The Week in Winston: Dash update, June 1-7

By / / FutureSox

Two wins earned the Winston-Salem Dash a series split with the Greensboro Grasshoppers, but it was ultimately a negative week, with those back-to-back victories islets in a sea of loss. The Dash went 2-4, giving up 35 runs and picking up 39 hits in six games. Now 28-23 on the season, they have lost three games in the standings and moved into a tie for first in their division with the hated Greenville Drive (Red Sox affiliate).

As a team, they have homered three times since May 21 (two of those belonging to Keegan Fish); they have combined for 35 total, 11th-best in the 12-team league. The offense is struggling, the pitching is struggling, the defense is struggling (three errors in one game on June 7). But, you know! It could always, always be worse.

Top weekly pitching performances

Jonathan Cannon, one start: 5.2 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 3 BB, 4 K

Season, nine starts: 50.2 innings, 42 hits, 17 runs (16 earned), 16 walks, 41 strikeouts, 2.84 ERA, 1.14 WHIP (4-1)

Drew Dalquist, one start: 5 IP, 2 H, 0 R, BB, 7 K

Season, nine starts: 27 innings, 25 hits, 21 runs (19 earned), 14 walks, 28 strikeouts, 6.33 ERA, 1.44 WHIP (1-4)

Connor McCullough, one start: 5 IP, 4 H, R, BB, 2 K, pitch timer violation

Season, nine starts, two levels: 46.1 innings, 31 hits, 14 runs, 11 walks, 52 strikeouts, 2.72 ERA, 0.91 WHIP (3-4)

Jared Kelley, one relief appearance: 2.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 6 K

Season, five starts, two relief appearances: 20 innings, 19 hits, 16 runs, 17 walks, 26 strikeouts, 7.20 ERA, 1.80 WHIP (0-2)

Jerry Burke, one relief appearance: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K

Season, two levels, 13 relief appearances: 27 innings, 22 hits, 9 runs, 12 walks, 29 strikeouts, 3.00 ERA, 1.26 WHIP (1-1)

Top weekly hitting performances

Wilfred Veras (RF/DH): 7-for-24, 1 double, 1 triple, 3 runs, 3 RBI, 0 walks, 5 strikeouts, 1-0 steals-caught stealing

Season: 50 games, .315/.340/.490, 21 doubles, 1 triple, 4 home runs, 26 runs, 34 RBI, 8 walks, 53 strikeouts, 14-4 steals-caught stealing

Shawn Goosenberg (1B): 6-for-21, 1 double, 1 home run, 3 runs, 5 RBI, 0 walks, 5 strikeouts, 3-1 steals-caught stealing

Season: 44 games, .268/.361/.379, 6 doubles, 1 triple, 3 home runs, 26 runs, 19 RBI, 20 walks, 44 strikeouts, 19-3 steals-caught stealing

Honorable mentions: Terrell Tatum has been in an extended offensive slump, batting .193/.387/.263 since May 17, but clearly is still managing to reach base via walk, as evidenced by the OBP. He picked up just three hits this week, all singles, but walked five times, stealing four bases in five attempts. Michael Turner had limited playing time behind the plate, getting into just three games, but went 4-for-9 with a double and a walk. Relatedly, Keegan Fish also had limited playing time behind the plate, and only got into three games; however, he homered in two of them.

Weekly rundown

June 1

It’s just one of those baseball truisms that one simply does not love to see one’s team give up 15 runs in a loss. It’s not ideal in a win either, but at least in that situation, you get a win.

Kohl Simas was responsible for eight of those runs, Noah Owen for four, and Dylan Burns for three. They combined to strike out six, walk four, and give up 15 hits to accompany the 15 runs. There was one two-run home run, one three-run home run, three triples, and four doubles, including three from the same guy (Pirates prospect Ernny Ordoñez). 

Simas only went 1⅔ innings, worse than the 1⅔-inning start he had two outings ago, in which he only gave up seven runs as opposed to today’s eight. In his other six starts, he’s gone either four or five innings; of the 23 earned runs he’s given up this year, all but eight came during those two very short, very bad starts.

The Dash did score six runs, which is a lot for them lately (their third time scoring at least six in their last 13 games). Loidel Chapelli Jr.’s third-inning double drove in both Taishia Nakawake (single) and Terrell Tatum (walk). Nakawake singled again in the fourth, this time scoring Shawn Goosenberg from a leadoff single, making the score at that point 11-3. 

