Game #121 Preview — Dash at Myrtle Beach
Game #121 — Away Game #57
Winston-Salem Dash (24–26, 52–68) at Myrtle Beach Pelicans (31–19, 67–53)
Monday, August 15–7:05 p.m.
TicketReturn.Com Field (Myrtle Beach, S.C.)
GAME BACKGROUND:
Winston-Salem missed out on a second straight sweep due to Lynchburg’s 6–0 victory on Sunday at Calvin Falwell Field. The Dash only mustered six hits against four Hillcats pitchers, led by Matt Esparza’s 5.2 strong frames. Winston-Salem now begins a pivotal four-game series against the Myrtle Beach Pelicans on Monday at TicketReturn.Com Field.
STARTING LINEUP:
Mason Robbins, who is currently riding a six-game hitting streak, leads the Carolina League with a .322 average (Jody Stewart/W-S Dash).
Landon Lassiter — CF
Gerson Montilla — 2B
Mason Robbins — RF
Nick Basto — LF
Zack Collins — DH
Marcus Davis — 1B
Toby Thomas — 3B
Brett Austin — C
Cleuluis Rondon — SS
Thad Lowry — RHP
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DASH DOTS:
- With Sunday’s shutout loss, the club’s ninth such defeat of the season, Winston-Salem’s five-game winning streak came to an end. It was tied for the longest surge of the campaign. Winston also rattled off five straight victories from July 25–29. Winston-Salem had scored 41 runs (8.2/game) on 59 (11.8/game) hits in these five games, while the pitching staff limited its foes to two runs or less in three of the five games. Still, the Dash did earn their first road series win since April 29 to May 1 at Frederick.
- The Dash’s five-game winning streak was not the only impressive run to culminate on Sunday. Lynchburg’s Francisco Mejia saw his 50-game hitting streak, the longest by a catcher in Minor League Baseball history, end with an 0-for-3 showing one day after an official scoring change prolonged his streak on Saturday. Mejia was close to a hit in the seventh, but Dash center fielder Michael Suiter made a diving catch in right-center on a ball that was tailing away due to strong winds as part of the rain shower that eventually prompted a 29-minute delay.
- The Dash will try to bounce back in Monday’s series opener at Myrtle Beach with Thad Lowry on the bump. Lowry is just one inning shy of Salem’s Matt Kent (130.1) for the Carolina League lead in innings with 129.1. Lowry’s 3.97 ERA is eighth-best among CL qualifiers.
- The Dash will try to cut into Myrtle Beach’s lead in the Southern Division’s second-half standings. The Pelicans have rattled off 18 wins in their last 23 games, surging to a 7.0-game advantage on the Dash for the final postseason spot out of the Southern Division. Depending on the results of the series, the Dash will be three, five, seven, nine or 11 games behind the Birds after these four games in Myrtle Beach, the final matchups between the two rivals in the regular season. Thus far this year, the Dash are 9–14 against the Pelicans, though they have held their own at TicketReturn.Com Field (4–5).
- Dash outfielder Mason Robbins enjoys the top spot in the CL in both batting average (.322) and hits (138). Teammate Nick Basto is the only other qualified hitter in the CL with an average north of .302 (.313). If Robbins can maintain his current average, he would post the highest average for a CL qualifier since 2010, when current Kansas City star Eric Hosmer hit .354 for Wilmington in 2010. The last time a Winston-Salem hitter paced the circuit in average was 2012, when the Dash had the top two hitters both at .315 (Carlos Sanchez and Dan Black).
- The Dash are in the midst of a run of 17 road games in their final 23 contests of 2016. Winston is just 22–34 on the road this season (sixth in the CL). However, the Dash did claim just the fourth series win for a visitor at Lynchburg in 2016.
- Even though the Dash lost on Sunday, southpaw Alex Katz enjoyed a strong High-A debut by ripping off 2.1 scoreless innings of relief against Lynchburg. In 30 Low-A appearances, Katz yielded just 21 runs (19 earned runs) over 49.2 bullpen innings.
- Righty Euclides Leyer spun two scoreless in his Double-A debut on Sunday for Birmingham.
BROADCAST INFORMATION:
Monday’s contest will be broadcast live on wsdash.com/broadcast and the TuneIn Radio app. The Pregame Dash will begin at 6:50 p.m., with the first pitch set for 7:05 p.m.
-Joe
