The Week in Winston: Dash update, May 18-24

By / / FutureSox

It’s a skid. The Winston-Salem Dash are skidding. They have lost seven straight games, all of them by a minimum of three runs. They have just three wins in their last 12 games.

The Aberdeen IronBirds are finally out of town, and the Dash couldn’t be happier to see them go. Before starting their six-game home series against the Orioles affiliate on May 16, the Dash were 23-10 and had not lost back-to-back games, let alone a series. Unfortunately, the homestand took place shortly after 2022 first overall pick and general baseball scourge Jackson Holliday joined the IronBirds. 

The Dash are now 23-16, having won the first game of the IronBirds homestand in rain-shortened fashion and losing out the rest, plus the first two games of their current series against the Brooklyn Cyclones. Holliday, who turned 19 in December, played in five of six games for Aberdeen and relentlessly assaulted Dash pitching, going 13-for-21 with three doubles, three triples, and two home runs, walking three times and driving in 14. He did strike out, once.

Loidel Chapelli Jr. has one hit since May 17. DJ Gladney has four. Wilfred Veras has nine because he simply cannot be stopped, riding a seven-game hitting streak, but he was an outlier this week.

Over the last seven days and six games, the Dash have scored 11 runs. Five of those were in a 12-5 loss.

Despite everything, they still have a three-game lead in their division.

Top weekly pitching performances

Johan Dominguez, two starts: 6 IP, 2 H, 2 R (1 ER), BB, 5 K

Season, two starts: 6 innings, 2 hits, 2 runs (1 earned), 1 walk, 5 strikeouts, 1.50 ERA, 0.50 WHIP

Jonathan Cannon, one start: 5 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 3 K

Season, seven starts: 40.1 innings, 32 hits, 13 runs, 11 walks, 29 strikeouts, 2.90 ERA, 1.07 WHIP

Drew Dalquist, one start: 5 IP, 4 H, 2 R, BB, 3 K

Season, seven starts: 20.1 innings, 21 hits, 16 runs, 9 walks, 20 strikeouts, 7.08 ERA, 1.48 WHIP

Dylan Burns, one relief appearance: 3 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, K

Season, two levels: 13.1 innings, 26 hits, 16 runs, 8 walks, 7 strikeouts, 10.80 ERA, 2.55 WHIP

Noah Owen, one relief appearance: 3 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K

Season: 17.2 innings, 21 hits, 17 runs (14 earned), 8 walks, 10 strikeouts, 7.13 ERA, 1.64 WHIP

Kade Mechals, two relief appearances: 4 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 4 K

Season, two levels: 15 innings, 9 hits, 6 runs, 4 walks, 12 strikeouts, 3.60 ERA, 0.87 WHIP

Honorable mention: Tristan Stivors only got into one game, throwing 1.2 innings, and four of his five outs came via strikeout.

Top weekly hitting performances

Wilfred Veras (RF/DH): 9-for-25, 4 doubles, 1 home run, 2 runs, 2 RBI, 0 walks, 8 strikeouts, 2-0 steals-caught stealing

Season: 38 games, .327/.346/.529, 19 doubles, 4 home runs, 20 runs, 27 RBI, 6 walks, 41 strikeouts, 9-3 steals-caught stealing

Michael Turner (C/DH): 7-for-16, 2 doubles, 0 runs, 2 RBI, 1 walks, 3 strikeouts

Season: 25 games, .305/.424/.463, 8 doubles, 1 triple, 1 home run, 13 runs, 6 RBI, 16 walks, 22 strikeouts, 0-1 steals-caught stealing

Honorable mentions: Shawn Goosenberg went 3-for-13, but did walk three times, further shoring up his .390 OBP on the season. Similarly, Terrell Tatum picked up just three hits but drew four walks, his OBP at .447.

Weekly rundown

May 18

Loss No. 1 of the week and No. 2 of the series was essentially a non-event for the Dash offense, excepting Wilfred Veras, whose sixth-inning solo home run provided their only scoring of the day. 

