On Wednesday, the Whitecaps flexed their bullpen muscle and held the Dragons scoreless on two hits from the fifth inning on in a 5-4 10-inning win.
On Thursday, they showed why at 34-15 they have the best record in the Midwest League. The Whitecaps turned their bats into barbells and lifted five home runs over the outfield fences. Josue Briceno did most of the heavy lifting with three homers to reach 11 on the season.
The good news: Briceno took Friday night off.
The bad news: The Whitecaps showed their strength again with good starting pitching, good relief pitching, another homer, the ability to put the bat on the ball when necessary and the patience to take walks when given.
More bad news: The last-place Dayton Dragons lost their fifth straight, outmuscled this time 13-2 on 16 hits by the Whitecaps, in front of a lively crowd that had a good time despite the outcome.
“They check a lot of boxes,” said Dragons manager Vince Harrison, who is in his fourth season managing at the High-A level. “They’ve obviously shown they can use the long ball, speed’s part of their game, they pitch. They’ve got a pretty good team put together.”
The Whitecaps lead the Midwest League East Division by seven games. They entered Friday with a league-leading ERA of 2.99. Offensively they are third in batting average at .251, second in runs scored and first in home runs.
The Dragons, like many losses this season, were in the game late and could again look back at missed opportunities that could have affected momentum. They had a runner at third with less than two outs in the fourth and didn’t score. They put two runners on in the seventh and didn’t score. Victor Acosta’s hard line drive to left with two outs would have tied the score if it wasn’t hit right at Seth Stephenson.
“Cookie gets a good swing off and lines out,” Harrison Jr. said of Acosta’s out. “You’re right there, so the final score’s not indicative. They do have a good team, but we were winning the first night, the second night we go into extras. Last night’s different, but this game right here, we had some chances earlier to put up runs. We didn’t get it done. It’s always easy to look at the final score, and it’s not always painting the whole picture.”
The last-place Dragons (17-32) gave the faithful some fun moments. Leo Balcazar led off the fourth inning with his fifth home run to cut his team’s deficit to 3-1.
Carter Graham, in his first game with the Dragons this season, homered in the sixth to make the score 3-2. Graham played in Dayton last season but started this one in Low-A Daytona.
In the seventh, after a bases-loaded walk put the Whitecaps up 4-2, the Dragons turned to reliever Irvin Machuca.
Machuca, 25, was signed out of Mexico in January. He didn’t allow an earned run in 12⅓ innings at Daytona and none in eight innings since joining the Dragons on May 6. Machuca delivered with three strikeouts in 13 pitches to escape the jam.
The Dragons were still in the game until the Whitecaps struck with another big inning this week in the eighth. They scored five runs on three doubles, two singles and two walks, sticking Machuca with five earned runs.
But the Whitecaps weren’t finished at 9-2. Kevin McGonigle and Izaac Pacheco slugged two-run homers in the ninth off Graham Osman.
McGonigle, a shortstop, is rated the Detroit Tigers’ No. 3 prospect. After getting injured in the season opener, he returned the field May 20. He was 4 for 5 with four RBIs Friday and is batting .464.
Leadoff hitter Max Clark, the Tigers top-rated prospect, walked three times and had a single to start the eighth.
“We go from a ball Acosta hits hard, got a chance to drop, doesn’t happen,” Harrison Jr. said. “Clark leads off the next inning, takes some big swings early, gets beat, shortens up, hits a line drive up the middle. Stevenson has a good at bat, hits a double and then McGonigle gets into a hitter’s count, drives the ball, and it’s like 10 pitches later, the game went from 4-2 to 6-2. They did a good job adjusting.”
About the Author