Continuing the chain, Goosenberg was responsible for driving in the next Dash run, a solo home run that led off the sixth inning and broke an eight-game dong drought for the team. This stole the thunder of Keegan Fish, who homered two batters later, his first of the season (score 12-5).

Their final run was manufactured by Grasshoppers pitching and Chapelli in the ninth; he doinked an infield single deflected by the pitcher, took second on a ground out, took third on a wild pitch, and scored on a passed ball. Final score 15-6, Grasshoppers.

June 2

The Dash took 10 innings to do so, but they did end up with a narrow victory to even the series. Jonathan Cannon labored through his ninth start of the year with 94 pitches and was unable to complete six full innings, although he was decent. He allowed four hits and three walks producing two runs. Both of those runs and two hits didn’t come until the sixth, when a leadoff blast ruined his gem. He exited with two outs and a runner on third after originally doubling; Ernesto Jaquez relieved him and, after a walk and a run-scoring single, retired the side.

Despite the two-run setback, the Dash still held the lead. A long third inning saw three runs cross the plate. The first was Loidel Chapelli Jr., who singled, stole second, and scored on DJ Gladney’s double. The second and third were Gladney and Wilfred Veras, who had singled, both of them coming home on a Shawn Goosenberg single.

Greensboro tied it in the eighth on the combined efforts of Jaquez and Tristan Stivors; Jaquez departed with one out and two on, and while Stivors got the necessary two outs, it wasn’t before a single and hit by pitch tied it 3-3. Stivors held on though, pitching a scoreless ninth and 10th.

In the bottom of the 10th, Chapelli was resurrected to run at second base, and in quick succession, Gladney reached on error and Veras singled for the walk-off 4-3 win.

June 3

Rain was the Dash’s friend on June 3 as they won 2-0 in six innings (vaguely reminiscent of their improbable 8-7 not-quite-five-inning victory on May 16). All runs in this ballgame had scored by the time the Dash half of the first inning’s sixth batter, Shawn Goosenberg, stepped to the plate. With two outs, DJ Gladney singled, stolen second, and scored on cleanup hitter Wilfred Veras’s still-league-leading 21st double. 

Michael Turner followed up with an RBI single, 2-0 Dash, before Goosenberg ended scoring with a fly out.

Drew Dalquist was back with another start to dream on. Using 80 pitches (49 strikes), Dalquist finished five innings, allowing two hits (one double, one single, both in the first two innings) and one walk. He struck out seven. 

Kade Mechals pitched well in the sixth and final inning, despite a “disengagement violation,” something that is unclear (to me) about whether or not it is the same thing as a balk.

June 4

Two ninth-inning runs were maddeningly just short of sending this one to extras (spoilers), and the Dash added it to their ever-growing pile of losses.

Brooks Gosswein finally shook off the walk bug, at least for now, with just one free pass over four innings (he had walked at least four in five of his last six starts). However, he did give up a third-inning grand slam after a single, hit by pitch, and his appearance’s lone walk.

Trailing 4-0, the Dash scored one right back in the bottom of that inning, Keegan Fish choosing a good game in which to go deep for the second time in back-to-back games played for the backup catcher. It was just his fifth as a professional; he hit his first on July 15, 2022 for the Dash, his second on Aug. 3, and his third on Aug. 11, the span of just eight games played. Basically, he’s still due for another.

After Gosswein had a Fourth Inning of Redemption with no issues, Jared Kelley took over in his very new role of shutdown reliever. For the second time ever, he pitched out of the bullpen, following up his three-inning stint on May 30 (no hits, one run, one walk, six strikeouts) with 2⅔ innings that started incredibly well before wobbling at the finish line. He was perfect through his first two innings, striking out four, and struck out the first two batters of the seventh inning, his third inning pitched, as well. Abruptly, his control shifted and he walked the next three batters, needing Chase Plymell to (successfully) bail him out with a strikeout.

Still down 4-1 in the bottom of the seventh, the Dash started their ultimately futile comeback (spoilers). Shawn Goosenberg doubled with one out, stole second (his 18th bag), and went ahead and scored on the catcher’s error, cutting the Grasshoppers’ lead to 4-2.

