ricocheted off pitcher Graham Osman into shallow right field. If he had caught it or it had gotten through to an infielder, the inning would have ended with the score tied.
No worries. McCrystal and Lewis hit RBI singles to key a three-run sixth for a 10-9 lead.
And no worries for the Kernels. They got a run on a throwing error by third baseman Lewis and two more on a single by Miguel Briceno.
Then the rain was near. By the time the tarp was in place over the infield, the heavy rain began to fall and fans flooded the exits.
Eighty-nine minutes later the real fun began.
