Game #54 Preview — Dash vs. Carolina
Game #54 — Home Game #26
Winston-Salem Dash (19–34) vs. Carolina Mudcats (21–29)
Thursday, June 2–7:00 p.m.
BB&T Ballpark (Winston-Salem, NC)
GAME BACKGROUND:
Dash right-hander Brandon Brennan spun his first professional complete game, but a three-run second was the difference in the Carolina Mudcats’ 3–0 win in Wednesday’s series opener from BB&T Ballpark. Winston-Salem will try to snap a six-game slide at home on Thursday night.
STARTING LINEUP:
Brandon Brandon pitched the sixth nine-inning complete game by a Winston hurler in the Dash era (Jody Stewart/W-S Dash).
Hunter Jones — CF
Mason Robbins — LF
Gerson Montilla — 3B
Keon Barnum — 1B
Marcus Davis — DH
Toby Thomas — 2B
Brett Austin — C
Michael Suiter — RF
Cleuluis Rondon — SS
Matt Cooper — RHP
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DASH DOTS:
- Brennan became the first Winston-Salem hurler to record a nine-inning complete game since July 20, 2014, when Tony Bucciferro fell two outs shy of a no-hitter at Frederick. He settled for a one-hit shutout of the Keys. Brennan logged the sixth nine-inning complete game by a Winston-Salem hurler in the Dash era (2009-present). All five of the previous complete games netted the pitcher a victory.
- Brennan recorded Winston-Salem’s third start of eight-plus innings over the last five games. On Friday at Potomac, Matt Cooper kicked off this surge with an eight-inning complete game in a 2–0 loss. Three days later, Spencer Adams matched a career-high by tossing eight frames in an 8–2 triumph. Before this run, the Dash had only submitted seven starts of seven or more innings. Overall this year, Dash starters average five and a third innings per start.
- Thanks to those lengthy outings from Adams and Cooper, Winston-Salem boasts two of the top four innings eaters in the Carolina League. Adams paces the circuit with 65.0 frames, while Cooper is fourth at 59.0, just two innings from second place (Potomac’s Phillips Valdez).
- While Cooper’s innings total is impressive, the most eye-popping stat on his 2016 resume is under the strikeout category. Cooper leads all Minor League pitchers with 75 strikeouts. Only two other men have reached the 70-punchout mark: Indianapolis’ Tyler Glasnow (72) and Gwinnett’s Lucas Sims (70). He owns an 18-strikeout lead on the second-place Carolina Leaguer (Carolina’s Max Povse). The White Sox 16th-round pick in 2014, Cooper has whiffed at least five in all 10 starts this year, including a career-high 12 in his last start Friday at Potomac.
- For the seventh time this season, Winston-Salem suffered a shutout loss on Wednesday night. The Dash lead the league in shutouts, with Wilmington one blanking behind. Among the 30 High-A teams, Winston is tied for second in shutout losses. Only Brevard County (Milwaukee) has more (9). The Dash have scored three runs or less in 24 of their first 53 games this year, and they are 1–23 in those instances.
- Thanks to his double in Wednesday’s fourth inning, Marcus Davis pushed his hitting streak to 10 games, the longest by a Dash hitter in 2016. Nick Basto’s nine-game surge from April 21–30 was the previous high-water mark for club. Davis is hitting .293 (12-for-41) with two RBIs and four runs scored throughout the run, which is currently the CL’s longest active streak.
- Outfielder Hunter Jones registered his 60th hit on Wednesday, though he did lose his grip on the top spot in the CL in knocks.Potomac’s Andrew Stevenson now owns a one-hit edge on Jones, who is also first in games (53), second in triples (6) and third in total bases in the league.
BROADCAST INFORMATION:
Thursday’s game will be broadcast live on 600 AM-WSJS in the Winston-Salem area, as is the case with every Thursday game throughout the season. The game is also available on wsjs.com, as well as wsdash.com/broadcast and the TuneIn App. The Pregame Dash will begin at 6:45 p.m, with the first pitch at 7:00 p.m.
-Joe
