Dragons tales:

Kevin FORT WORTH, TEXAS — Kisner came so close several times before finally winning on the PGA Tour. He now has another victory, withstanding a charge by Jordan Spieth at Colonial, after two more runner-up finishes this year.

“You start questioning if you’re going to win again after a while,” Kisner said. “Everybody was questioning if I was ever going to win. Then I win, and then everybody questions if I was ever going to win again.”

The affirmative answer came Sunday when Kisner birdied the first three holes on the back nine at Hogan’s Alley to go ahead, then finished his 4-under 66 with a clutch par save at the 18th after a wayward tee shot and an approach off the back side of the green and well below the hole.

At 10-under 270, the 33-year-old Kisner finished a stroke ahead of Spieth (65), Sean O’Hair (66) and Jon Rahm (66). He earned a check of just more than $1.2 million, along with the winner’s plaid jacket.

Kisner was a runner-up four times, including three playoffs during the 2015 season, before winning the RSM Classic in November 2015. Then came two more run- ner-ups this year.

Spieth was standing on a chair to see over the crowd at the 18th green after his bogey-free round when Kisner putted up the mound to 5 feet of the cup and then made the winning putt.

“I was going to take my chances with a (par) 4 and see what happened,” said Kisner, who never considered a different club for his last two shots.

Rahm, who the last two years won the Ben Hogan Award as the nation’s top col- lege player, had just watched his 10-foot birdie chance skirt left of the hole.

Spieth, who had missed consecutive cuts at The Players Championship and the AT&T Byron Nelson, was trying to become the only player other than Ben Hogan to win consecutive Colonials. Hogan won five times, including the first two in 1946 and 1947, along with consecutive wins again in 1952 and 1953.

“I could look back at the end of the year and this could have been the most important round of the year,” Spieth said. “I hope that’s the case.”

After starting t he day five strokes behind 54-hole leader Webb Simpson, Spieth had birdies on the first two holes before a nearly 20-footer lipped out at the 453-yard No. 3 hole. He also just missed a 12-footer at No. 9, and a 25-footer at the 446yard 12th hole rolled over the left edge of the cup, and had another near-miss on a 12-footer at No. 17.

Kisner blew a three-stroke lead at the turn on the final day of the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March and lost by a stroke. He made a nearly 95-foot chip-in for eagle to get him and fellow Aiken, South Carolina, resi- dent Scott Brown into playoff at the Zurich Classic’s new team format before losing on the fourth playoff hole.

At Colonial, an unexpected 40-foot birdie putt at the 404yard 10th hole started Kisner’s back-nine push.

“It was a difficult putt just to two-putt. It fell in on the lost roll,” he said. “That kind of gets those juices flowing.”

When he made a 10-foot birdie at No. 12, Kisner was 10 under — no other player reached that mark. Only one other time since 1999 was Colonial’s winning score higher than 11 under, in 2014 when Adam Scott won in a playoff.

The Dayton DragDAYTON — ons played another extra-inning game on Sunday night and suffered a similar result in a key Midwest League game against West Michigan.

The Whitecaps scored in the top of 10th to prevail 2-1 and remain atop the Eastern Division standings. It’s the fifth extra-inning game in the last seven for Dayton and their fourth consecutive extra-inning loss.

The Dragons (32-17) fall two games behind the Whitecaps (34-15).

The game was marred by a brawl in the sixth inning that resulted in the ejection of Jose Siri and Whitecaps shortstop Danny Pinero. Siri single to center and then stole second while Taylor Trammell was at the plate. Siri slid into second on the steal just ahead of the throw and stayed on the ground while umpire James Folske made the call.

Pinero appeared to step on Siri’s left ankle after the call, and Siri jumped up and complained to Folske. Siri then charged Pinero and swung at him. Both dugouts and bullpens quickly emptied, and the two teams largely engaged in a pushing and yelling match — except for one incident.

During the brawl, West Michigan relief pitcher Edu-

Strother started and went five-plus innings in the circle for Lebanon. Taylor Lewis came on in relief and recorded two outs, then Strother retired the last four Mason batters to secure the win.

