The Week in Winston-Salem: September 2-8
The Winston-Salem Dash are limping their way through the homestretch; they gathered 24 hits as a team through the first four games of the week, losing all four, then broke out for 14 in a thrilling come-from-behind victory against the Bowling Green Hot Rods in which they trailed at times 5-0, 6-4, and 8-6 before ultimately walking it off 9-8 with a three-run ninth. It was a five-game week as Wednesday, September 8’s game was rained out; they went 1-4 overall.
The start before last, Kaleb Roper pitched about as well as he ever has in his career, throwing six shutout, one-hit innings, walking one and striking out six. His encore didn’t quite live up to that standard, and on September 2, he dropped his record to 1-7 by allowing four runs over four innings as he spent a couple frames singled and walked to death.
That was also a game in which the Dash were two-hit (José Rodriguez and Jeremiah Burks keeping them from further embarrassment there), so he was without a drop of run support anyway. Behind him, the bullpen was decent; Edgar Navarro walked two, hit two with a pitch (two separate pitches, not the same pitch), and threw a run-scoring wild pitch, but Ryan Williamson struck out three over two scoreless innings and Cooper Bradford struck out two in a scoreless eighth.
Roper was scheduled to pitch September 8 but obviously was not able to, thanks to minor league stadiums not having domes; it would be unsurprising to see him kick off Thursday’s doubleheader.
Jesus Valles is a new addition from Kannapolis, where he’d been alternating between stints in the rotation and the bullpen. He fills one of a couple holes in the Dash rotation that have been open for over a month after three of their most consistent pitchers (Johan Dominguez, the now-retired Taylor Varnell, and Davis Martin) were all promoted, not to mention Chase Solesky’s placement on the IL this week.
Since then, the Dash have been relying on bullpen games and the Cannon Ballers, and Valles pitched very well in his High-A debut. Of the two runs he allowed over five innings on September 3, only one—a solo home run in the fourth—was earned, the other coming in on Burks’ second-inning error. He struck out only one, but also only walked only one, so that works for now.
Ultimately, Valles did not earn the win, despite exiting with the Dash up 3-2; Kevin Folman pitched around two singles for a scoreless sixth, and Ty Madrigal struck out two in a perfect seventh, but the eight did not go so well for him. After retiring the leadoff batter, he was battered for a single, a walk, a single, a two-RBI, and after a strikeout, a final two-RBI single.
The Dash did not score in the ninth and lost 6-3. Gunnar Troutwine and José Rodriguez (who had two hits) provided what ended up being all the scoring the team was able to muster, Troutwine on a solo home run in the third and Rodriguez doubling in Caberea Weaver from a single three batters later. Rodriguez also manufactured the third run of the inning by stealing third base and scoring on the same play on a throwing error by the catcher.
Karan Patel, 2019 seventh-round pick, is another recent promotion and, with his first two starts for the Dash, has now started twice in his career. He hasn’t gone quite as deep as a starter would in either, though whether that’s due to inefficient pitching, inexperience at the front of games, or generalDash/Sox control is up in the air.
On September 4 this week, he went 3.1 IP, giving up five runs off some significant traffic on the base paths. Trey Jeans inherited runners on the corners with one out; one scored on a fielder’s choice and then Jeans pitched two more innings of his own, a solo shot the only hit and run allowed, three strikeouts tallied. McKinley Moore pitched what would be the last inning of a personal scoreless streak that spanned nine appearances, a line of 9 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 13 K. Sixth-round pick from this year Taylor Broadway continued his toe dip into pro ball, allowing just his second run over 9.2 innings, although it was unearned on an error by Rodriguez, who can’t do it all himself, okay?!
Dash batters were able to score only three runs in that one, all three clustered in the ninth. Despite having his usual two hits, Rodriguez was not involved at all; that inning featured a Burks HBP to start things off, then an Alex Destino single and advancement to second on defensive indifference (relatable). Luis Curbelo then hit a two-run double, his 24th, and Harvin Mendoza singled in Curbelo. Troutwine kept things alive with a single to put two on still with nobody out, but then Lázaro Leal, Weaver, and Duke Ellis all struck out swinging to end the game.
September 5 was a traditional Dash bullpen game, so naturally it went 11 innings. Wilber Perez got the opener slot, his second start in 25 games pitched, and allowed a run when a leadoff walk came around to score on a two-out double in the first inning. This tied it up at one early, the Dash having struck first in the top of the inning as Rodriguez singled (one of two hits) to start the game and, two batters later, Destino singled him in. Cooper Bradford had one of his longest and his best outings from the bullpen, going three strong innings behind Perez and two walks his only baserunners. Jordan Mikel and Navarro also kept it scoreless in their innings, two strikeouts for Mikel and three for Navarro.
The Dash took a sliver of lead in the sixth, Ellis’ leadoff double coming around to score on Samir Dueñez’s ground ball single to put them up 2-1, a lead they held until the bottom of the eighth. Sammy Peralta entered the game and gave up a game-tying home run to the second batter he faced. He retired everyone else he faced for the rest of the inning, and the ninth, and the 10th, before relinquishing the ball to Williamson for the 11th, ghost runner rules in full effect. Williamson induced a groundout that advanced the runner to third with one out, then intentionally walked the next two batters (Michael Harris and Riley Delgado, for anyone wondering) to get to Drew Campbell, who hit a walk-off sacrifice fly.