Terrell Tatum walked amidst a 10-game streak of doing so, and so did Chris Lanzilli, twice. Andy Atwood, who recently rejoined the team after a stint with the Barons, was hit by two pitches. No other Dash runner reached base and they struck out 17 times as a team.

On the mound, Johan Dominguez made his first start since having Tommy John surgery in 2022. He couldn’t have been much better, picking up a pitch timer violation (who can blame him) and walking one, but otherwise perfect through three, striking three out. He only needed 34 pitches, 23 of those for strikes, but obviously (and wisely) they don’t want to push him too hard too soon.

Chase Plymell entered in the fourth, and his seven-game, 12⅔-inning scoreless streak came to a quick end. The first two runners—including Jackson Holliday, who walked—reached base and scored the first runs for either team, 2-0 IronBirds, and Holliday struck again when Plymell continued into the fifth. With two outs and a runner on third, Holliday singled him in, 3-0.

Those three runs were more than enough to hang Plymell with the loss. Kade Mechals appeared for the second time at the level and pitched two more scoreless innings in his effort to finally get his career going—drafted in the fourth round in 2020, he’d just had Tommy John, didn’t pitch in 2021, and threw just one inning in rookie ball in 2022.

In the eighth, Jake Palisch did successfully retire Holliday on a fly ball, but also allowed a fourth and final Aberdeen run on a double steal of second and home, so… at what cost. Adisyn Coffey struck out two in a scoreless ninth. Dash lose 4-1.

May 19

The status quo remained, the Dash picking up two more hits than the day before for six total, but also losing by one more run for a 5-1 final score. In his previous two starts, starter Jonathan Cannon went seven full innings, allowing one run between both, but here, he was done after five. He allowed two runs on just three hits, two separate doubles leading to IronBirds runs in the first and fifth innings. His record dropped to 4-1.

In relief, Haylen Green struck out two in a scoreless sixth, and Everhett Hazelwood managed a scoreless seventh before imploding in the eighth, three consecutive walks to start the inning coming around on a sacrifice fly and single. Tristian Stivors struck out four in 1⅔ scoreless innings to close it out.

Still tepid at the plate, the Dash scored just once, in the fourth inning. DJ Gladney hit a one-out triple, his third of the year, and Wilfred Veras doubled for the 16th time to drive him in.

They walked three times again (Terell Tatum, again, Chris Lanzilli, again, and Shawn Goosenberg), striking out a mere 10 times. Dash lose 5-1, despite Jackson Holliday not playing.

May 20

Another day, another loss. Drew Dalquist spun one of his better starts of the year, bouncing back nicely from the one preceding to set a season high of five innings. He allowed no runs until two outs in the fifth, a double and home run cutting into what was at that time a Dash lead. Three of the four hits against him came in that one inning.

While Dalquist was temporarily dominating the IronBirds, the Dash were scoring four of their eventual five total runs. They led 1-0 after two batters in the first, Terrell Tatum singling and scoring on Andy Atwood’s double. Atwood starred again in the second; Shawn Goosenberg and Michael Turner singled to start the inning off and Keegan Fish joined them with one out; after a Tatum fly out, Atwood singled in one more run with an infield hit to the pitcher, 2-0 Dash.

Wilfred Veras doubled leading off the third, and after Wes Kath walked behind him, Goosenberg and Turner singled them both in, 4-0 Dash.

Finding their lead just 4-2 after Dalquist departed, Will Kincanon made his second appearance back from TJ surgery. In his first, he was burned for two runs in two thirds of an inning. This outing went worse. Last time, Jackson Holliday tripled off Kincanon; this time, he homered to lead off the sixth. Two walks and two singles later, Kincanon was out of the game, which was tied 4-4.

Ernesto Jaquez faced a bases-loaded, nobody-out situation, and with a full count, he surrendered a three-run triple. All three runs were credited to Kincanon, although Jaquez was responsible for a run of his own after a walk and sacrifice fly double play, Dash trailing 8-4.