“All of us were so nervous yesterday and wanted to get to play,” said Strother, with the regional final postponed Saturday by a wet outfield at Centerville. “When we didn’t get to play, we were kind of upset, but we came out here and all the nerves were just gone. We came out

MEET THE DRAGONS: PATRICK EDWARD RIEHL

Pitcher 33 R/R; 6-5, 230 pounds May 19, 1994 (23) Portsmouth, Ohio Mars Hill (N.C.) Round 26 by Reds, 2016. Has spent all season with the Dragons, appearing in 13 games (1-1, 3.76 ERA) as a reliever. At Billings last season was 5-2 (3.76 ERA) in 22 appearances. Played high school ball at Lucasville Valley.

TODAY’S GAME

West Michigan at Dayton, 2 p.m. WONE-AM 980 ardo Jimenez threw a ball at Dayton reliever Jesse Stallings. Jimenez ran out from the visiting dugout in right field, and after reaching the brawl near second base, he fired a ball at Stallings’ leg. The incident appeared to happen out of the view of either Folske or home plate umpire Jason Johnson.

After play resumed, Tram- mell and Tyler Stephenson hit into routine outs to end the inning. The game was delayed for an hour in the seventh due to rain, which appeared to cool any left- over emotions by the players.

The Drag- ons’ sellout streak continues. Saturday’s game was the 1,200th consecutive sellout at Fifth Third Field, which is the all-time sellout record for any professional or ama- teur sports organization.

Sellout streak:

with hot bats ... and every single defensive player had a big role in helping me in the circle.”

Grace Gressly (2-for-3, two RBIs) and Ashley West (double, two runs) were among the offensive leaders for the Warriors against Mason ace Elle Buffen- barger.

“I have a lot of confidence in our lineup top to bottom, but we also have a lot of respect for Elle Buffen- barger,” Lebanon coach Brian Kindell said. “We really took some quality at-bats today. We did hit the ball hard, but we had timely hitting with our speed kids on base and things like that. The Dragons have owned the record since surpass- ing the Portland Trail Blaz- ers in 2011.

Siri kept his hot hitting streak going before his ejection. Aside from his sixth-inning single, he also hit a home run to center field in the third inning that tied the game 1-1.

Siri is 12 for 26 (.461) over his last seven games.

Starting pitcher Andrew Jordan had his best outing of the month Sunday. He allowed four hits and one earned run with three strike- outs in six innings.

Dayton and West Michigan will wrap up a four-game series today. Reds reliever Tony Cingrani will start for the Dragons in a rehab assignment. Eudis Idrogo (2-1, 2.36) is scheduled to start for the Whitecaps.

Dayton hosts South Bend (31-18) for a three-game series beginning Tuesday.

On deck:

The lineup flowed well.”

Olivia Popovich, Zoe Bishop and Hannah Lea drove in runs for the Comets, who made it to Akron last season and were looking for their fifth trip to state.

“It was a special year, but this is not what we had planned, so we’re disap- pointed for sure,” Mason coach Liann Muff said. “It’s going to hurt for a while. I told them I have no magic words to say except for the fact that I am the proudest coach of this group of young women.”

Sebastian Vettel MONACO — stood out last season for his furious rants more than his slick driving. Six races into the new campaign, the Ferrari driver is no longer Formula One’s Mr. Angry, moving 25 points clear of Lewis Hamilton and in serious contention for a fifth title.

The title race took a fur- ther swing Ferrari’s way after Sunday’s Monaco Grand Prix, with Vettel winning ahead of teammate Kimi Raikkonen.

Hamilton finished seventh and behind his Mercedes teammate, Valtteri Bottas, who was fourth.

Ferrari did not even win a race last year, but the Italian manufacturer has turned the tables on Mercedes. Faster and — so far — more reliable, with a calm and confident Vettel behind the wheel, the Prancing Horse is galloping away.

Vettel’s third win this season was the 45th of his career and Ferrari’s first here since Michael Schumacher’s in 2001. That was during Ferrari’s dominant era. Early suggestions are that Ferrari could be on the verge of a new one.

“It’s very, very special to win here,” Vettel said. “With the season we’ve had, the Ferrari fans and the Ferrari flags are increasing.”

There are few better places to celebrate than glitzy Monaco, and Vettel seemed keen to make the most of it. “We’re going to have a very fun night,” he said.

It was a different story last year, when Vettel was swearing and cursing on team radio, aiming expletives and broadsides at other drivers and even F1 officials.

“We had a lot of hard times last year, but this year it seems to be (the other way around),” Vettel said. “We must make sure we keep the momentum up in the next couple of races.”

