The Dragons were held without a hit over the first three innings, but they produced two runs in the fourth. Jay Allen II started the inning with a bunt single. Cam Collier worked a walk with one out, and Cade Hunter walked with two outs to load the bases. Connor Burns followed with a line drive that grazed the glove of the leaping shortstop and carried into left field for a two-run single, bringing in both Allen and Collier.
The Dragons put together a two-out rally in the fifth to add another run. Allen doubled high off the left-field fence and Ethan O’Donnell followed with a line drive single to center field to drive in Allen and make it 3-0.
Cardona sailed through his six innings on the mound. Cardona allowed only two base runners and no runs while striking out five without issuing a walk.
In the seventh, the Dragons tacked on two more runs. Hector Rodriguez walked to start the inning and O’Donnell lined a single to move Rodriguez to second. Collier followed with a double to the right-field corner to drive in both Rodriguez and O’Donnell to make it 5-0.
Dragons reliever Cody Adcock replaced Cardona to start the seventh and pitched two scoreless innings. The only batter to reach against him got aboard on an error, and Adcock struck out four of the seven hitters he faced.
Trey Braithwaite ran into problems in the ninth, allowing three hits, a walk, and two runs as Fort Wayne pulled to within three. John Murphy entered the game with the tying run at the plate and two outs and struck out the only hitter he faced to end the game and earn his sixth save.
Cardona improved his record to 8-4 with the win. Over his last six starts covering 32.2 innings, Cardona has allowed a total of five earned runs (1.38 ERA) on 14 hits.
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