CarL1 Winston-Salem Dash

Winston-Salem Dash Game Notes

Published on May 9, 2010 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Winston-Salem Dash News Release


We're Just Two Wild & Crazy Teams: The Dash won a thrilling 16-13 ballgame last night at BB&T Ballpark. The two teams combined for 29 runs, 33 hits, and four lead changes over the three hour, 19-minute epic. Drew Garcia hit his first professional grand slam off Lance McClain with two outs in the bottom of the eighth with Winston down 12-11 to put the Dash ahead by three. In a see-saw battle of a baseball game, both teams built leads that were eventually shredded by the other side.

Sweet Revenge: In his first time pitching against Salem since he surrendered a playoff series-ending home run to Mike Jones, Hector Santiago picked up the win in last night's game. It was his first win of the season. Of the eight pitchers who threw yesterday, Santiago was the only one who did not allow a run. He pitched 1.2 perfect innings and improved to 1-3 this year.

Successful in Succession: On a night that seven of Winston's nine starters posted multi-hit games, much of the work was done by the 8-9-1-2 hitters. Drew Garcia, Justin Greene, Brandon Short, and Eduardo Escobar went a combined 14 for 19 with a home run, three doubles, one triple, 11 RBI, ten runs scored, and two stolen bases.

Big Inning Breakdowns: The Dash has fallen into a bad habit of allowing big innings to the opposition lately. Salem put together a four-run inning and a six-run inning last night. In the last seven games, Dash opponents have had nine innings in which they scored three or more runs in one inning. Of the 45 runs Winston has allowed in the last seven games, 37 of them have been concentrated into those nine innings.

A Big Stick for Short: Brandon Short set a new career high for hits with his 5 for 6 performance last night. He drove in three runs and scored three times to raise his season batting average to .387, second best in the Carolina League. He also extended his hitting streak to 26 games. It's now tied for the fifth-longest hitting streak in league history. Martinsville's Orge Par Cooper hit in 31 straight games back in 1948. Short's hitting streak is the longest in North American professional baseball this season. He is hitting .403 during the streak with ten doubles, one triple, three home runs, 25 RBI, and 20 runs scored. He is averaging nearly two hits a game during the streak (50 hits in 26 games). Short has picked up at least one hit in all but one game this season. The lone blemish was on 4/10 when he went 0 for 4 at Kinston.

Early Work: Short has rarely waited until the late innings to extend his hitting streak. In 23 of the 26 games in his streak, Short has picked up at least one hit sometime during the first five innings. If the Dash played five-inning games, Short would still have a current hitting streak of 17 games. The only close call came on April 20 at Myrtle Beach, when he collected his first hit of the day in the eighth inning of a 7-1 win.

Winston Wunderkinds: Winston-Salem leads both the Carolina League and the rest of professional affiliated baseball in batting average and is second in runs scored this season. The Dash's .314 clip is the best batting average of any professional affiliated team. Only three other teams have a batting average over .290 and no other team is higher than .295. The Dash's average is a mind-boggling 40 points higher than any other Carolina League team (Salem is hitting .274). Winston has five players in the top ten in the league in batting average: Ozzie Lewis (2nd, .383), Brandon Short (3rd, .366), Jon Gilmore (6th, .342), Justin Greene (7th, .337), and Drew Garcia (9th, .324). The team's 179 runs are the second-most of any team, majors or minors. The AAA Durham Bulls have scored 191 runs in one more game than the Dash.

Today's Opposing Starter: RHP Alex Wilson (1-0, 5.01) makes his sixth start of the season and his first against the Dash. He was selected by the Red Sox in the second round of last year's First-Year Player Draft and made his professional debut in 2009 with short-season Lowell. He was outstanding with the Spinners, dominating the New York-Penn League with a 0.50 ERA in 13 starts. Wilson underwent Tommy John surgery in 2007, so the Red Sox limited him to three innings per start last year. He struck out 33 batters, walked seven, and allowed only ten hits in 36 innings. Batters hit .085 against him. Wilson attended Winthrop before transferring to Texas A&M in 2007. In the summer between schools, he participated in the Cape Cod League, where he blew out his arm. He was viewed as a potential first round pick before the injury and was drafted in the tenth round by the Cubs after his 2008 redshirt season, but did not sign. In his 2009 with the Aggies, Wilson went 6-6 with a 4.22 ERA and fell to Boston in the second round. He throws a 92-93 mph fastball and a slider that Baseball America designated the best in the Red Sox system.

Check out the Winston-Salem Dash Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Carolina League Stories from May 9, 2010


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central