CarL1 Winston-Salem Dash

Winston-Salem Dash Game Notes

Published on August 23, 2011 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Winston-Salem Dash News Release


WINSTON-SALEM DASH (30-27, 62-65) @ SALEM RED SOX (25-32, 56-70)

Tuesday, August 23, 2011, 7:05 p.m. | LewisGale Field at Salem Memorial Ballpark | Salem, VA

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

Game No. 128 | Road Game No. 64 | 2011 Home Record 35-29 | 2011 Road Record 27-36

RHP Cameron Bayne (11-6, 3.40) @ RHP Anthony Ranaudo (4-5, 4.76)

Pain Reliever: Thanks to a dominating relief performance by Jeremiah Bayer and two errors that led to three unearned runs, the Red Sox captured the first of a four-game series at LewisGale Field last night 6-3. After Salem scored first, Winston netted three runs by the fifth inning to take a 3-1 lead. A rough start to the sixth proved costly for Matt Wickswat, as the first three batters reached base, with the third, Bryce Brentz connecting for an RBI single to make it a one-run game. With two outs later in the inning, Tyler Saladino committed a throwing error on a grounder up the middle that brought home two runs and gave the Red Sox the lead. Salem scored two more unearned runs in the eighth inning, again stemming from a Saladino error. The lead held up thanks to Bayer, who yielded just two hits in and no walks over four innings of shutout relief.

The Tribe has not spoken: Despite losing nine of their last 12 games, the Dash are still right in the thick of the race for the Southern Division's second half playoff spot. Winston-Salem is only one-half game behind Kinston, which lost last night as well. The Indians' remaining schedule shows three games at Frederick followed by a seven-game home stand with three games against Lynchburg and four more against the Keys. The K-Tribe finishes up the season with three games at Potomac. Winston-Salem plays three more games at Salem, four at home against Myrtle Beach and three more home games against the Red Sox before finishing up the season with a three-game series at Lynchburg. The combined second half winning percentage of Kinston's remaining opponents is .533 (90-79) while the Dash's remaining opponents have a .456 (77-92) winning percentage. When weighted with the number of games left against each opponent, the difficulty of Kinston's schedule is even more daunting, with the Indians' opponents' winning percentage at .558 and Winston's at .450.

Too Much Salem, not enough Winston: When part of the name of your city is also the name of your opponent, questions of ownership may arise. There are no questions lately between these two teams, however, because it has become clear that Salem has owned Winston-Salem recently. The Red Sox have won the last seven matchups between the teams and lead the season series 9-5 with six more games remaining. The Dash's last win over Salem was on July 2 when Andy Wilkins led a come-from-behind extra-innings rally with a walk-off three-run home run. After winning the first three matchups here in Salem in mid-May, Winston has lost nine of the last 11 games it has played against its closest Carolina League rival.

Bring Sally Up: Yesterday Dash shortstop Tyler Saladino was named the Carolina League "Player of the Week" for his performance from August 15 - 21. This is first time he has earned an award like this in his professional career. The honor was well-earned, as Saladino led all minor leaguers in batting average at .630 (17 for 27), was first in triples (3), and tied for second in extra-base hits (8). He went 2 for 4 last night with a triple, a walk and a run scored and his last five games, Saladino is 18 for 28 (.643) with four doubles, four triples, a home run, seven RBI, and six runs scored. Prior to the last six games, he had gone 11 straight without a multi-hit contest. He twice matched his career-high with four hits in games over the week and with the monster performances, the San Diegan raised his batting average 34 points from .234 to .268.

