The Week in Winston: Dash update, May 4-10

By / / FutureSox

The Winston-Salem Dash have yet to lose or even split a series of more than one game so far, going 5-1 in two and 4-2 in two. They are 20-7 overall, an easy seven-game lead in their six-team division, in which they hold the lone winning record.

Despite some bullpen woes, pitching overall was fairly strong, as was the hitting. Drew Dalquist was named South Atlantic League Pitcher of the Week, an honor that apparently is self-contained within this single tweet. Here are the numbers the media doesn’t want you to see: In two starts (May 2 and May 7), he had a line of 7 innings pitched, 0 hits, 0 runs, 4 walks and 6 strikeouts.

DJ Gladney’s big offensive week was last week — he’s currently in a 3-for-26 slump — but he still got things done at the plate. On May 3, with the bases loaded, he forced in a run on catcher interference. On May 4, with the bases loaded, he forced in a run on catcher interference. On May 5, in what must be one of the rarest feats accomplished at any level of the game, he reached on catcher’s interference for the third straight day. This one did not come with the bases loaded, but it did load the bases.

Wilfred Veras and Shawn Goosenberg both had hits in nearly half of their at-bats. Goosenberg and Michael Turner each drew nine walks. In fact, it would be shorter to list the position players who did not have a productive week, but that would be mean.

Standout starting pitcher Tommy Sommer was sniped by the Barons, one level up. He wrapped up his Dash career, hopefully for good, with 12 innings of two-run ball (one earned), walking seven and striking out 18. He only allowed four hits in his three starts.

Top pitching performances

Kohl Simas, one start: 5 IP, 3 H, R, 4 BB, 6 K, HBP

Season, three starts, one long relief outing: 18 IP, 17 H, 5 R, 11 BB, 23 K, 2.50 ERA, 1.56 WHIP

Jonathan Cannon, one start: 7 IP, 3 H, 0 R, BB, 6 K

Season, five starts: 28.1 IP, 25 H, 10 R, 8 BB, 24 K, 3.18 ERA, 1.17 WHIP

Drew Dalquist, one start: 4 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 4 K

Season, five starts: 13.2 IP, 12 H, 9 R, 6 BB, 15 K, 5.93 ERA, 1.32 WHIP

Chase Plymell, two relief appearances: 4.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K

Season: 18 IP, 13 H, 4 R (3 ER), 6 BB, 14 K, 1.50 ERA, 1.06 WHIP

Honorable mention: This week’s bullpen duties were spread between many pitchers, meaning nobody got a ton of innings in. Tristan Stivors and Adisyn Coffey both threw two scoreless innings, Coffey’s both perfect.

Top hitting performances

Terrell Tatum (CF): 5-for-18, 2 doubles, 6 runs, 2 RBI, 5 walks, 7 strikeouts, 1 hit by pitch, 4-1 steals-caught stealing

Season: 24 games, .310/.455/.494, 8 doubles, 1 triple, 2 home runs, 27 runs, 18 RBI, 22 walks, 28 strikeouts, 14-3 steals-caught stealing

Loidel Chapelli Jr. (2B): 5-for-19, 1 home run (grand slam), 1 double, 5 runs, 6 RBI, 6 walks, 5 strikeouts, 1 hit by pitch

Season: 22 games, .278/.412/.506, 5 doubles, 2 triples, 3 home runs, 20 runs, 20 RBI, 16 walks, 23 strikeouts, 4-0 steals-caught stealing

Wilfred Veras (RF): 10-for-26, 5 doubles, 5 runs, 7 RBI, 3 walks, 7 strikeouts, 0-1 steals-caught stealing

Season: 27 games, .330/.359/.541, 14 doubles, 3 home runs, 16 runs, 21 RBI, 6 walks, 28 strikeouts, 5-3 steals-caught stealing

Michael Turner (C/DH/1B): 5-for-12, 2 doubles, 1 home run, 4 runs, 1 RBI, 9 walks (!!!), 2 strikeouts

Season: 16 games, .300/.444/.500, 5 doubles, 1 triple, 1 home run, 11 runs, 3 RBI, 12 walks, 14 strikeouts, 0-1 steals-caught stealing

