Game #108 Preview — Dash at Carolina
Game #108 — Away Game #51
Winston-Salem Dash (17–20, 45–62) at Carolina Mudcats (13–24, 42–65)
Monday, August 1–7:00 p.m.
Five County Stadium (Zebulon, N.C.)
GAME BACKGROUND:
A four-run fourth inning propelled the Lynchburg Hillcats past Winston-Salem 5–3 on Sunday at BB&T Ballpark. The Dash now look to snap a season-long seven-game road slide on Monday against the Carolina Mudcats at Five County Stadium.
STARTING LINEUP:
Michael Suiter is hitting .425 in his last 12 games (Jody Stewart/W-S Dash).
Michael Suiter — CF
Gerson Montilla — 3B
Mason Robbins — RF
Nick Basto — LF
Zack Collins — DH
Telvin Nash — 1B
Toby Thomas — 2B
Brett Austin — C
Ryan Leonards — SS
Jordan Stephens — RHP
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DASH DOTS:
- In advance of their three-game trip to Carolina, the Dash received a boost with the activation of Zack Collins from the seven-day disabled list. Collins suffered a concussion on July 24 at Potomac and missed seven games. Before the week-long DL stint, Collins hit .294 (10-for-34) with three homers and 10 RBIs in nine games with Winston-Salem. Collins was the 10th overall pick in this year’s MLB Draft out of the University of Miami, with whom he went to the College World Series this June.
- Even though the Dash dropped Sunday’s finale, Winston-Salem still went 5–2 during last week’s homestand. The Dash matched their best multi-series homestand of the year (June 1–7), though they did miss out on their best such run at home since June 8–13, 2012, with Sunday’s loss. Still, Winston-Salem has bounced back from a Minor League-worst 5–19 home record through May to go 21–12 at BB&T Ballpark since the start of June.
- Winston-Salem is mired in a season-long seven-game road losing streak that dates back to July 10. During this stretch, the Dash have lost two at Frederick and all five games of a condensed four-day set at Potomac. Winston is one loss shy of the longest road skid in the Dash era (2009-now). There have been two eight-gamers: August 5–16, 2014, and May 23-June 12, 2015.
- The top two hitters in the Carolina League play for Winston-Salem. Mason Robbins has a slight edge (.316) on Nick Basto (.315) for the top spot on the circuit in batting average. However, the Hillcats held both men hitless in three at-bats apiece on Sunday. This marked only the third time that both Robbins and Basto went hitless in the same Carolina League game It was the first occurrence since May 8 against Salem, with the other one being in the third game of the year (April 9 at Lynchburg).
- Robbins, Basto and the rest of this Winston-Salem offense shined in the month of July. The Dash led all of High-A baseball with a .304 batting average, which was second among full-season Minor League clubs. Only Albuquerque, the Triple-A affiliate for the Rockies, had a better mark than the Dash (.313). However, Winston-Salem only mustered a 14–16 record in July, in part due to a 5.18 team earned run average.
- Thanks to Michael Suiter’s third blast of the year on Sunday afternoon, the Dash capped their big July from a home run perspective in style. Winston amassed 30 homers in 30 games, third-most by a Carolina League team this month. Only Frederick (33) and Lynchburg (31) have more than the Dash. Winston-Salem had not gone deep more than 30 times in a single month since a 32-homer showing in June of 2013.
- The Dash and Carolina Mudcats have only met seven times thus far this year, but they will play 13 more games before the end of the season.
- Winston-Salem will play 20 of its final 33 games away from BB&T Ballpark, with seven of those remaining home contests coming up after this three-game set in Zebulon.
- To make room for Collins, the White Sox announced that fellow catcher Daniel Gonzalez has been placed on the disabled list.
BROADCAST INFORMATION:
Monday’s contest will be broadcast live on wsdash.com/broadcast and the TuneIn Radio app. The Pregame Dash will begin at 6:45 p.m., with the first pitch set for 7:00 p.m.
-Joe
