Winston-Salem 5, Salem 4
W: Jimmy Lambert (3-2)
L: Daniel McGrath (2-7)
S: Ian Hamilton (3)
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (August 1, 2017) – Jimmy Lambert twirled his third quality start with the Dash, while Zack Collins provided the go-ahead RBI in the seventh to help Winston-Salem push past the Salem Red Sox 5-4 on Tuesday at BB&T Ballpark.
Lambert (3-2) recorded seven strong innings on the mound, allowing three earned runs on eight hits while striking out a career-best nine batters.
Over the last three games, Dash (18-20, 42-66) starters have collected 32 strikeouts over 20 innings on the slab, a mark of 1.6 strikeouts per frame.
Lambert picked up the victory thanks to another late-inning tally for Winston-Salem, this time courtesy of some nifty base running by Luis Basabe. The Venezuelan native legged out an infield single off Red Sox (22-17, 62-46) reliever Daniel McGrath (2-7) to start the bottom of the seventh before swiping second for his 16th stolen base of the season.
Bryant Flete moved Basabe to third on a groundout to first before Collins grounded a sharply-struck ball to second base. Nick Lovullo fielded it cleanly and threw the ball toward home, but the speedy Basabe slid under the tag of catcher Jhon Nunez to put the Dash ahead for good.
Andre Wheeler tossed 1.1 innings of hitless relief in his first appearance with Winston-Salem since May 26, ceding just a leadoff walk to Tate Matheny in the ninth. Ian Hamilton was summoned out of the bullpen with one out and Matheny still at first to shut the door and was able to induce a bizarre game-ending double play on his first pitch.
Jhon Nunez grounded out to third, and as Brandon Dulin received the baseball, Matheny slipped in between second and third base. Dulin snapped a perfect throw to Flete, who applied the tag to Matheny at second to end the game.
Winston-Salem broke through against Salem starter Mike Shawaryn in the second. Seby Zavala dribbled an RBI single to center to score the first run of the game, and two batters later, Sam Dexter clubbed a two-run shot over the left field wall, his first of the season, to give the Dash a 3-0 lead.
The Red Sox battled back against Lambert, plating two in both the third and fourth frames. Lovullo and Jeremy Rivera netted the run-scoring plays in the third, while Nunez smacked a two-run double in the fourth to give Salem a short-lived 4-3 lead.
Collins quickly tied the game at four in the fifth, launching a 390-foot blast to right-center field, his team-leading 16th of the year.
The Dash and Red Sox conclude their three-game series with a 12 p.m. tilt on Wednesday at BB&T Ballpark. Winston-Salem has yet to announce a starter for tomorrow’s game, while Salem will send Durin O’Linger (0-0, 7.20 ERA) to the mound. Pregame coverage begins at 11:45 a.m. on wsdash.com/broadcast, MiLB.tv and the TuneIn Radio App.
For tickets and more information to any of the Dash’s upcoming home games, call the Dash at (336) 714-2287 or visit