Shawn Goosenberg (1B/DH): 7-for-19, 6 runs, 3 RBI, 9 walks (!!!), 4 strikeouts, 1 hit by pitch, 1-1 steals-caught stealing

Season: 21 games, .301/.427/.411, 2 doubles, 2 home runs, 16 runs, 8 RBI, 13 walks, 19 strikeouts, 10-1 steals-caught stealing

Chris Lanzilli (LF): 6-for-17, 1 double, 4 runs, 4 RBI, 2 walks, 5 strikeouts, 1 hit by pitch, 1-0 steals-caught stealing

Season (Low-A/High-A): 17 games, .268/.403/.321, 3 doubles, 10 runs, 8 RBI, 12 walks, 15 strikeouts, 2-0 steals-caught stealing

Honorable mentions: Catching duties are split between Michael Turner, Keegan Fish, and Iván González, so while González doesn’t get a ton of at-bats, he still went 4-for-10 with three walks this week. Similarly, middle infielder Taishi Nakawake rotates around with Loidel Chapelli Jr. and Jason Matthews, fitting in four hits and six walks in 14 at-bats.

Weekly rundown

May 4

Jared Kelley made his second appearance of the season and was hit much harder than his first time out. Both were short outings, and the last time he allowed no runs or hits, but here, the third inning alone featured a triple, two walks, and two singles. Kelley exited trailing 2-0 with one out in the third, although one more run was credited to him as reliever Noah Owen allowed a sacrifice fly to score an inherited runner.

Owen stayed in the game and pitched well through the fourth and fifth, but faced trouble of his own creation in the sixth after opening the inning with four straight singles. A wild pitch scored the first run, a sac fly the next, and a bases-loaded walk by Ernesto Jaquez squeezed in a final run for Owen’s ERA.

Jaquez and Adisyn Coffey allowed nothing further out of the bullpen, allowing the Dash to get back in it, but not quite making it.

Trailing 3-0 in the bottom of the third, catcher Michael Turner led off with his first home run as a pro, part of a real outta-nowhere couple of weeks that may see his name creeping up some rankings. He also drew three walks.

The score remained 3-1 until Owen’s sixth, when it became 6-1, and it remained 6-1 until the bottom of the ninth. Jason Matthews and Terrell Tatum were both hit by pitches to start the frame, and Loidel Chapelli Jr.’s walk loaded the bases with nobody out. DJ Gladney forced in a run through bases-loaded catcher interference for the second consecutive day.

After Gladney was interfered with, Wilfred Veras stepped to the plate, bases still loaded with nobody out, and cleared them with a double. He did not, unfortunately, clear them as in “everybody scored”; instead, Tatum and Chapelli were safe, with Gladney out at the plate. Neither Wes Kath nor Shawn Goosenberg reached, and the final score was 6-4 Grasshoppers.

May 5

It wasn’t long before the Dash were back in the win column, but just barely, first needing to quell a ninth-inning Grasshoppers rebellion. They combined nine hits with 10 walks, squandering some opportunities but going 5-for-13 with runners in scoring position for the just-enough lead.

Wes Kath’s third home run of the season opened scoring, a solo shot in the second. 

Shawn Goosenberg walked, was doubled to second by the unstoppable Michael Turner, and scored on Chris Lanzilli’s sacrifice fly, 2-0 Dash.

Kath also started scoring in the fourth inning—his leadoff single eventually came around to score on a base hit from Ivan González, 3-0 Dash. Lanzilli hit a single to score (who else?) Turner from (what else?) a walk to make it 4-0.

Starting pitcher Kohl Simas had not been stymied by Greensboro through four, but ran into some trouble in the fifth, a walk and two singles combining to cut the lead to 4-1. Simas was done after five, throwing 87 pitches (45 strikes) and allowing just the one run on three total hits. He walked four and struck out six.

Haylen Green was his relief in the top of the sixth, and while he struck out two, he also allowed two doubles and a single for a one-run Dash lead, 4-3; he was also bailed out by catcher González and shortstop Taishi Nakawake, who teamed up to pick a runner off second for the third out of the inning.