The Grasshoppers immediately returned it to a three-run margin with a solo home run off Plymell in the eighth, although they scored nothing off Adisyn Coffey in the ninth, going to the bottom of the inning with a 5-2 lead.

DJ Gladney wasted no time, singling on the first pitch of the frame and scoring when Wilfred Veras tripled on the second pitch. 

Goosenberg went a little deeper into his at-bat, but his sacrifice fly drove in Veras to make it 5-4. After a pitching change, Wes Kath popped out and pinch-hitter Loidel Chapelli Jr. grounded out with a full count to end the game. 

June 6

This was the kind of game the Dash would have won earlier this year by merely not giving up four eight-inning runs to lose 5-4. Connor McCullough made his second start at the level, much improved from his first, scattering four hits through five innings. 

Two of those hits were actually not well-scattered, to be honest, a first-inning double and single resulting in the only Hot Rods (Rays affiliate) run allowed by McCullough. His two strikeouts were his lowest of any outing all year, but at least they were accompanied by just one walk (which is a little high for him).

The Dash tied it 1-1 in the top of the second with a Michael Turner double (his 11th in 32 games) and Shawn Goosenberg single. And then the score remained there for four full innings, until the top of the seventh. With DJ Gladney on third and Wilfred Veras on first after they both singled, and Wes Kath at the plate, a balk made it 2-1 Dash.

They made it 4-1 one inning later: Chris Lanzilli’s leadoff double quickly got him to third after a pickoff error, and he scored on Taishi Nakawake’s double in the next at-bat. 

Terrell Tatum bunt singled, advancing Nakawake to third, then stole his 24th base of the year. Two outs later, a wild pitch scored Nakawake for the final Dash run.

After McCullough wrapped up his five-inning outing, Jerry Burke put down two sharp innings in a longer-relief role, one he’s occupied and made his own this year. He struck out four and walked none.

Burke was replaced by Jake Palisch in the eighth; Palisch got one out okay, allowed a single and walk, then got a second out okay before a first-pitch double cut the Dash lead to 4-3. Tristan Stivors came in, walked the first batter, threw a wild pitch, then surrendered a game-tying single, 4-4 all around. One walk later, the bases were loaded, and one bases-loaded walk later, the Hot Rods were up 5-4.

Turner walked on four pitches to start the top of the ninth, but Goosenberg grounded into a double play and Kath struck out.

June 7

Kohl Simas fans, avert your eyes. The 23-year-old righty delivered yet another clunker, the third of his last four starts, although not quite as bad as the sub-two-inning ones. Here, things didn’t truly devolve until the fifth.

The game started optimistically with a Terrell Tatum infield single and Loidel Chapelli Jr. walk in quick succession. DJ Gladney’s force out erased Chapelli but got Tatum to third, setting them up for a successful double steal, although Wilfred Veras did strike out on the play. Tatum’s steal of home was his 25th stolen base of 2023 in 32 attempts, tied for the league lead. 

On the mound, Simas started the bottom of the first about as well as he could have, striking out the side swinging. Unfortunately, it was not to last, and although the first batter of the second inning also struck out swinging, the Hot Rods were able to tie it up with a double and single. 

Simas added one more strikeout (looking) in a scoreless third before a runner reached on Taishi Nakawake’s error at short and scored on a double in the fourth, giving Bowling Green the 2-1 lead. This lead became the crux of defeat for the Dash, in retrospect, with two outs in the fifth: a walk, a double, and a home run made it 5-1 and an ugly line for Simas, who did strike out seven.

The Hot Rods added two more off Everhett Hazelwood with a two-run dong in the seventh, 7-1, and Ernesto Jaquez was able to wrap things up with three strikeouts in 1.1 innings and no further damage.

At the plate, Wes Kath singled to lead off the second, and that was the last Dash hit until the last Dash hit, another ultimately futile Kath single with two outs in the ninth. These two hits raised Kath’s season line to .214/.283/.321. 

However, in the eighth, the Dash run machine (Tatum) did creak into some kind of motion; two outs into the inning, Tatum reached (second) on an error, was balked to third, and scored on a wild pitch. The name Duke Ellis has no meaning here. Dash lose 7-2.

1 thought on “The Week in Winston: Dash update, June 1-7”

  1. Phil

    Thank you for doing these, Julie. I get to the Carolinas but mainly Asheville (NC) & Anderson-Greenville (SC). Will try for a Dash game sometime.

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