CarL1 Winston-Salem Dash

Winston-Salem Dash Game Notes

Published on June 4, 2011 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Winston-Salem Dash News Release


K-Tribe KO'd: Winston-Salem and Kinston opened up a three-game series last night and the Dash continue their dominance at home against the Indians. With the game tied at one in the bottom of the fifth, Andy Wilkins and Jake Oester connected on consecutive doubles to plate the go-ahead and eventual game-winning run. Jason Bour drove in the third Dash run later in the inning. J.R. Ballinger picked up his second win in as many appearances with the Dash. Ballinger re-joined the team before Thursday's series finale with Potomac. Taylor Thompson nailed down his team-leading fourth save of the season.

Stay All Season: The Kinston Indians are always welcome at BB&T Ballpark. The K-Tribe has lost 23 of its last 25 games in the city of Winston-Salem. In 2009, Kinston won the first game it played at Gene Hooks Field at Wake Forest Baseball Park, but lost its last nine. The Indians lost eight in a row at BB&T Ballpark before picking up their first win at the new yard on July 27 of last year. The 17-game losing streak in Winston-Salem spanned nearly 14 months; 11 of those Dash wins were by just one run. The K-Tribe has not won consecutive games in Winston-Salem since August 25-27 of 2008.

The ‘Pen is Mightier: Friday's series opener was a bullpen day for the Dash, as Justin Collop made a spot start and threw three innings. Collop made his first start since returning from the disabled list on May 12 and allowed only two hits and no runs in his outing. Ballinger surrendered the only run of the game for Kinston in the fifth inning. After Ballinger, Addison Reed and Taylor Thompson combined for three scoreless innings. Last night was the third time this season that Winston used a spot-starter. Santos Rodriguez made two previous two-inning starts and allowed two runs four total innings on May 18 against Myrtle Beach and May 22 against Salem.

Easy to Reed: Addison Reed had another scoreless appearance Friday night, making it five in a row and ten straight innings since allowing his last run. With four more strikeouts against the K-Tribe, Reed upped his total with the Dash to 33 in 24.1 innings. The hard-throwing right-hander is among the CL leaders in many categories. Among relievers, Reed is fifth in opponent batting average (.196), third in K/9 IP (12.21), first in fewest BB/9 IP (1.11), and fourth in fewest baserunners/9 IP (8.51).

Twin Wins in the Twin City: The Dash picked up walk-off wins in back-to-back ballgames against the Nationals earlier this week. On Tuesday, Jared Mitchell capped a late-inning comeback with a two-run double in the ninth to give Winston a 4-3 win. On Wednesday, Andy Wilkins scored from third base on a wild pitch in the tenth inning to send the Dash to a 2-1 victory. Wednesday's win was the fourth walk-off win of the season for the Dash. The Dash walked off winners 11 times last year, winning in that fashion in 16% of all the team's home games.

Oester on the Half-Shell: Jake Oester drove in the game-winning run in the fifth inning last night, giving him four RBI in his last three starts. He has tied or given Winston-Salem the lead twice during the home stand. The Cincinnati native has started more than half of the games on the current home stand and has five hits in 11 at-bats including two doubles and a triple. Heading into this week, Oester had five hits in his previous 45 at-bats. He would have a three-game hitting streak, but he made a pinch hit appearance in the series finale against Potomac on Thursday.

Playing them close to the vest: The Dash have an inordinate number of close games this season, as 43 of the team's 54 games have been decided by three runs or fewer and the team has had a lead in 41 games this season. Winston has played 21 one-run games and 14 two-run games. The Dash are 10-11 in one-run games and 7-7 in two run contests. At this rate, the Dash would play 90 one- or two-run games this season.

Moonshot Monopoly: With three home runs on Thursday night, the Dash extended their league-leading homer total to 50 on the season. Winston-Salem has hit nine more longballs than its closest competition (Lynchburg with 41) and more than double than last place Kinston (23). The Dash led the Carolina League in dingers last year with 112 and the team is on pace to blast 129 in 2011.

Today's Opposing Starter: RHP Clayton Cook (0-1, 3.38) makes his 11th start off the season, and third against the Dash. He lost to Winston-Salem on April 10 in his first start of the season, allowing two runs on six hits over 5.1 innings at Grainger Stadium. Cook's second start of the season was also against the Dash where he gave up two runs (one earned) on four hits in 4.2 innings, and didn't get a decision. He is the youngest player on the Indians and will not turn 21 until July 23rd of this year. Cook is coming off a good 2010 season with low-A Lake County, his first year with a full-season team. He went 6-7 in 23 starts, but posted a solid 3.35 ERA (9th in the MWL) and held Midwest League batters to a .244 average. The Indians shut him down with a relatively minor shoulder injury in mid-August. Cook was 5-3 with a 2.79 ERA in 2009 with short-season Mahoning Valley, where he was a NYPL All-Star. He was selected in the ninth round of the 2008 draft out of Amarillo High School in Texas and reportedly signed for about $100,000 after he committed to the University of Oklahoma. He dominated in his final year of high school ball, striking out 170 batters in 98 innings while going 12-3 with a 1.98 ERA. He throws a four-seam fastball (91-93 mph), a two-seam fastball, a curveball, and a changeup.

Check out the Winston-Salem Dash Statistics

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Carolina League Stories from June 4, 2011


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