Game #71 Preview — Dash vs. Wilmington
Game #71 — Home Game #36
Winston-Salem Dash (0–0, 28–42) vs. Wilmington Blue Rocks (0–0, 27–42)
Thursday, June 23–7 p.m.
BB&T Ballpark (Winston-Salem, N.C.)
GAME BACKGROUND:
Behind a Yoan Moncada home run in the eighth inning, the Salem Red Sox knocked off Winston-Salem 2–1 in Sunday’s first-half finale at BB&T Ballpark. The Dash begin the second half of the season with a four-game series against Wilmington starting on Thursday night at home.
STARTING LINEUP:
Jordan Stephens struck out a career-high nine batters against Wilmington in his last start (Jody Stewart/W-S Dash).
Hunter Jones — CF
Mason Robbins — RF
Gerson Montilla — 3B
Nick Basto — LF
Marcus Davis– 1B
Telvin Nash — DH
Toby Thomas — 2B
Brett Austin — C
Cleuluis Rondon — SS
Jordan Stephens — RHP
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DASH DOTS:
- For the second straight season, the Dash strive to climb from worst to first in the second half. Winston-Salem went just 30–40 in the first half of the 2015 season, but the club recorded the CL’s best second-half mark since 1987 by going 45–23 en route to a Southern Division title. The 28–42 first half is the worst half for Winston-Salem in the Dash era (2009-present).
- Winston-Salem will begin the second half with a pair of new faces. The White Sox announced Thursday that they have signed first baseman Telvin Nash from the York Revolution of the independent Atlantic League. While with York, the former third-round pick of Houston led the league with 15 homers. Also, the Dash have added southpaw reliever Ryan Riga from Low-A Kannapolis, with whom he posted a 4.84 ERA in 19 appearances. Over his last nine outings, Riga gave up just one earned run in 19 frames. Also, Louie Lechich has been assigned to the AZL White Sox to be converted to a pitcher after hitting .159 in 39 games with the Dash.
- In the losing effort Sunday, right-hander Thad Lowry permitted just one run in six-plus innings. Over the final six games of the first half, Dash starters posted a 0.46 earned run average (2 ER in 39.1 IP). Lowry has also strung together an impressive streak of 23.0 innings since his last walk, which came on June 3 against Carolina.
- Two Winston-Salem products helped the Carolina League knock off the California League 6–4 in Tuesday’s All-Star Game in Lake Elsinore, Calif. Right-hander Matt Cooper worked around a double in a scoreless fifth inning, while Hunter Jones logged five innings in right field and went 0-for-2 with a pair of groundouts. Potomac’s Andrew Stevenson earned MVP honors after going 3-for-5 with a pair of triples and two RBIs. The all-time series is now even through 20 games at 9–9–2.
- It was a rare sight at BB&T Ballpark on Sunday because Jones sat out for the first time this year. He became the last Carolina Leaguer to miss a game after playing in each of the Dash’s first 69 contests. Still, the former Indians farmhand is tied for first in the CL in games played, while he paces everyone in at-bats (274). Jones enters the second half with a nine-game hitting streak, while he stands tied for first in triples (7), second in hits (81), fourth in stolen bases (26) and tied for fourth in runs (48) in the Carolina League.
- Winston-Salem will begin the second half with a home series against the Wilmington Blue Rocks. The Dash and Blue Rocks did not meet until June 4, but these two teams squared off in eight of the final 16 days of half one. Winston and Wilmington will tangle for four this weekend and four more next weekend (June 30 to July 3) to quickly cap the season series.
- Marcus Davis emphatically snapped a 1-for-19 slump with a pair of hits in Sunday’s narrow loss to Salem.
- Gerson Montilla enters the second half as the Dash’s leader in homers (8) and RBIs (43), both of which place him in the top five in the CL.
- Thursday starter Jordan Stephens has given up three runs or less in his last five starts.
- In his most recent outing on June 15 at Wilmington, Stephens whiffed a career-high nine.
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 Warthog will begin at 6:45 p.m, with the first pitch at 7:00 p.m.
-Joe