Vettel has been all smiles and compliments this year, emotionally praising his team

Six cars never seemed to spread the team too thin, and the main issue facing Andretti Autosport was the reliability of its Honda engines. Alonso put on a thrilling show and even led 27 laps — third-most in the race — but he was sent to the paddock when his engine blew with 20 laps remaining.

“We didn’t build the thing that was smoking down the front straight,” said McLaren boss Zak Brown, who engineered Alonso’s trip to Indi- anapolis. Part of the reason Alonso was able to skip F1’s showcase Monaco Grand Prix earlier Sunday for Indy is because the McLaren team — and its Hondas — have grossly underperformed this season and Alonso is not a current title contender.

Alonso did have a spectacular race and simply fell victim to his engine late in the race. The crowd gave the Spaniard a standing ovation as he climbed from his car.

“I felt the noise, the engine friction, I backed off and I saw the smoke and, yeah, it’s a shame,” Alonso said. “It’s a very nice surprise to come here with big names, big guys, the best in open- wheel racing and be com- petitive.”

He still drank from a carton of milk to close out his experience at Indy, and didn’t rule out a potential return.

“The last two weeks, I came here basically to prove myself, to challenge myself,” Alonso said. “I know that I can be as quick as anyone in an F1 car. I didn’t know in Italian after Sunday’s win.

Daniel Ricciardo, Vettel’s teammate during a dismal season at Red Bull in 2014, finished third to make it an even worse day for Mercedes.

“We’ve just been missing pace,” Bottas said. “Ferrari were very strong this weekend and for whatever reason, their car seems easier to operate.”

Vettel let out a whoop of delight after crossing the finish line with bright sunshine gleaming off the famed red of Ferrari. As the German national anthem played, he stood atop the podium with his eyes closed.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was fifth, ahead of Spanish driver Carlos Sainz Jr.

Raikkonen started from the pole for the first time in nine years, with Vettel joining him on the front row.

After Raikkonen and Bottas had come in for a tire change a few laps earlier, Vettel changed halfway through the 78-lap race. When he came back out, he was in front of Raikkonen while Ricciardo had jumped ahead of Bottas.

It seemed to be a case of the Ferrari team giving preferential treatment to Vettel with Raikkonen’s stop looking like it came far too early.

“I got the bad end of the story today,” Raikkonen said. “It’s still second place but it doesn’t count a lot in my books, at least.” Vettel sympathized. “We get along well and I can understand Kimi’s not totally happy today,” he said.

Whatever the strategy, the Ferrari team will not mind after securing maximum points. But several others were not as happy.

German driver Pascal Wehrlein crashed near the tunnel after being shoved by British driver Jenson Button.

With the drivers trundling behind the safety car, tire temperatures dropped dramatically and some could not cope. Marcus Ericsson crashed his Sauber a nd McLaren’s Stoffel Vandoorne followed suit moments later.

Then, after the safety car came out again, Russian Daniil Kvyat also lost control of his car in a frantic finish. if I can be as quick as anyone in an Indy car.”

The Honda teams had a clear horsepower advantage over Chevrolet, but things were dicey in Indy for more than a week and certainly on race day: Before Alonso’s failure, 2014 winner Ryan Hunter-Reay lost his Honda and so did Charlie Kimball. Hunter-Reay led 28 laps and was a strong contender late.

“I’m really happy for Honda. They worked really hard to get us here,” Andretti said. “I know how big this news is going to be tomorrow when they wake up in Japan. It’s going to be huge. I’m really happy for them, that we were able to give them a win with our Japanese driver here.”

Added Sato about the popularity of his victory in Japan: “This is going to be mega big. A lot of the Japanese fans are following the IndyCar Series and many, many flew over for the Indianapolis 500. We showed the great result today and I am very proud of it.”

In a Chevrolet for Team Penske, Castroneves briefly took the lead but couldn’t make it stick as Sato grabbed it back and won by 0.2011 seconds.

Castroneves was disappointed to fall short of the four-time winners club — particularly since it was his third runner-up finish.

“Being second again sucks,,” Castroneves said. “I’m not giv ing up this dream … .”

Ed Jones finished a careerbest third, followed by Max Chilton and Tony Kanaan. Two-time winner Juan Pablo Montoya was sixth.