But McCrystal’s view allowed him to witness how truly well the three pitched.
“All the guys did tonight was know what their best stuff was and attack the zone with it,” McCrystal said. “And once you do that, you can expand off it, you can do what you want.”
Starter Luke Hayden (2-5) continued his positive mid-summer trend. After a hot start to the season, then a lull, he did a deep dive into his struggles with the coaching staff in early July. Friday was his one of best performances and his first time to pitch into the sixth inning. His final numbers: two hits, one earned run, four walks, seven strikeouts, 5 1/3 innings.
“He had all of his pitches working,” McCrystal said. “His cutter was one of the more elite pitches I’ve caught, and he was commanding the zone with it.”
From there, everything else was working for Hayden. He threw strikes, and, as Dragons manager Vince Harrison Jr. noted, his non-strikes were closer, more competitive misses that kept the Cubs off balance.
“I felt good with everything tonight,” Hayden said. “Obviously I didn’t throw very many changeups. I felt like I was kind of mowing them with fastball, cutter, slider. Throwing fastballs early helped out.”
The Cubs’ first hit was credited to Rafael Morel on a grounder that shortstop Carlos Sanchez muffed. The second was a clean leadoff single by Cristian Hernandez in the sixth.
“Luke was in the zone a lot more, which made his other stuff play,” Harrison Jr. said. “The first ball that was given a hit shouldn’t have been a hit. So, in reality, he should have gone into the sixth inning with a no-hitter.”
Hayden issued a one-out walk in the sixth, including a wild pitch that let in the Cubs’ run, and left the game after 79 pitches.
“The last walk, I’ll be honest, I was exhausted,” he said. “I didn’t throw any fastballs. I was tired. Other than that, I was happy with it. I didn’t get hit hard at all, so that put the pressure on them.”
Simmons followed and retired five straight batters with a sinker that impressed McCrystal. Edgington retired the next six batters for his first save.
Harrison Jr. also liked what he saw from his offense for a second straight night. The Dragons’ strength is speed and they were able to use it to their advantage by putting the ball in play in key moments to manufacture runs.
John Michael Faile doubled to lead off the second, was sacrificed to third by Victor Acosta and scored on a sacrifice fly by Carlos Jorge. With two outs, the Dragons kept at it. Sanchez and Carter Graham singled and Yerlin Confidan walked to load the bases. Peyton Stovall then walked on four pitches to push the lead to 2-0.
In the fourth, Faile hit a one-out single and stole his first base on a strikeout. Then Jorge hit a two-run single for a 3-0 lead.
“That moment that drew the biggest emotion for me,” Harrison Jr. said. “That was a big moment just because we’ve been in those spots all year. We just need someone to step up and do it. Carlos did it twice today.“
Faile walked to lead off the sixth, advanced to third when Acosta was hit by a pitch and the speedy Jorge bunted for a single. Sanchez brought Faile home on a fielder’s choice grounder.
McCrystal joined the Dragons on Wednesday after a batting .296 and driving in 48 runs in 66 games in Daytona. He singled in the second and seventh innings for his first hits in Dayton.
“It was good to see it touch the grass,” he said. “Yesterday I hit a couple hard that didn’t fall, but that’s baseball. So tonight I hit a couple not as hard, and they fell. You gotta take the good with the bad.”
The Dragons (9-17 second half, 30-61 overall) finished the first half of the season in last place and are back in that position again. But with McCrystal, the Dragons are 2-0.
“We’ve got a lot of talent,” he said. “I love playing with guys that just do stuff the right way. Our mentality right now is, why not us, why not go out there and try to win as many as you can. I’ve really, really enjoyed it so far, and I’m looking forward to the next few weeks.”
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