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CarL1 Winston-Salem Dash

Winston-Salem Dash Game Notes

September 1, 2010 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Winston-Salem Dash News Release


WINSTON-SALEM DASH (33-28, 76-55) vs. LYNCHBURG HILLCATS (30-32, 59-73)

Wednesday, September 1, 2010, 7:00 p.m. ⌂ BB&T Ballpark ⌂ Winston-Salem, NC

Webcast available on www.wsdash.com 15 minutes before first pitch

Game No. 133 ⌂ Home Game No. 66 ⌂ Home Record 44-21 ⌂ Road Record 32-34

RHP Dylan Axelrod (7-2, 2.05) vs. RHP Curtis Partch (6-10, 4.71)

One-Inning Wonders: Winston-Salem's offense awoke for one big inning and wasn't needed for the other eight, as Nate Jones and the Dash bullpen combined on a four-hit 6-0 shutout of the Hillcats last night in the first game of the four-game series. Winston scored all six of its runs in the second inning against Pedro Villarreal. Seth Loman led off the frame with a home run, Kenny Williams, Jr. drove in two runs with a bases loaded single, and Jose Martinez capped the inning with a three-run home run. Jones did not need any more support, firing mid-90s fastballs for seven shutout innings, yielding only three hits in the process. The win was the Dash's fifth in a row, the team's longest win streak since a five-game win streak May 8-12. Winston-Salem is now a season-high 21 games over .500.

South American Pride: Jose Martinez followed up his three-hit game on Sunday with two more hits on Tuesday, including a three-run home run in the second inning. It was Martinez' fourth homer for Winston-Salem and his fifth home run of 2010. The Venezuelan outfielder now owns a season-best eight-game hit streak, over which he is batting .355 (11 for 31). Luis Sierra, a native of nearby Colombia, went 2 for 3 last night to extend his hit streak to seven games. Sierra is batting .423 (11 for 26) during his streak.

Kentucky Dandy: Nate Jones' outing last night was his third outstanding performance in his last four starts. In a start against Frederick (8/14) and two against Lynchburg (8/26 & last night), he has gone a combined 21.1 innings and given up two runs on 11 hits. He has lowered his ERA 43 points in this stretch to 4.05. Jones is now tied for second in the Carolina League in wins with 11, tied for first in games started (27), and is first in innings pitched (146.1).

Around the Organization: Today former Dash left-hander Chris Sale earned his first major league save in the White Sox' 6-4 win over the Cleveland Indians. Sale pitched a scoreless ninth and lowered his big league ERA to 0.90. He made his professional debut for Winston-Salem earlier this season... The rosters for the prestigious Arizona Fall League were recently announced, and there is plenty of Dash representation for the White Sox. 2010 Winstonites Charlie Leesman, Josh Phegley, and Eduardo Escobar will play for the Peoria Saguaros along with 2009 Dash players Anthony Carter, Johnnie Lowe, and Henry Mabee... Today former Dash closer Gregory Infante was promoted to Chicago after the White Sox purchased his contract from AA Birmingham...

Hometown Heros: The Dash owns a 44-21 record at BB&T Ballpark. This is the second-best home record among all full-season minor league teams. Only the AA Northwest Arkansas Naturals (43-20) have a better home record.

Pitchers Powering Up: Nate Jones' outstanding start (7 IP, 0 ER) continued a terrific stretch for Winston's pitching over the last seven games. The combination of Dylan Axelrod, Hector Santiago, Jones, Joe Serafin, Terry Doyle, and Stephen Sauer has given up nine runs over a combined 46 innings, a 1.76 ERA. Since Sunday, August 22, the team's starters have posted a 2.37 ERA (15 ER, 57 IP) and the team as a whole has an ERA of 1.65 (11 ER, 60 IP) since Wednesday.

Like a Rolling Stone: Dylan Axelrod makes his first start since throwing a seven-inning complete game shutout against the Hillcats last week in Lynchburg. The tremendous performance doubled as the first complete game and shutout of his four-year professional career. It was also the first complete game by a Winston-Salem pitcher this season. The Dash's last complete game was a six-inning loss by Anthony Carter at Wilmington on June 21, 2009. Prior to last night, Winston's most recent complete game shutout was thrown on June 19 of last year by Levi Maxwell, who threw a no-hitter that night against the Blue Rocks. Last week's outstanding performance was nothing new for Axelrod; he has gone at least seven innings in each of his last five starts, posting a 0.75 ERA in that span (3 ER, 36 IP)

Get Lo: Seth Loman's solo home run last night continued his hot offensive stretch. He has hit in 14 of his last 15 games, batting .351 (20 for 57). Other than a .259 month of May, Loman has hit .295 or better in every month this season. He ranks 7th in the Carolina League batting average (.290), second in homers (24), second in RBI (84), fourth in hits (142), third in slugging percentage (.512), third in extra-base hits (58), first in runs (84), and second in total bases (251).

Coming out of his Shelton : Kyle Shelton continued his superb offensive stretch on Sunday, going 2 for 5 with an RBI. Shelton extended his hitting streak to a season-high ten games. During the streak, which started on August 4, he is hitting a blistering .486 (17 for 35) with seven doubles, a home run, eight RBI, and five runs scored. He has more doubles during this streak than he had in his first 52 games this season. He raised his batting average to .303 from .267 at the start of the streak. Shelton's average is at its highest point since May 8.

Winston-Salem Walk-offs: Sunday's walk-off win was the Dash's 11th of the season, meaning a remarkable 17% of the team's home games have ended with a walk-off victory. Winston has won 15 games this season in its final team at bat and Drew Garcia is responsible for a significant number of them. The switch-hitting second baseman has five game-winning hits this season, including Sunday's. Garcia had the first walk-off hit in BB&T Ballpark history, an RBI single in the tenth inning on April 15 against Potomac.

Hurts So Good: Seth Loman extended his own Carolina League record when he was hit by a pitch for the 29th time this season on Thursday. On August 4, Loman was drilled for the 25th time, ending 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.

Slick Sticks: The Dash's season batting average of .288 is the sixth-best of any team in full-season minor league baseball. The AAA Albuquerque Isotopes (.302), Advanced-A High Desert Mavericks (.297), AAA Las Vegas 51s (.294), AA Northwest Arkansas Naturals (.291), and Advanced-A San Jose Giants (.288) are the only teams with higher averages. Winston's average is the best in the Carolina League by 23 points (Frederick is the closest with a .265 average). The Dash has five players in the top ten in the league in batting average: Brandon Short (2nd, .316), Jon Gilmore (3rd, .315), Ozzie Lewis (5th, .300), Seth Loman (7th, .290), and Eduardo Escobar (10th, .285).

Today's Opposing Starter: RHP Curtis Partch (6-10, 4.71) makes his 23rd start of the season (27th appearance) and his third against the Dash. He lost to Winston last Thursday, allowing two runs on eight hits in 5.2 innings in Lynchburg. He has made two starts and two relief appearances against the Dash. Overall against Winston he owns a 5.17 ERA in 15.2 innings. He has been terrific in his last seven outings, posting a 3-2 record with an ERA of 2.59. Partch was selected in the 26th round of the 2007 draft out of Merced (CA) Junior College. He went 12-9 with a 4.49 ERA in 27 starts at three different levels last season (19 GS in low-A Dayton, 7 GS in High-A Sarasota, 1 GS in AA Carolina). His 12 wins ranked second among all Reds minor leaguers in 2009. Partch is a favorite among scouts because of major league projectability. He has great size (6'5", 227 lbs.) and a heavy fastball with low-90s velocity that leads to groundball outs.

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