Dash vs. Wilmington: Game #79 Preview
Winston-Salem Dash (40–38) vs. Wilmington Blue Rocks (41–35)
Friday, July 8–7:00 p.m.
Truist Stadium (Winston-Salem, N.C.)
Game 78 Recap
Winston-Salem dropped game three against Wilmington by a final score of 8–1.
Ricardo Mendez opened the scoring for Wilmington in the top of the first inning, with his solo home run out towards the Foothills Flight Deck in right field.
Winston-Salem had a counterpunch in the bottom of the first, which began with
Duke Ellis drawing a full-count walk. He then stole second base, his 34th of the season. Tyler Osik, batting second for the first time this season, plated Ellis with an RBI single to center to tie the game at 1–1.
Neither side could scratch across a run in the second inning. In the top of the third, Yasel Antuna worked a one-out walk. A ground out pushed Antuna on to second, and he scored on an RBI single off the bat of Jose Sanchez**.* The very next batter, *Israel Pineda**, cranked a two-run home run to push the Blue Rocks ahead 4–1.
Darren Baker opened the fourth inning with a single, and Jordy Barley singled right behind him to put runners on first and second. A fielder’s choice groundout pushed both runners to second and third, and later a wild pitch allowed Baker to score from third.
With Wilmington ahead 5–1 now, Israel Pineda blasted a leadoff home run in the fifth inning to make it a 6–1 game.
Barley singled in the top of the sixth inning and stole second base as well. Later in the frame, Ricardo Mendez doubled home Barley to put the Rocks ahead 7–1.
One more run came for Wilmington in the seventh inning, on a wild pitch to extend the lead to 8–1.
Wilmington’s starter Mitchell Parker was instrumental in limiting the Dash offense, as he fired 5.2 innings while punching out a season-high 12 batters. He got the official win in an 8–1 victory for Wilmington, while Matt Thompson suffered the loss.
WINSTON-SALEM WINNERS
12 games into the second half, the Dash are in third place in the South Atlantic League South Division with a 7–5 record, sitting just one game behind the Rome Braves who currently are in first place, and half a game behind second-place Bowling Green.
MONTGOMERY MAKING IT ON-BASE
Colson Montgomery has carried over his hot streak from Kannapolis to Winston-Salem. Through ten games he has a .389 average and .477 on-base percentage, including two home runs and seven RBIs. In all of those games, he’s reached base safely, increasing his on-base streak to 42 games.
DUKE DIGGIN’
Duke Ellis has been consistent all year in showing off his contact and speed. On the basepaths, Ellis has been a terror, as he’s first place in the South Atlantic League in stolen bases with 34 and is second place in runs in the league with 56. Meanwhile, from the batter’s box, he’s got on base reliably as he’s in seventh place in batting average in the league with a .305 average.
WINSTON TOWER POWER
Luis Mieses and Bryan Ramos have been two of the most effective hitters in the South Atlantic League when playing at home. Mieses is tied for the league lead in RBIs with 30 while Ramos is tied for fourth with 27. Ramos has also hit the ball out of Truist Stadium six times this year, tied for the eleventh-best mark in the league.
HOME COOKING
In their last 21 games at home, the Dash have been dominant, going 14–7. Winston-Salem took five out of the six games against Greenville before narrowly winning their series, four games to two, against their I-40 rivals, the Greensboro Grasshoppers. The Dash split the series with Hudson Valley through four games but took the latter two to win the series four games to two. The Dash have taken one out of three games against Wilmington this week to give them a 66.67% winning percentage through the last 21 games.
First pitch is slated for 7:00 p.m.
