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Y! MyWebMenchaca's single lifts Dragons
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
DAYTON — Any hit, let alone a big hit, seemed to elude Dragons outfielder Brandon Menchaca this season.
He was hitting just .177 at game time Tuesday, Aug. 19, and hadn't been playing much.
But this night at Fifth Third Field, Menchaca was in the lineup, playing left field. Maybe Great Lakes didn't look at the stats. In Menchaca's first four at-bats, he walked twice and singled. He scored two runs.
Then, in the ninth, when he was needed the most, Menchaca smacked a single off the glove of drawn-in shortstop Brandon Taylor to knock in the winning run in a 10-9 victory over the Loons that gave the Dragons a 41/2-game lead over Fort Wayne for the final playoff spot in the Midwest League's East Division with 12 games to play.
"Every day, it's a new day," said Menchaca, whose batting average rose to .184. "I was just in the right place at the right time."
A three-run lead entering the ninth inning seemed more than enough for Dragons closer Aguido Gonzalez, who struck out the first batter he faced, then encountered trouble.
Gonzalez, who allowed only one earned run in 142/3 previous innings, proceeded to load the bases with two hits and a walk, gave up one run on a ground out and two more on Jaime Ortiz's double.
Now the game was tied, and Ruben Medina came in to retire the last Loons batter.
With the game tied 9-9, none of the Dragons — who at one point led 9-6 with shortstop Zack Cozart knocking in four runs, two of them with his 14th homer in the first — would be retired in the bottom of the inning.
Denis Phipps led off with a single to center and went to third on Michael McKennon's single to the same field.
That brought up Menchaca and brought the infield in.
"That just shows the resilience of this team," Menchaca said. "There's no, 'It's over,' on this team. The guys did a great job."
Dragons tales: Reliever Mace Thurman was named co-league player of the week for two scoreless appearances last week ... Starter Luis Montano is scheduled to come off the disabled list today, but there was no word on who he would replace on the roster.