It didn’t take long for the Dash to re-open the lead a little, just until two outs in the bottom of the sixth. Lanzilli led off with a base hit and stole second, putting himself in position for DJ Gladney to double him in, 5-3 Dash. It was Gladney’s 32nd RBI.

The eighth provided more fruits from Dash bats. Nakawake and Chapelli drew one-out walks, then Gladney reached on catcher interference for the THIRD game in a row to load the bases. Veras again came through, just a single this time, and perhaps wisely Gladney held up at second, although Nakawake and Chapelli both scored to make it 7-3 Dash. Goosenberg added a final run, his two-out base hit scoring Gladney, 8-3 Dash.

After Green had departed the mound in the sixth, Chase Plymell put down two perfect innings. Jake Palisch entered the ninth with a five-run lead, which became a one-run lead five batters in, Pirates prospect Jackson Glenn hitting what one can imagine to be an extremely vibe-killing grand slam in a visiting ballpark. Palisch was able to hold it together physically and psychologically, though, and retired two more batters for the 8-7 victory.

May 6

Winning! Winning! Winning! That’s all the Dash care about and it’s disgusting. They bettered their record to 18-6 with an 8-0 pounding of the Grasshoppers, who put up a meek four singles, one walk, and nothing else. Jonathan Cannon rose to 3-0 on the year, throwing by far his best start in a season that’s been full of encouraging starts. Needing just 73 pitches (49 strikes) for seven shutout innings, Cannon breezed through the lineup, walking just the one and striking out six, with three scattered singles all Greensboro could manage against him.

Everhett Hazelwood and Tristan Stivors were similarly untouchable in one inning of relief per. As a staff, the three pitchers struck out nine and needed just 101 pitches for the entire game.

At the plate, the Dash bided their time for a while before scoring. It wasn’t until there were two outs in the fourth that things really got going. Shawn Goosenberg drew a full-count walk, then made it to third on a Chris Lanzilli single that was deflected by the second baseman. Keegan Fish drew first blood with a Goosenberg-scoring single (GSS), and a wild pitch scored Lanzilli from third for a 2-0 Dash lead.

In Terrell Tatum’s first plate appearance back in the third, he’d singled, stolen second, and made it as far as third after a balk, tragically stranded there. In the fifth, his journey on the bases was more productive and condensed. He led off with a double, then stole third (his 13th of the year) and scored on the catcher’s error, 3-0 Dash.

The team put the Grasshoppers to rest with a five-run seventh. Fish bounced a ball over Winston’s two-foot-tall right field fence for a ground-rule double, Jason Matthews walked, and Tatum singled them all a station forward to load the bases. Nakawake then cleared the bases, in the traditional sense this time. His double scored all three runners for a 6-0 lead. 

Veras singled in Nakawake, and after Kath singled and a wild pitch bumped up the runners, Goosenberg capped off the scoring with a base hit to knock in Veras, 8-0 Dash.

May 7

The Dash drew eight walks to nine strikeouts, had 11 hits, and scored in five separate innings, include two with multiple runs, but their bullpen also allowed an eight-run sixth, so they were on the wrong side of an 8-7 loss this time. Going 3-for-16 with runners in scoring position surely did not help either; they left 14 on base.

Drew Dalquist, on the other hand, was brilliant. He solidified South Atlantic League Pitcher of the Week honors with another scoreless start, following up three hitless innings on May 2. Here, he went one further, striking out four over four, a pair of walks the only baserunners allowed. Thanks to those two starts, his ERA fell from an ugly 12.15 after three laborious early starts to a much more workable 5.93 over 13.2 innings. He has 15 strikeouts and six walks.

Early scoring was all the Dash. Wilfred Veras doubled for the league-leading 11th time to open the second, Shawn Goosenberg walked, and Michael Turner’s reign of terror continued with a bases-loading single. Chris Lanzilli was hit by a pitch for the RBI, and Terrell Tatum drew a sacks-packed walk for another, 2-0 Dash.

DJ Gladney walked and Veras doubled for, as you may guess, the league-leading 12th time to open the third, putting the score at 3-0 Dash and chasing the opposing pitcher. Goosenberg singled in Veras for the 4-0 lead.

