Warthogs vs. Greensboro: Game #53 Preview
Winston-Salem Warthogs (27–25) vs. Greensboro Grasshoppers (22–29)
Wednesday, June 8–7 p.m.
Truist Stadium (Winston-Salem, N.C.)
Game 52 Recap
Winston-Salem opened up the second installment of the Battle of I-40 with a 3–2 win over Greensboro.
On the very first pitch in the bottom of the first,
Duke Ellis launched the ball high and deep and off the batter’s eye in center field for a solo home run.
Luis Moncada was the starter in the series opener for Winston-Salem, and he delivered three scoreless innings to begin the night while picking up a pair of strikeouts as well.
In the third inning, Oscar Colas started things off with a double and then moved to second base on a sacrifice fly. Up stepped Luis Mieses**,** who took a first-pitch ball before sending a towering drive down the right-field line, and over the wall for a two-run home run. That put the Dash up 3–0, heading to the fourth inning.
Greensboro battled back in the top of the fourth, starting with a one-out walk to Endy Rodriguez**.* Then, *Fabricio Macias** rolled one over to the right side of the infield, but a throwing error allowed Rodriguez and Macias to advance to third base and second base respectively. A wild pitch allowed Rodriguez to score, cutting the Dash lead to 3–1.
The ‘Hoppers started the fifth inning with a Yoyner Fajardo walk and a Dariel Lopez single, then both runners moved up on a wild pitch. Abrahan Gutierrez proceeded to lift a fly ball into deep center field, which was enough to score Fajardo from third.
Armed with a 3–2 lead, the Dash bullpen was called upon to preserve a one-run lead. After Everett Hazelwood wrapped up the fifth inning, he wound up going 2.2 innings in relief on Moncada, surrendering one base hit and punching out four Greensboro hitters.
With two outs in the top of the seventh, Trey Jeans relieved Hazelwood. Jeans recorded the last out of the seventh, then sent down the Grasshoppers 1–2–3 in the eighth. He recorded two strikeouts to start the ninth, and allowed a two-strike single to Jackson Glenn**,* before sending Fajardo down on strikes to end the ballgame. Jeans got the save, Hazelwood, got the win, and *Adrian Florencio** took the loss.
BATTLE OF I-40
The Dash and Greensboro will engage in the second Battle of I-40 this year when the Grasshoppers visit Winston-Salem for the second time this year. In the previous meeting between the two teams, the Dash had control of the series three games to one heading into game five, but Greensboro stole the last two games to split the series.
ONE-RUN BALL
In game one of this week’s series, Winston-Salem nabbed another one-run win against the Grasshoppers. In the previous series between the I-40 foes, three of the six games were decided by one run, all wins by the Dash. The latter one-run game was a 10-inning walk-off in which the Dash scored a run in both the ninth and tenth innings to take the win and nab their third win of the series.
BRYAN BOMBS
In the last two series’, Bryan Ramos has been a nightmare for pitchers. Ramos has hit four home runs, the most on the Dash, and tied for the second-most in all of the South Atlantic League, driving in seven runs in the process.
MIESES MANIA
Luis Mieses has been hitting the ball and making the most of his efforts. This year, Mieses is second in the South Atlantic League in hits with 58 while leading the league with 19 doubles. Not only has he been getting himself on base though, but he’s also been driving in runs off of his hits as well, tied for third in the league with 36 RBI.
THOMPSON TAKES THE MOUND
Matthew Thompson will make the start for the Dash today against Greensboro. In his last start on June 1 against Greenville, the righty out of Texas was near unstoppable. He gave up only a single hit through 5.2 innings of shutout pitching and striking out two Drive batters.
First pitch is slated for 7:00 p.m.
