MLN Newswire - www.mlntherawfeed.com-Dayton, Ohio—Ryan Chaffee allowed just one run over six and one-third innings to lead the Cedar Rapids Kernels to a 5-2 win over the Dayton Dragons before a Fifth Third Field record 9,444 fans on Friday night. The Kernels notched their eighth straight win to improve to 28-20. The Dragons fell to 19-29 with the loss.

The new attendance record surpassed the old record of 9,389 on June 24, 2007 against the West Michigan Whitecaps.

Chaffee (4-1) allowed five hits and three walks while striking out seven for the win.

Dayton scored first in the bottom of the fourth inning to take a 1-0 lead. Cody Puckett doubled to left field, went to third on Carlos Mendez’s ground out, and scored on Kyle Day’s single to right.

But Cedar Rapids responded with four runs in the top of the fifth against Dragons starting pitcher Josh Ravin, who had allowed only one hit and had struck out six over the first four innings. Gabe Jacobo started the inning with a game-tying home run to center field. Later in the inning, Tyson Auer hit a ground ball off the glove of Ravin for a two-out infield single that brought in a runner from third to give Cedar Rapids a 2-1 lead. One batter later, Roberto Lopez lined a single to center to bring in two more runs and make it 4-1. The Kernels added one more run in the seventh to go ahead 5-1.
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The Dragons loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the seventh before Miguel Rojas brought the fans to their feet with a long drive to left field that looked like a possible game-tying grand slam home run, but the ball was caught on the warning track by left fielder Matt Crawford to end the inning.

The Dragons scored one run in the eighth on a pair of doubles by Puckett and Mendez, but they went down in order in the ninth as the Kernels won the first game of the series.

Dayton finished with seven hits. Puckett had two doubles to lead the way. Day extended his hitting streak to seven straight games by going 1 for 4.

Dayton will host Cedar Rapids again on Saturday at 7:05 p.m. at Fifth Third Field. Oscar Castro (2-2, 6.88) will start for the Dragons against Will Smith (2-1, 3.86). Saturday’s game will be televised by WHIO-TV Digital Channel 7.2 (Channel 708 on most Time Warner cable systems). Former Reds pitcher Doug Bair will provide color commentary.

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