Then things stayed quiet until the sixth. Jerry Burke had no trouble in a 1-2-3 fifth, but had nothing but trouble one inning later. Two singles and a walk loaded the bases before he induced his first out, and bizarrely, two runs scored on a pop up single to Goosenberg at first, Dash lead still holding at 4-2. After a strikeout, a two-run single tied it, Burke exiting and Ernesto Jaquez taking his place.

Jaquez walked his first batter faced and gave up a three-run blast on the first pitch to the next, 7-4 Grasshoppers. The next batter added both insult and injury with an inside-the-park home run, the final run allowed by the Dash bullpen, with Jake Palisch and Adisyn Coffey taking over to finishing things out.

Several times this year, the Dash have been on the wrong end of a crooked number, and have come right back with at least a run or two right after. That happened here: In the bottom of the sixth, Lanzilli singled and Nakawake doubled, with a wild pitch allowing Lanzilli to score (although Nakawake was eventually stranded at third), 8-5.

They scraped back another in the seventh; Goosenberg’s single and Turner’s double set up a sacrifice fly spot for Lanzilli, who succeeded in making it 8-6.

It’s hard to ask for a better scenario than the one they were faced with in the ninth, but it serves instead as a reminder of how difficult baseball is to play (very). Turner and Lanzilli’s walks and Nakawake’s single loaded the bases with one out. Terrell Tatum struck out and Chapelli walked to force in a run and keep the inning alive, 8-7. With the bases loaded, two outs, and trailing by one, DJ Gladney came to bat in virtually the exact same situation in which he hit a walk-off double just days earlier, but instead, he popped out to second to end the game.

May 9

So far in the month of May, the Dash have played four games that settled at 8-7, going 3-1 in those four: one walk-off win, one near walk-off win but instead close loss, one where they had to survive four runs in the top of the ninth to avoid needing a walk-off situation, and Tuesday’s game, where they were on the road so couldn’t walk it off, but did score the winning run in the ninth inning.

Despite leading 1-0 after the top of the first due to Terrell Tatum doing Duke Ellis things (leadoff walk, advanced to second or third on pickoff error, scored on wild pitch), they quickly found themselves in a hole of medium depth.

Starting pitcher Brooks Gosswein was a little shaky, two runs crossing the plate in the first between a leadoff walk, a double, and a Wes Kath error at third, 2-1 Drive (Red Sox affiliate). Another two runs scored in the second, one due to a solo home run and one due to Brooks Gosswein’s greatest enemy, Brooks Gosswein. After a two-out walk, he made an error on the pickoff attempt, then threw a wild pitch to make it 4-1 Drive.

Usually good for at least five innings, Gosswein departed after two, a rain delay ending what was probably going to be an early day anyway. Half of his four runs were unearned and 28 of his 48 pitches went for strikes; he walked two and struck out five. He’s now made three starts and two long relief appearances that were basically starts, and while the control has still been an issue with 10 walks in 23.1 innings, with a 3.09 ERA, he’s done a better job at limiting the damage this year than he did at the level last year (17 innings, 12 walks, 7.41 ERA).

On the other end of the rain, Jonah Scolaro took the mound and continued his season-long trend of striking out just a ton of guys and giving up almost as many runs. He struck out two in the third inning, but a double, single, and ground out put the Drive up 5-1. He struck out two more in a scoreless fourth, then gave up two solo dongs in the space of three batters in the fifth before striking out… two. Three innings, three runs, six strikeouts. In 13.2 innings this year, he has 23 strikeouts to four walks, and has allowed 14 runs for an ERA of 9.22. 

Luckily, the Dash were back in it by that point after a big top of the fifth. Taishi Nakawake and Loidel Chapelli Jr. found themselves on the corners with one out after a walk and single, respectively. DJ Gladney grounded in Nakawake (5-2 Drive), Wilfred Veras hit his league-leading 13th double (5-3), and Kath singled in Veras (5-4). Shawn Goosenberg singled with two outs, he and Kath ending up at second and third on the play, and then that beautiful baseball moment arose, the classic game-tying balk (5-5). 

