Whitecaps Settle for Split in Dayton
DAYTON, OH — The West Michigan Whitecaps missed a chance to get a much-needed series win as part of a 7-2 loss to the Dayton Dragons in front of 8,706 fans at Day Air Ballpark on Sunday afternoon. The Whitecaps, who won three of the series’ first four games against
DAYTON, OH — The West Michigan Whitecaps missed a chance to get a much-needed series win as part of a 7-2 loss to the Dayton Dragons in front of 8,706 fans at Day Air Ballpark on Sunday afternoon.
The Whitecaps, who won three of the series’ first four games against the Dragons, missed a chance to reduce their divisional deficit to as little as 1.5 games with wins over the weekend. With the losses, the Whitecaps sit 5.5 games back and would now have to win all six of their remaining games while hoping the Dragons lose their remaining contests in their series next week against the Great Lakes Loons at Dow Diamond to make the postseason for the first time since 2018.
The Dragons took a controversial lead in the second inning when Connor Burns lined a groundball down the third base line that was ruled fair by home plate umpire Shea Graham, coming to a stop underneath the bench in the Dragons bullpen to be ruled a two-run double, leading to the ejection of Whitecaps manager Tony Cappuccilli and a 2-0 Dragons lead. An RBI triple by Hector Rodriguez and a hotly-contested balk call by Graham highlighted the four-run second to give Dayton a 4-0 advantage. In the fourth, Dayton plated two more in a frame featuring run-scoring singles Ethan O’Donnell and Leo Balcazar to widen the ‘Caps deficit to 6-0. The ‘Caps got their first run in the sixth on a sacrifice fly by Izaac Pacheco and second on a solo homer by Max Anderson – his third hit of the contest. The Dragons got their final run with an RBI single by O’Donnell in the eighth, putting him on-base a fourth time for the second consecutive contest to conclude the scoring and reduce the Dragons postseason magic number to one game. The 8,706 fans in attendance marks the biggest crowd the Whitecaps played in front of away from LMCU Ballpark this season.
The Whitecaps fall to 32-27 in the second half and an overall mark of 63-62, while the Dragons improve to 38-22 in the back half of 2022 and 71-55 overall. Dayton starter Gabriel Aguilera (4-4) gets his fourth win with his third start in four tries against the ‘Caps, throwing at least five innings and allowing zero earned runs, while the Whitecaps Carlos Marcano (3-11) gets his 11th loss of 2024. Anderson finished a triple shy of hitting for the cycle in a 3-for-4 performance on the day while going 12-for-26 in the series with six doubles, a homer, and seven RBI.
UP NEXT
The Whitecaps take one last bus ride home for a six-game series to conclude the regular season against the Lansing Lugnuts from LMCU Ballpark beginning Tuesday at 6:35 pm. Lefty Joe Adametz takes the mound for West Michigan against fellow southpaw Will Johnston. Tune into the broadcast coverage with Dan Hasty and Nate Wangler on the Whitecaps Baseball Network beginning at 6:20 pm on 106.1 FM ‘The Ticket’ and 1340 WJRW-AM in Grand Rapids to catch all the action. Don’t miss out on the excitement; get tickets for all remaining 2024 home contests, or listen to the games live at whitecapsbaseball.com.