The Dash Have Found Their Bats: Frost stays hot, Remillard does his thing, George clears the bases

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WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — The Dash seem to have found their groove at the plate, frying the Mudcats 10-5 and scoring at least six runs in six straight. Good pitching stayed good and the usual players mashed the usual hits.

Starting pitcher Cristian Castillo’s first inning might have been his roughest. Speedster Wes Rogers, who stole 70 bases for the Lancaster Jethawks in 2017, led the game off with a single. In a twist, he stole second base, then was doubled in by Tristen Lutz. That was the last Mudcats run until the fifth inning when Rogers led off again and hit a dong the magnitude of which cannot be understated. Castillo walked Lutz and gave up a single, but gave up no further runs. His final line was 5 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, and 4 K; he threw 89 pitches, 56 of which went for strikes.

Castillo was relieved by Vince Arobio, who made his High-A debut after a promotion from Kannapolis, where he put up an ERA of 2.63 over 27.1 IP (2.61 FIP). He’s the rare young Sox pitcher this season who is not having trouble with walks; he has 39 strikeouts, including tonight’s, and only five walks. He gave up a single to start the inning, then threw around a wild pitch to strike out the rest swinging. Welcome to the Carolina League, Vince.

Kevin Escorcia came in after Arobio, and things went well until he gave up a three-run home run. Will Kincanon came in to pitch the eighth and got two easy outs, then maneuvered precariously through two walks before getting out number three. He stayed in for the ninth and was able to tamp the Mudcats down with no further damage.

The Dash started the game off the way every first inning should start off: with a Tyler Frost first-pitch inside-the-park home run. The ball sailed to the hefty center field wall, bounced off, and Frost was rounding third in no time, sliding under a tag that was just a second or two too late. It is, I would venture, the least-expected type of inside-the-park home run, already fairly unexpected. I feel bad about missing this on video, so to make up for it, have some guilt-induced footage of his second hit:

Frost was also involved in the next Dash run, starting off the sequence with the above two-out single in the third. This was immediately followed by a Nick Madrigal single, which was immediately followed by a Steele Walker RBI single. Walker steeled second and Jameson Fisher walked for the first of two times before Zach Remillard grounded out (?!) to end the inning.

Remillard’s bat wouldn’t remain dormant for long. The fifth inning — apparently the Dash’s chosen eruption inning — saw six runs scored. Madrigal singled with one out to get things going, then stole second base, then advanced to third on the same play thanks to an error by the catcher. Steele walked, Fisher walked, and Remillard continued to vie for a promotion to Birmingham with a two-run double. Dedelow followed with a walk — he was the last starter to get a hit, meaning all of them did, and he also walked twice — then catcher Carlos Perez was hit by a pitch, forcing in a bases-loaded run. Jordan George broke it open with a double that cleared the bases, extending the Winston lead to 8-2.


They didn’t stop there: in the seventh, Fisher singled for his third time on base, Dedelow walked, and Perez singled in Fisher. In the eighth, Madrigal walked, then stole second base, then advanced to third on the same play on an error by the catcher (wait a second). Walker got the RBI with a sacrifice fly, and that was the scoring for the day.

Madrigal has raised his season batting average to .279 and his OBP to .351. He ran every time he reached base today and is 17-for-21 in stolen base attempts. He continues to impress (me) with his range at second base.

Jorgan Cavanerio gets the start on Friday at 7 pm.

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