G-Man: Ian Gac hit his 32nd home run of the season on Sunday to snap a tie game in the third inning. The home run also tied his career-high for a season, which he previously set in 2008 with low-A Clinton and Advanced-A Bakersfield (Texas Rangers). Sixteen of his 32 homers this season have either tied the game or given the Dash the lead. Gac leads the Carolina League in home runs and is second in all of minor league baseball (the Iowa Cubs' Bryan LaHair has 34). Gac has 12 more home runs that any other player in the CL and his 88 RBI are ten more than second place. Gac is also first in the CL in games played (127, the only player in the league that has played every game), first in at bats (472), ninth in batting average (.275), second in hits (130), fifth in doubles (29), first in slugging percentage (.540), second in extra-base hits (61), first in runs scored (85), first in total bases (255), and first in HR/AB ratio (1/14.75). He is on pace to hit 35 home runs this season, which would tie the Winston-Salem record (Ed Olivares set the current record of 35 home runs in 1960 for the Winston-Salem RedBirds) and also would be the most in any Carolina League season since Tolia Solaita hit 49 for the Hi-Toms in 1968. Gac has 159 career homers in nine professional seasons.

Winning Formula: The odds are pretty good for Winston-Salem to come away with the victory when Ian Gac homers. The Dash are 21-8 in games Gac hits a home run, good for a .724 winning percentage. The Dash are just 41-57 (.418) when Gac does not homer. The Dash are 10-6 (.625) when Andy Wilkins hits a home run, but have won 10 of the last 12 games during which the Oklahoman has homered.

‚¬ËœMaul Rat: Since giving up two runs in an outing on June 2 against Potomac, Kussmaul has been nothing short of spectacular. He has allowed four runs (two earned) on nine hits in his last 20 appearances, sporting a 0.63 ERA (2 ER, 28.2 IP) with a .116 batting average against (11 for 95) and 52 strikeouts (seven walks) in the process. Kussmaul leads all Carolina League relievers with 14.17 strikeouts per nine innings, nearly two more full K's than second-place Eliecer Cardenas (12.35). He leads all full-season minor league pitchers in the category. Kussmaul is second on the Dash in strikeouts (84) despite only ranking seventh among all 2011 Winston players in innings pitched (53.1). He is also second among CL relievers with a .166 opponents' batting average and is second in fewest baserunners/9 IP (8.77).

Today's Opposing Starter: RHP Anthony Ranaudo (4-5, 4.76) makes his 14th Carolina League start of the season and his second against Winston-Salem. He did not get a decision against the Dash on July 2, allowing four runs on nine hits in 4.2 innings. He has bounced back nicely from a garish outing at Lynchburg on July 31 (eight runs in 3.2 innings), allowing three runs combined in his last two starts totaling ten innings. Ranaudo spent the first two months of the 2011 season with low-A Greenville before receiving a promotion to Salem. He was a South Atlantic League All-Star for the Drive, going 4-1 with a 3.33 ERA in ten starts, striking out 50 batters and walking 16 in 46 innings. Ranaudo is ranked by Baseball America as the top Red Sox pitching prospect and the organization's second-best prospect overall. The LSU alumnus entered the 2010 college season rated as one of the best draft-eligible college pitching prospects, but he hurt his elbow in his first start and missed a month of action. When he returned to the mound, his mechanics were altered and he struggled, posting a 7.32 ERA. His injury and mound struggles caused him to drop in the draft and the Red Sox snagged him with the 39th overall pick in the first sandwich round. After not allowing an earned run in 30 innings in the Cape Cod Summer League (Brewster Whitecaps), he signed with Boston at the August 16 deadline for $2.55 million, the seventh-highest bonus awarded in the 2010 draft. In his sophomore year at LSU, Ranaudo and helped lead the Tigers to the 2009 national championship along with Dash center fielder Jared Mitchell, who was named the MVP of the College World Series. That season, Ranaudo went 12-3 in 19 starts with a 3.04 ERA, striking out 159 batters in 124.1 innings. He was limited to 12 innings as a freshman with elbow tendonitis. A native of Jackson, New Jersey, Ranaudo Starred at St. Rose High School in Belmar, New Jersey, going 21-4 with a 1.44 ERA and 240 strikeouts with three no-hitters. He won a state championship, was an All-American, and was drafted in the 11th round by Texas, but elected to go to school. Ranaudo stands 6'7", 230 lbs. and uses his size to produce driving downward movement on his 91-95 mph fastball. He also features a 76-79 hammer curveball that grades out to a plus pitch and a low-80s changeup.

Check out the Winston-Salem Dash Statistics

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Carolina League Stories from August 23, 2011


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