Game #68 Preview — Dash vs. Salem
Game #68 — Home Game #33
Winston-Salem Dash (27–40) vs. Salem Red Sox (41–25)
Friday, June 17–7:00 p.m.
BB&T Ballpark (Winston-Salem, N.C.)
GAME BACKGROUND:
Righty Spencer Adams tossed eight shutout innings, and Winston-Salem smacked three home run in a 7–1 thumping of first-place Salem on Thursday night at BB&T Ballpark. The Dash eye their fifth straight home win on Friday against the Salem Red Sox.
STARTING LINEUP:
Toby Thomas hit one of three home runs for the Dash in Thursday’s 7–1 win (Jody Stewart/W-S Dash).
Hunter Jones — CF
Mason Robbins — LF
Gerson Montilla — 3B
Nick Basto — 1B
Marcus Davis– DH
Toby Thomas — 2B
Chris O’Dowd — C
Zach Fish — LF
Cleuluis Rondon — SS
Tanner Banks — LHP
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DASH DOTS:
- Winston’s three homers marked a season-high, and it was the franchise’s biggest power surge since a four-homer effort at home against Salem on May 17, 2015. The Dash had only gone deep twice in a game five times before Thursday’s offensive explosion.
- Hunter Jones kicked off the contest with a leadoff homer in the first, marking the first such occurrence since Adam Engel accomplished the feat on August 29, 2015, at home against Frederick. Nick Basto and Toby Thomas clubbed solo shots in the fourth, giving the Dash their second two-homer frame of 2016 (eighth inning on April 18 vs. Myrtle Beach).
- This offensive surge was plenty for Adams, who recorded his fourth outing of eight-plus innings in the last seven starts since May 14. Before this run, the former second-round pick had never worked more than seven innings in his Minor League career. Adams leads the Carolina League with 87.2 innings, exactly 10 more than fellow Dash righty Matt Cooper, who is in second place. In the Minors, Adams only trails Jason Wheeler of Rochester (90.1) in innings.
- The Warthogs made their return to the Triad on Thursday. Winston had not donned the Warthogs emblems and colors in 2,819 days before May 26, and this Thursday marked the second time. One more Warthogs night is set for July 14.
- Winston-Salem moved to 6–2 at home in the month of June with Thursday’s emphatic win over Salem. This includes a four-game winning streak at BB&T Ballpark, the club’s longest since rattling off seven in a row late last year (August 20–29). Before the month began, the Dash were just 5–19 at BB&T Ballpark, which was the worst home mark in all of Minor League Baseball. The Dash had suffered three home sweeps in the season’s first two months after only four in the first six years of the BB&T Ballpark era.
- All-Star outfielder Hunter Jones drove home three runs in the first two innings of Thursday’s win, giving him his first three-RBI showing of 2016. Jones’ three hits also thrust him back atop the CL in hits with 78, one more than Carolina’s Joey Meneses for the top spot. One of two Carolina Leaguers who has played in all of his team’s games (Myrtle Beach’s Yasiel Balaguert), Jones also stands tied for third in total bases (112), fourth in runs (48), fourth in stolen bases (26) and sixth in average (.294) in the CL.
- Friday starter Tanner Banks tries to parlay the momentum he gained from the second half of his High-A debut on Sunday at Carolina. After giving up five runs in the first three innings, Banks settled in and held the Mudcats scoreless from the fourth to the sixth. The southpaw was assigned to Winston-Salem on June 8 from Low-A Kannapolis, where he went 6–3 with a 2.87 ERA in 69.0 innings en route to an All-Star nod.
- Dash infielder Gerson Montilla not only leads the club in home runs (8) and RBIs (43), but he paces all of Minor League Baseball with nine sacrifice flies.
- Winston-Salem claimed just its second home win over Salem in nine tries this season on Thursday.
- The Dash have a 5–3 road record against the Red Sox, who clinched the first-half Southern Division title on Monday.
BROADCAST INFORMATION:
Friday’s game 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
