The Winston-Salem Dash fell behind the Greensboro Grasshoppers in the first inning on Wednesday when Grant Umberger gave up an opposite-field homer to Axiel Píaz. It was Píaz's eighth homer in 33 games, and he savored his trip around the bases, taking approximately 26 seconds and pausing at the shortstop position to take a running floater toward the Grasshoppers bullpen.
The Dash got their revenge, not by plunking him, but making him squat for 23 minutes and 50 pitches during an 11-run third inning en route to a 19-8 victory in Greensboro.
What's crazy is that Carlos Castillo appeared to have settled down after giving up a bases-loaded double to George Wolkow. He struck out Kaleb Freeman and T.J. McCants to get an out away from getting back to the dugout with a manageable 3-2 deficit.
Instead, the Dash batted around with two outs alone. The sequence:
- Alex Ungar two-run homer
- Ely Brown double
- Kyle Lodise RBI single
- Caleb Bonemer HBP(pitching change)
- Boston Smith walk
- Ryan Burrowes infield single
- George Wolkow bases-clearing triple
- Freeman RBI single
- T.J. McCants double
- Ungar strikeout
Wolkow came to the plate with the bases loaded twice and drove in five run between those opportunities. He added another RBI single later, making him 7-for-10 with a homer, two triples, two doubles and 10 RBIs over the first two games, and raising his season OPS by 114 points since Sunday.
Charlotte 4, Gwinnett 3
- Rikuu Nishida went 0-for-3 with two walks and two strikeouts.
- Braden Montgomery, 1-for-5 with a double and a strikeout.
- Austin Hays played the whole game at DH, singling and striking out thrice.
- Jacob Gonzalez was 1-for-4 with two strikeouts.
- Junior Pérez singled, walked and struck out twice. He was also caught stealing.
- David Sandlin's best outing yet: 4 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, 47 of 71 pitches for strikes.
- Jordan Leasure: 1.1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, 13 of 16 pitches for strikes.
Notes:
*Sandlin threw first-pitch strikes to 14 of 18 hitters and got a 52 percent called strike/whiff rate on 27 fastballs. James will have more about Sandlin in a few hours.
Biloxi 9, Birmingham 7
- Colby Shelton was 1-for-4 with a walk.
- Same for Anthony DePino, who also struck out.
- Jeral Perez went 0-for-5 with a strikeout.
- Christian Oppor is getting further away: 2 IP, 2 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 5 BB, 0 K, 1 WP, 1 HBP, 12 of 42 pitches for strikes.
Winston-Salem 19, Greensboro 8
- Kyle Lodise came a triple shy of the cycle while going 4-for-7 with a strikeout.
- Caleb Bonemer was 0-for-5 with two strikeouts, but got plunked once.
- Boston Smith, 1-for-4 with two walks and a strikeout.
- George Wolkow went 3-for-5 with a triple, two doubles, a walk and a strikeout. He drove in six.
- Grant Umberger: 4 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 2 K, 2 HR, 45 of 75 pitches for strikes.
- Mathias LaCombe's High-A debut: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K, 22 of 36 pitches for strikes.
Kannapolis 7, Myrtle Beach 0
- Abraham Nunez went 2-for-5 with a double and a strikeout.
- Billy Carlson singled twice, walked twice and stole two bases.
- Javier Mogollón was 1-for-4 with a homer and walk.
- Jaden Fauske, 1-for-5 with two strikeouts.
- Matthew Boughton went 1-for-4 with a K.
- Rylan Galvan was 2-for-3 with a homer and a walk.
- Alexander Albertus went 2-for-4.
- Max Banks: 6 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 7 K, 1 WP, 49 of 69 pitches for strikes.
ACL White Sox 4, ACL Giants 1 (7 innings)
- Christian Gonzalez went 0-for-2 with a walk and a strikeout. He was also caught stealing, so he's 15-for-35 in his career in that department.
- Alejandro Cruz was 0-for-2 with a K and an HBP.
- Jose Mendoza went 1-for-2 with a double and aw alk.
- Eduardo Herrera, 1-for-3 with a double and a strikeout.
- Yordani Soto went 1-for-3 with a triple.
- Blake Shepardson: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K