Then, after the Monday off-day, it was September 7 and southpaw Dan Metzdorf’s turn on the mound. He’d had a string of a couple of good starts, but allowed five runs for the first time all season in his five innings pitched. All five of those runs came in the first two innings, four came in the second, and three came all on Alika Williams’ home run alone that inning. Metzdorf would exit trailing 5-2, those first two Dash runs coming on a Troutwine single scoring Curbelo from a leadoff double, then the next inning Rodriguez (who had two hits) tripled in Ellis from a leadoff bunt single.
The Dash would be the next to strike, Curbelo reaching on an error to start the sixth, then Harvin Mendoza hammering a two-run dinger to cut Bowling Green’s lead to 5-4. The Hot Rods would add an insurance run in the eighth, though, after Madrigal’s three-K sixth and Yoelvin Silven’s dramatic scoreless seventh which involved a strike-em-out, throw-em-out double play. It was still Silven in the eighth, the righty recently returned from a brief Barons stint, and he allowed a leadoff single, balked the runner to second, then allowed another single to get him to third, where he scored from on a sacrifice fly by the next batter. Hot Rods up 6-4.
Normally this would be about where things wind up, given how this season has gone; not this night, though. With two outs in the bottom of the eighth, Mendoza singled and Dueñez hit his fifth dong of the season to knock him in and tie it up, 6-6.
McKinley Moore got the ball for the ninth having gone nine straight scoreless innings but quickly ran into disaster with two outs. After a quick out, a batter reached via bunt, then stole second after a fly out. Rays prospect Curtis Mead doubled in the runner and scored himself on a single before Moore induced a signature strikeout to end the inning, Dash trailing 8-6.
The bottom of the ninth showcased perhaps the best singles inning for the team all year: Ellis singled to lead the inning off; Rodriguez singled (his second hit!) to get Ellis over to third; Burks singled on a fly ball to second base, scoring Ellis, and Destino hit his 14th double to score Rodriguez with Burks nailed at home on the throw. Curbelo grounded out, putting Destino at third with two outs in a tie game, and Mendoza was the hero, landing a ball in center field to knock in Destino for the much-needed walk-off win.
Individual Batter Performances
Shocking nobody at this point, José Rodriguez was the week’s standout player. In 24 games since his promotion from the Ballers, he is batting .375/.398/.531 with four doubles, a triple, and three home runs; he’s walked just five times but has only struck out 11, and he’s 7-for-11 in stolen base attempts. He has been hitless in five games. He has exactly one hit in five games also (one of those the only hit in the September 2 two-hitter). He has five games of exactly two hits in September alone—overall, that number is 11. He has three three-hit games. From September 2 to September 7, he went 9-for-21 with two doubles, a triple, a walk, and zero strikeouts for a line of .429/.455/.619.
Luis Mieses hit September and instantly went ice cold, but he also hasn’t played since September 3 so there could be something else going on there. He’s 1-for-13 in four games in the month.
Destino isn’t exactly slowing down—he’s hit in four straight and in seven of eight—but he only has one multi-hit game in his last 14, over which he’s batting .208/.288/.321. This week, he was 4-for-22 with two doubles; he did not walk and struck out nine times.
Curbelo is similarly putting finishing touches on an underwhelming season in which the power has been present but the contact has not. Over the week, he went 2-for-16, both hits doubles; he walked once and also struck out nine times.
Mendoza and Dueñez have combined into one to be the Dash’s first baseman and DH, either occupying either slot on any given day. Mendoza mashed a little more than the other non-Rodriguez guys this week, his 5-for-19 with a home run enough for a .263/.300/.421 mini-slash. Dueñez also homered, but in four games played, went 2-for-16.
Troutwine edged out Evan Skoug in playing time at catcher this week, three games to two, courtesy of the rainout. In the last nine games he’s played, Troutwine has been on a tear with the bat, hitting safely in all nine and going 13-for-30 with four doubles and a home run, walking twice and striking out once, a line of .433/.485/.667. Since September 2, he is 6-for-12 with a double and a homer. Skoug didn’t have the same luck in his two games this week and went 0-for-7; usually a guy who takes a decent number of walks, he’s drawn just one in 10 games since August 12.
Jeremiah Burks has been continuing to hold his own for a guy who’s had kind of a weird season with a lot of changing levels; he played all five games and went 4-for-18 with a double, walk, and hit by pitch, striking out eight times. His occasional middle infield counterpart, Brandon Bossard, went 1-for-3 with two strikeouts in his only game this week before his promotion to the Barons. In 20 games, he hit .178/.327/.244.
Utility man Travis Moniot has made his glorious return from an injury that’s kept him out since the end of July; he’s gotten into the action in three games since September 4 and is 1-for-5 with a hit by pitch. Ellis, an outfielder, is also back from an injury that had a similar timeframe. He’s gotten more regular playing time than Moniot and is 3-for-16 with a double in four games back. Leal’s playing time has been more limited lately, and he only played on September 4 this week, going 0-for-4 with two strikeouts.
Caberea Weaver, who had been splitting time between center and left field, went 1-for-9 in his final three games for the Dash this week before being sent back down to the Ballers. In his 19-game stint with the team, he went 11-for-62 with a double, triple, and home run; he walked once and struck out 29 times for a slash line of .177/.200/.274.
Photo credit: Sean Williams/FutureSox
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