With Goosenberg at third, Michael Turner’s at-bat concluded on ball four, a Goosenberg-scoring wild pitch (GSWP) that finally gave the Dash back the lead at 6-5.

That was the lead that instantly evaporated three batters into the bottom of the inning, but fear not, the Dash are never down for long. In the top of the sixth, Tatum and Chapelli doubled back-to-back to re-tie it at seven. 

Haylen Green and Chase Plymell combined for three scoreless innings on the mound, the lion’s share from Plymell, keeping it tied to the ninth.

Leading off the top of the inning, Veras simply hit his league-leading 14th double, where he was immediately singled in by Kath, 8-7 Dash. It took two pitches.

Closer Tristan Stivors unsurprisingly got the bottom of the ninth and made things interesting for himself and 3,672 Greenvillains by giving up a triple to his first batter faced. He walked the next on a full count, induced a crucially non-run-scoring double play, and got the fly out to secure the victory. It was his fourth save.

May 10

The Dash moved to 2-0 in their six-game set against the Drive with an easy 9-4 victory, elevating their record to 20-7. They took the lead nearly instantly and did not allow it to be pried away from their sticky little fingers at any point. Terrell Tatum led off the first by reaching on error on the very first pitch and stole second (his 14th, tied for fourth in the league). Loidel Chapelli Jr. and DJ Gladney both walked to pack the sacks for Wilfred Veras, who did not double, instead striking out.

But with two more outs to work with, they were able to cause some chaos on a Wes Kath force out grounder. Gladney was out at second, Tatum scored, and Chapelli scored, with a Drive throwing error involved to start things off 2-0 Dash.

Jared Kelley seems to be pitching every other day but in fact has been pitching on normal to long rest, with time merely seeming to pass by in an instant, each fleeting moment twinkling and precious as it bleeds away. Kelley walked as many batters as his last outing, four, but pitched deeper and gave up fewer hits and runs. In fact, he only gave up one of each, both out of the way before the first inning ended, after a leadoff walk, stolen base, and double cut the Dash lead to 2-1.

After that, Kelley didn’t quite cruise what with the walks, but he did pitch well, striking out three and exiting with two outs in the fourth.

Also in the fourth: the Dash aim for going big over going home. Shawn Goosenberg’s leadoff walk scored after Chris Lanzilli and Ivan González singled (3-1 Dash). Lanzilli made it 4-1 on a passed ball and Tatum knocked in González (5-1) before being caught stealing, a call he evidently disagreed with, as evidenced by his subsequent ejection.

Noah Owen took over for Kelley to end the fourth, and the fifth passed without drama from either team. The sixth, however, was nothing but drama: all with two outs, González and Jason Matthews singled and Michael Turner walked, loiding the bases for Chapelli, who obliged by hitting the first grand slam of his professional career, 9-1 Dash.

The Drive clawed back a few—one off Owen in the sixth, one off Dylan Burns in the seventh (Burns has yet to make a scoreless appearance of more than 0.1 innings in seven tries), one more off Jerry Burke in the eighth. Mere pittances against the deficit, the final score was 9-4 Dash.

2 thoughts on “The Week in Winston: Dash update, May 4-10”

  1. abehickock

    I just read the following on another publication.

    White Sox since 2013
    (Rick Hahn as GM):

    .458 Win Pct in majors (26th)
    .460 Win Pct in minors (last)

    During that time, the White Sox and their affiliates are 657 games under .500.

    What other business would give the main decision maker who’s mostly responsible for the poor results this long of a leash before acting upon it? Not only is the play on the field bad, but you’ve alienated a great portion of your customer base. It truly is unbelievable.

  2. FishSox

    Nice Washigton Post article about Terrell Tatum and how he’s trying to use his base stealing abilities to get to MLB with the new rules. He’s been given a green light to steal whenever he thinks he can.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2023/05/11/new-mlb-rules-stealing-bases/?utm_campaign=wp_post_most&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_most&carta-url=https%3A%2F%2Fs2.washingtonpost.com%2Fcar-ln-tr%2F39fb983%2F645d132da61bab12f760bd5b%2F638531572be7a5142a451f57%2F46%2F72%2F645d132da61bab12f760bd5b

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