Winston-Salem Dash: Game Notes (May 3 at Wilmington)
Published on May 3, 2015 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Winston-Salem Dash News Release
The Dash have won eight of their last 11 entering Sunday's clash with Wilmington. On Saturday, Matt Heidenreich became the league's first four-game winner. Teammate James Dykstra can join him today. First pitch is set for 1:35 p.m., and full game notes are attached.
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WINSTON-SALEM DASH (11-11) at WILMINGTON BLUE ROCKS (11-11)
RHP James Dykstra (3-0, 0.78 ERA) vs. RHP Alec Mills (0-1, 3.79 ERA)
1:35 p.m. - Daniel S. Frawley Stadium (Wilmington, Del.)
Game #23 (Road Game #14)
HEIDENREICH, DASH BLANK BLUE ROCKS
Once again Saturday, Matt Heidenreich shined for Winston-Salem. Heidenreich tossed seven shutout innings and scattered just five hits in the Dash's 2-0 victory over the Wilmington Blue Rocks at Frawley Stadium. The Dash plated a run in the fourth (Chris Jacobs RBI double) and the eighth (Keon Barnum RBI single), and Heidenreich and Michael Ynoa made those runs count. After Heidenreich's 101 pitches, Ynoa faced the minimum in the eighth before a treacherous ninth. He struck out the final two Blue Rocks of the contest with the bases loaded.
FIRST TO FOUR
Thanks to his seven-inning gem on Saturday, Heidenreich is the first Carolina League hurler to earn his fourth victory. The Coronado, Calif., native is one of nine pitchers in Minor League Baseball to reach that plateau, and he is one of five to win each of his first four starts. Since giving up a two-run homer to the second batter he faced this season, Heidenreich has permitted just two runs (one earned) in 23.2 innings.
DYNAMIC DUO
Heidenreich may not be alone atop the circuit in wins for long. Teammate James Dykstra, the Dash's Sunday starter, is 3-0 through his first four starts. Heidenreich (0.76) and Dykstra (0.78) are second and third in the CL in ERA, respectively. In all of Minor League Baseball, the two are ninth and 10th. Winston-Salem is the only team in the Minors with a pair of pitchers in the top 10 in ERA among qualifiers. The White Sox are the only organization with more than one in this group, and they boast three. Lefty Jordan Guerrero is seventh with a 0.69 ERA in four stellar starts with Low-A Kannapolis.
BACK ON THE RIGHT TRACK
Despite losing consecutive contests before Saturday's shutout win, the Dash have won eight of their last 11. The pitching staff owns a 2.02 ERA (21 ER in 93.2 IP) during this stretch. As a result, Winston-Salem is within 1.5 games of Myrtle Beach for the Southern Division's lead.
SEVENTH HEAVEN
Winston-Salem outfielder Adam Engel pushed his hitting streak to seven games, the longest by a Dash player in 2015. It is also tied for the second-longest active streak in the Carolina League. The Loveland, Ohio, native is 11-for-27 (.407) with four RBIs and four runs scored during the run. Engel leads the league in hits (27), while he is tied for first in stolen bases (12), second in runs scored (17) and third in batting average (.321). He is one of three CL position players to have played in the field in every inning thus far this season, joining teammate Keenyn Walker and Myrtle Beach's Jeimer Candelario.
WINSTON-SALEM NATIVE THRIVING
Dash slugger Chris Jacobs has emphatically bounced back after a 2-for-30 slump from April 17-28. In his last three contests, Jacobs is 6-for-10 with one homer, four RBIs and two runs scored. In the process, the Winston-Salem native's batting average has skyrocketed 70 points from .180 to .250. Jacobs became the fourth Dash player to record multiple doubles in Saturday's victory in Delaware.
CRAMMED CL
Almost four weeks into the 2015 season, the Carolina League is tremendously competitive. No team is more than three games above .500, while all four Southern Division clubs are at or above the break-even mark. The Dash did not gain any ground on their three divisional rivals, as all of them won on Saturday.
DASH DOTS
In its first 19 games, Winston-Salem did not strike out more than nine times, but the Dash have recorded double-digit strikeouts in each of the last three games...In all, the Dash have gone down on strikes 34 times since Thursday after averaging 5.9 per game beforehand...Winston-Salem and Potomac are tied for the CL lead with three shutout wins...All six other clubs have exactly one shutout...Ethan Wilson made his first start since August 30, 2010...He has returned to MiLB after a serious kidney disorder.
Carolina League Stories from May 3, 2015
- Nationals Overcome by Red Sox 10-6 in Sunday Showdown - Potomac Nationals
- Red Sox Rack up 13 Hits, Rout Nationals 10-6 - Salem RidgeYaks
- Mudcats Stay Hot with 13-3 Home Win - Carolina Mudcats
- McKinney, Skulina Star in Pelicans' Third Straight Win - Myrtle Beach Pelicans
- Mudcats Use Late Runs to Beat Keys 13-3 - Frederick Keys
- Early Offense and Good Pitching Is Successful Formula in 4-1 Win - Wilmington Blue Rocks
- Hillcats Drop Pitchers Duel - Lynchburg Hillcats
- Blue Rocks' Pitching Befuddles Winston-Salem - Winston-Salem Dash
- Hillcats Game Notes May 3, 2015, 2 p.m. vs. Myrtle Beach - Lynchburg Hillcats
- Winston-Salem Dash: Game Notes (May 3 at Wilmington) - Winston-Salem Dash
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