Dash Against Wilmington Blue Rocks Thursday
August 12, 2010 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Winston-Salem Dash News Release
Doubling Up: Winston-Salem received excellent starting pitching from Stephen Sauer, some timely offense, and superb relief work to top Wilmington 4-2 on Wednesday night. Sauer pitched seven strong innings and once again the Dash was pushed over the top by Brandon Short. A night after snapping a 3-3 tie with a two-run triple, Short connected on an RBI single in the sixth inning with the game tied at two to give Winston the lead. Brandon Kloess and Tyson Corley held the Blue Rocks at bay over the final two innings to deliver the win. The Dash goes for the series victory tonight in the teams' final regular season meeting of the year.
Sweet, Not Sauer: Stephen Sauer pitched one of his best games of the season last night. The Las Vegas righty allowed just two runs on seven hits over seven innings. He did not walk a batter and he tied a season-high with seven strikeouts. The win was Sauer's first since July 19 and it snapped a three-start losing streak. It was also his team-leading 12th quality start of the season. Terry Doyle has the next-most quality starts with eight.
Go to Your Home: For the second time this season, the Dash pulled off a successful steal of home. Like the first, which featured Kyle Shelton scoring from third in Salem last month, this was also a delayed double steal. With Winston up 1-0, Drew Garcia broke for second base on a 2-2 pitch. When Wil Myers threw down to second, Ozzie Lewis broke from third. The Dash received some good fortune on the play, because the throw bounced off of second baseman Fernando Garcia and the ball rolled back toward the mound, allowing both runners to advance easily. It was Lewis' second stolen base of the year and his 56th run scored.
Streaking: Kenny Williams, Jr. pushed his hitting streak to nine games with his RBI single in the eighth inning single last night. Williams is batting .344 (11 for 32) with four doubles, a home run, six RBI and six runs scored during his streak. The streak ties for his longest of the season. He also had a nine-gamer from June 24-July 26.
House of Paiml: It has been a rough transition back to the Carolina League for Dash shortstop Greg Paiml. Although he played a clean game defensively last night, Paiml has committed four errors since returning to the CL on Saturday. Things have not come together at the plate yet for him either. He is 0 for 13 since returning to Winston-Salem and 0 for 15 in the month of August, including his time with AA Birmingham. Paiml was coming off his best month of the season offensively, hitting .326 in July with the Barons.
Boom or Bust: Ozzie Lewis has gone through an odd stretch in his last 11 games. In five of those games, he has been held hitless. However in the other six, he has produced exactly two hits in each contest. He has hit .324 (12 for 37) in his "two hits or no hits" stretch with a home run, five RBI, and three doubles.
Pen & Torture: The Dash bullpen was outstanding last night, as Brandon Kloess and Tyson Corley retired all six batters they faced to close out the ballgame. Winston's 'pen has given up just one run in its last 6.1 innings, a welcome improvement from the last month. In their last 27 games, Winston's relievers have an ERA of 7.11. In 81.0 innings, the 'pen has given up 75 runs, (64 earned) on 93 hits and 45 walks. The bullpen's season ERA has ballooned 80 points in the last four weeks, from 3.34 to 4.14. It is no coincidence that, in the last month, the Dash has lost relievers Gregory Infante (AA promotion), Dan Remenowsky (season-ending injury), Kyle Bellamy (AA promotion), Santos Rodriguez (two D.L. stints), and Chris Sale (AAA promotion).
Long Road Ahead: Tonight the Dash finishes the first leg of its seven-game road trip. Winston is in the midst of playing 14 of 18 games away from BB&T Ballpark and will head to Frederick for a three-game series after the Wilmington set wraps up. This stretch of road games should be a key indicator as to whether the Dash can repeat as the Southern Division champion in the second half. While Winston has owned one of the best home records in all of minor league baseball, the team is 8-11 on the road in the second half, the second worst mark in the league.
Hurts So Good: On August 4, Seth Loman set a new Carolina League record when he was hit by a pitch for the 25th time this season. Wilmington starter Will Smith drilled Loman on the right arm with an 0-1 offering in the bottom of the third inning for the record-breaker. Loman ended the 21-year "reign" of former Winston-Salem Spirit Rusty Crockett, who was hit 24 times in 1989. Loman leads all of minor league baseball in the category. Last year he was tied for third in the minors when he was hit 23 times between Winston-Salem and Kannapolis. He is on pace to get plunked 29 times this season.
Dropping Like It's Cold: The Dash's season batting average of .290 is the fifth-best of any team in full-season minor league baseball. The AAA Albuquerque Isotopes (.302), AAA Las Vegas 51s (.299), Advanced-A High Desert Mavericks (.296), and AA Northwest Arkansas Naturals (.291) are the only teams with higher averages. Winston's average is the best in the Carolina League by 25 points (Frederick is the closest with a .265 average). The Dash has three players in the top five in the league in batting average: Jon Gilmore (2nd, .333), Brandon Short (4th, .314), and Ozzie Lewis (5th, .313).
Today's Opposing Starter: RHP Manauris Baez (2-4, 4.58) makes his sixth start for the Blue Rocks and his second against the Dash. He lost to Winston-Salem on August 2, surrendering seven runs (five earned) on seven hits in 6.2 innings. He bounced back from that to beat Salem in his next start, giving up just one run on four hits in 6.2 innings. Baez started the season as a reliever for Wilmington and made three consecutive starts in mid-May before returning to the bullpen. He made three relief appearances against Winston-Salem, posting a 2.13 ERA and no record. The 24-year-old Dominican was promoted directly to AAA in mid-June and pitched in eight games for Omaha, starting six. Baez went 2-2 with a 7.09 ERA for the O-Royals, striking out 17 and walking 18 in 33 innings. Baez originally signed with the Yankees organization in 2006 as a position player. He split that season between the Yankees' two Dominican Summer League teams before he was released in May of 2007. The Royals signed Baez before the 2008 season and converted him to a pitcher. He had success with short-season Burlington, going 2-2 with a 2.89 ERA in 15 appearances (three starts). Baez spent all of 2009 with low-A Burlington and went 8-6 with a 3.41 ERA, finishing sixth in the Midwest League in ERA.
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Carolina League Stories from August 12, 2010
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- Dash Against Wilmington Blue Rocks Thursday - Winston-Salem Dash
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