Jaquez continued to pitch into the seventh, the victim of a Holliday double, a walk, a run-scoring single, and a hit by pitch before Jerry Burke relieved him with two outs and the bases loaded. A wild pitch scored one runner and a second wild pitch scored a second runner before the inning ended, 11-4 IronBirds.

In the bottom of the seventh, the Dash had one of those reactions where you’re punched in the stomach really hard and involuntarily whimper a little bit, but it’s something (other people, I mean, not you). Goosenberg, Turner, and Taishi Nakawake manufactured a run with a walk and two singles; Keegan Fish walked, loading the bases with nobody out, but Tatum and Atwood struck out and DJ Gladney grounded out.

The eighth passed peacefully, Burke becoming the sole Dash pitcher to strike out Holliday, but also walked the leadoff man in the ninth, who came around to score after a wild pitch and single, despite Gladney’s best efforts in left. The final score was 12-5 IronBirds.

Fourteen hits, six walks, and going 6-for-21 with runners in scoring position still all somehow combined for just five runs for the Dash. They had multiple runners on in multiple innings without scoring, including six fruitless bases-loaded at-bats.

May 21

The ‘Birds soared out of town just one game under .500, much better shape than they’d been in entering. Brooks Gosswein’s struggle with his control worsened, walking five and throwing a wild pitch over three innings, and the bullpen was shaky as well. Chase Plymell walked three but struck out three in two scoreless innings; Kade Mechals was responsible for one run over two innings; Jake Palisch pitched a clean eighth and Adisyn Coffey fell on his face in a two-run ninth that included a balk.

The bats were, as they have been lately, largely absent. DJ Gladney’s first-inning home run, his 10th of the year, was their only run of the game. 

They walked three times and struck out 14. Meanwhile, their pitching walked 10 and struck out just nine.

May 23

The struggles continued — both the Dash’s and Jared Kelley’s — against a new team, the Mets-affiliated Brooklyn Cyclones. Ever since pitching two hitless innings in his season debut at the end of April, Kelley has allowed 11 runs in 9⅓ innings, walking 10 and striking out seven. In three innings on Tuesday, he added four more runs to the total, along with two walks and five strikeouts. It took him 66 pitches to get to nine outs.

Down 4-0 in the fourth, the Dash almost got a spark going; Loidel Chapelli Jr. walked and stole second (part of a three-walk, two-steal day), and two outs later, Wes Kath singled him in. Kath himself took second on an error, Shawn Goosenberg walked, and Michael Turner singled to score Kath, cutting the Cyclones’ lead to 4-2. This inning featured two of the only three Dash hits all game, all of them singles.

Dylan Burns pitched his best three innings of the year, matched only by the three scoreless innings he pitched in his last appearance; he had allowed runs in all but one of seven outings before that. The labors of Everhett Hazelwood, meanwhile, continue, first with a home run in the seventh to make it 5-2 Brooklyn and then a pair of doubles and a walk in the eighth for a 7-2 score. He did not have to pitch a ninth.

The Dash did score one in the top of the ninth in one of the most “this shouldn’t have happened” ways imaginable; Kath struck out swinging to start the frame, but reached first on a wild pitch. Goosenberg grounded him over to second, Turner did nothing productive with a pop out, and Ivan González reached on the first baseman’s error, allowing Kath to score for a final score of 7-3 Cyclones. 

May 24

The Dash suffered their second shutout loss of the year on Wednesday, the losing streak reaching seven. Johan Dominguez gave up a couple of runs in three innings this time (one earned), exiting early hopefully just due to an innings limit again. Noah Owen made his first appearance since May 17 and threw three scoreless innings, his first scoreless outing out of seven total, and Ernesto Jaquez was hit hard in the seventh for two more Cyclones runs.

Shawn Goosenberg led off the second with a triple but was run down trying to score on a fielder’s choice. Wilfred Veras doubled for the 19th time to extend his league lead to seven over the next-best player. DJ Gladney, Chris Lanzilli, and Caberea Weaver, back for his third stint with the team, all singled.

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