This last part makes me....I don't know what it makes me...It was as if the Dayton Dragons finally put their collective foot down and decided 24 was enough.
“We came in today really focused on winning,” catcher Mark Fleury said.
And so the longest home losing streak in the minor leagues since at least 2005 officially ended at 9:42 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 21, when Doug Salinas finished striking out the side to secure the Dragons’ 6-3 win over the Lake County Captains at Fifth Third Field.
Fleury fired away his mask and charged the mound, where he and Salinas awaited the inevitable crush of teammates.
“It was like the seventh game of the World Series, if that’s what that feels like,” said outfielder Kevyn Feiner, a .160 hitter whose two-run homer in the third inning was key.
When Salinas got two strikes on Roberto Perez, the last batter, the sellout crowd of 9,012 rose as one. Some chanted, “Yes, we can! Yes, we can!”
“The only thing we haven’t done is burn all the bats and have a seance,” manager Todd Benzinger said. “We did that once when I was playing rookie ball.”
Did it work?
“Everyone thought it went great,” Benzinger said. “A few hours later we lost 10-2. I think we fired the exorcist.”
Matt Lollis thought it was a joke.A lineup card mistake in Fort Wayne? Inconceivable!
And then the TinCaps pitcher turned around and saw his name written on the team’s lineup card in the dugout.
Because of a mistake in Fort Wayne’s lineup card handed to the umpires before the game, the pitcher was forced to hit. Lollis went 1 for 3 with a double in a 4-1 loss to Lake County in front of a sellout crowd of 7,306 fans at Parkview Field.
Lollis gave up two runs on seven hits in six innings. But this game will be remembered for his hitting. The 6-foot-7, 230-pound right hander didn’t look all that uncomfortable in the batter’s box.
“I was in the dugout with the guys. They just said load up quick and swing and hopefully I meet with it. I swung as hard as I could and luckily I hit the ball,” Lollis said of his hit.
